Spa-Francorchamps 500 km race in 1965

The Porsche 904 GTS from Roy Vost

Tony Hegbourne had an accident on lap 26 in an Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ . Six weeks later he succumbed to his serious injuries.

The 500 km race of Spa-Francorchamps 1965 , also Grand Prix Spa, 500 km Spa-Francorchamps , took place on May 16 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and was the eighth round of the sports car world championship of that year.

The race

In 1965 the 500 km race in Spa-Francorchamps was part of the sports car world championship for the third time after 1963 and 1964 . In 1963 Willy Mairesse won in a Ferrari 250 GTO , the following year Mike Parkes , who also contested the race in a 250 GTO.

In 1965 Willy Mairesse won the race again. This time a Ferrari 250LM was his emergency vehicle. The most powerful car at the start was a Ferrari 330P , with which Mike Parkes had achieved the fastest practice time. On race day Parkes struggled with some technical problems with the 330P and only finished ninth.

The race was overshadowed by the serious accident of the British racing driver Tony Hegbourne . In the 26th lap, Hegbourne's Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ came off the lane in the Masta section, rolled over several times and landed in an adjacent field. Hegbourne was recovered with serious injuries and taken to Verviers Hospital. Although the initial findings were optimistic, he died of his serious injuries six weeks later in a UK hospital.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	P + 2.0	2	Ecurie Francorchamps	Willy Mairesse	Ferrari 250LM	36
2	P + 2.0	5	David Piper Auto Racing Team	David Piper	Ferrari 250LM	36
3	GT 2.0	41	Racing Team Holland	Ben Pon	Porsche 904 GTS	36
4th	GT 3.0	33	Peter Sutcliffe	Peter Sutcliffe	Ferrari 250 GTO	36
5	GT + 3.0	20th	Alan Mann Racing Team	Bob Bondurant	Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe	36
6th	GT 3.0	35	Dawnay Racing	Mike Samon	Ferrari 250 GTO 64	35
7th	P + 2.0	8th	Bizzarini Automobili	Pierre Noblet	Iso Grifo A3C	35
8th	P + 2.0	4th	Georges Marquet	Jean-Claude Franck	Ferrari 250LM	35
9	P + 2.0	1	Maranello Concessionaires	Mike Parkes	Ferrari 330P	34
10	GT 2.0	40	Léon Dernier	Léon Dernier	Porsche 904 GTS	34
11	GT 1.6	53	Ian Walker Racing	Boley Pittard	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ	33
12	GT 1.6	50		Gustave Gosselin	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ	33
13	GT + 3.0	23	Radford Racing	Christopher McLaren	Shelby Cobra	32
14th	GT + 3.0	26th	Nicholas Granville-Smith	Nicholas Granville-Smith	Shelby Cobra	31
15th	GT 1.6	54	WJ Moss	Mark Konig	Lotus Elan	30th
16	GT 3.0	30th	Robert Blouin	Robert Blouin	Ferrari 250 GT Lusso	29
17th	GT 2.0	46		John Wingfield	TVR Grantura	29
18th	GT 2.0	44		Jacques Thenaers	Porsche 911
Failed
19th	GT 1.6	51	Nicolas Koob	Nicolas Koob	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ	33
20th	GT + 3.0	21st	Alan Mann Racing Team	John Whitmore	Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe	32
21st	GT 2.0	42	Racing Team Holland	Rob Slotemaker	Porsche 904 GTS	29
22nd	GT 1.6	52	Ian Walker Racing	Tony Hegbourne	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ	26th
23	P + 2.0	3	Ecurie Francorchamps	Annie Soisbault	Ferrari 250LM	21st
24	GT 3.0	31	Ecurie Francorchamps	Gérard Langlois van Ophem	Ferrari 250 GTO	19th
25th	GT 2.0	43	Roy Vost	Roy Vost	Porsche 904 GTS	11
26th	GT + 3.0	22nd	Radford Racing	Harry Digby	Shelby Cobra Roadster	8th
27	P + 2.0	6th	Ecurie Francorchamps	Xavier Boulanger	Ferrari 275 GTB	1
Not started
28	GT + 3.0	24	Checkered Flag	Roger Mac	Shelby Cobra	1
29	GT 3.0	32	Ecurie Francorchamps	Lucien Bianchi	Ferrari 250 GTO	2

¹ not started ² not started

Only in the entry list

Here you will find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race but did not take part for a variety of reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
30th	GT 1.6			Martin Beckers	Glass 1204 GT
31	P + 2.0	7th	Robert Blouin	Robert Blouin	Ferrari 275 GTB
32	P + 2.0	9	Bizzarini Automobili	Mario Casoni	Iso Grifo A3C
33	P + 2.0	10	Ford Advanced Vehicles	Guy Ligier	Ford GT40
34	P + 2.0	11	Scuderia Filipinetti	Herbert Mueller	Ferrari
35	P + 2.0	12	Scuderia Serenissima	Trevor Taylor	Serenissima
36	GT + 3.0	25th	Patrick McNally	Patrick McNally	Shelby Cobra
37	GT 3.0	34	Peter Clarke	Peter Clarke	Ferrari 250 GTO
38	GT 2.0	45	Claude Dubois	Claude Dubois	MGB
39	GT 2.0	47		Jean-Pierre Gaban	Porsche

Class winner

class	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
P + 2.0	Willy Mairesse	Ferrari 250LM	Overall victory
GT + 3.0	Bob Bondurant	Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe	Rank 5
GT 3.0	Peter Sutcliffe	Ferrari 250 GTO	Rank 4
GT 2.0	Ben Pon	Porsche 904 GTS	Rank 3
GT 1.6	Mark Konig	Lotus Elan	Rank 15

Racing data

• Registered: 39
• Started: 27
• Valued: 18
• Race classes: 5
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: dry and cloudy
• Route length: 14.120 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 2: 29: 45.700 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 36
• Total distance of the winning team: 508.320 km
• Winner's average: 203.652 km / h
• Pole position: Mike Parkes - Ferrari 330P (# 1) - 3: 59.700 = 212.065 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Mike Parkes - Ferrari 330P (# 1) - 4: 01.300 = 210.695 km / h
• Racing series: 8th round of the 1965 World Sports Car Championship

Web links

• Results

Individual evidence

1. ↑ About Tony Hegbourne's serious accident ( Memento from May 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

Predecessor race Targa Florio 1965

Sports car world championship

Successor 1000 km race on the Nürburgring in 1965