1973 Luanda 3-hour race

The 3-hour race of Luanda ( Portuguese 3 Horas Internacionais de Luanda ) was a sports car race that was held on July 29, 1973 in the Angolan capital Luanda . The race, which was driven with an international line-up, lasted only two hours, regardless of its title. After problems with the fuel supply , it was only possible to start it with a time delay and was shortened by an hour in view of the impending sunset. The winners were the Briton Roger Heavens and the South African Guy Tunmer .

background

Autódromo de Luanda

The 3-hour race in Luanda in 1973 marked the start of the season for the Angolan sports car series , which this year consisted of a total of three races. It was held at the Autódromo de Luanda , a racetrack that opened in May 1972 and was designed by the Brazilian architect Ayrton Cornelsen . The route is about 25 km outside of Luanda city center.

In order to interest as many foreign drivers as possible in the race, the organizer offered high bonuses. The overall winner received US $ 25,000, the overall runner-up was US $ 18,000, and the third was US $ 10,000. In addition, there were bonuses for the winners of the various racing classes.

The race was relaunched in August of the following year as a 2-hour race by Luanda , before motorsport activities initially came to an end in 1975 due to the outbreak of the civil war in Angola .

Starting field

The car of the winning team: Chevron B21

Ford GT40

Compete against racing cars in Luanda: Ford Escort with Ford BDA engine

The starting field was international. In addition to racing drivers from Portugal , whose colony Angola was still in 1973, a number of British and South African drivers competed. Some of them were professional racing drivers. They included the former Formula 1 and sports car driver Mário de Araújo Cabral from Portugal and Guy Tunmer from South Africa . Most of the drivers, however, were amateurs: the eventual winner Roger Heavens was a full-time hotelier, and Ian Harrower was an accountant.

A total of 31 drivers were registered for 18 racing cars. Group 1 sports cars such as the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 , the Lola T292 or the Chevron models B21 and B23, most of which were equipped with 2-liter Ford engines, were permitted. Ford supported the race by delivering engines for the most famous drivers. Angola's Ford importer Robert Hudson also reported its own racing team with the Robert Hudson team, which started with two Chevron. The Lola T292 from Team Autodel (Cabral and Peixinho) stood out from the Ford vehicles . It was equipped with a 2.0-liter BMW engine that Schnitzer Motorsport had prepared in Germany and that was the only engine in the starting field to be electronic Had petrol injection .

In addition to these racing sports cars, individual more or less modified street sports cars such as a Ford Capri , an Opel Manta tuned by Steinmetz and several BMW 2002 were launched .

The race

Shortening the duration of the race

The announcement provided for a three-hour event. The race was accordingly referred to as "3 Horas Internacionais de Luanda" on advertising posters and in advertisements. However, technical problems in the run-up to the race led to a shortening to two hours, which is why this race is now often referred to as "2 Horas Internacionais de Luanda".

The trigger for the shortening was a defect in the central fuel tank, which was housed in the pit lane and was supposed to supply all vehicles with fuel. The float in the tank was immobile, so that the level indicator still showed a remaining volume of 4000 liters when the tank was actually empty. This meant that not all vehicles could be filled with the required amount of fuel. This defect was not noticed until the morning of the race. The organizers then had additional fuel brought to the circuit by helicopters and tankers from Luanda. This delayed refueling considerably and the start of the race had to be postponed several times. When all the vehicles were finally refueled, it was foreseeable that the race would not end until after dark for the intended duration of three hours. Since there were insufficient lighting systems available, the organizers finally shortened the duration of the race by one hour in order to ensure that the race would end in daylight.

Race course

The race was won by Roger Heavens and Guy Tunmer, who had already set the best time in qualifying. Heavens and Tunmer completed 48 laps in two hours. Heavens also set the fastest lap. The Cabral / Peixinho team in the Schnitzer BMW Lola retired on the fourth lap after an engine failure.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine
Autodel	01	Antonío Peixinho Mário de Araújo Cabral	Lola T292	BMW - carver
	02	Mabílio de Albuquerque Jorge Pego	Lola T210	ford
	03	Fernando Coelho	Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/2	Alfa Romeo
Irmãos Unidos de Benguela	09	Emilio Marta	Ford GT40	ford
Roger Heavens Racing	012	Roger Heavens Guy Tunmer	Chevron B21	ford
Team Robert Hudson	014th	Andrew Fletcher William Tuckett	Chevron B21	ford
Promoto Racing	015th	José Uriarte Roy Johnson	Chevron B21	ford
	017th	Hélder de Sousa	Opel Manta	Opel - stonemason
Promoto Racing	019th	Alan Stubbs	Scorpion LB4	Ford FVA
Team Robert Hudson	0	Ian Harrower "James Bell"	Chevron B19	ford
	0	Portela Ribeiro	Fiat Dino	Fiat
Team Bonnier	0	Ray Fallo André Verney	Lola T292	ford
	0	Carlos Coelho Vincente Paiva	Ford Escort	ford
Dorset Racing	0	Tony Birchenhough Lee Kay	Lola T290	ford
	0	John Rowe John Trotter	Chevron B19	ford
	0	"Esperto" "Vimor"	BMW 2002	BMW
	0	Wimar Gomes	Ford Capri	ford
	0	Castro da Silva A. Carneiro	BMW 2002	BMW

Race results

position	driver	chassis	Round
01	Roger Heavens Guy Tunmer	Chevron B21	48
02	José Uriarte Roy Johnson	Chevron B21	48
03	John Rowe John Trotter	Chevron B21	48
04th	Ian Harrower "James Bell"	Chevron B19	43
05	Emilio Marta	Ford GT40	43
06th	Mabílio de Albuquerque Jorge Pego	Lola T210	43
07th	Tony Birchenhough Lee Kay	Lola T290	42
08th	Castro da Silva A. Carneiro	BMW 2002	39
09	Portela Ribeiro	Fiat Dino	39
010	Wimar Gomes	Ford Capri	39
011	Ray Fallo André Verney	Lola T290	36

Web links

• Race report and statistics for the 3-hour race in Luanda 1973 on the website www.sportscarportugal.com (referred to there as the two-hour race) (accessed on November 25, 2012)
• The 3-hour race of Luanda 1973 on the website www.racingsportscars.com (referred to there as the two-hour race) (accessed November 25, 2012).
• Pictures from the 1973 Luanda two-hour race (accessed November 25, 2012)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ In current Internet databases , the race is often run as a two- hour race by Luanda, given its actual duration , cf. z. B. Race statistics on www.racingsportscars.com .
2. ↑ Description of the development of the Autódromo de Luanda on the www.lolocornelsen.com.br website of the architect Ayrton “Lolo” Cornelsen ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed November 26, 2012). 
3. ↑ The available sources do not provide complete information about the allocated start numbers.
4. ↑ James Bell is a pseudonym. The identity and nationality of the racing driver who lived in Great Britain in 1973 is not clear. See entry in the program booklet for the two-hour race in Luanda 1973 .