El Salvador 6 Hours 1979

Track layout

The 6-hour race of El Salvador 1979 , also 6 h El Salvador , took place on November 18 at the Autódromo Internacional El Jabali and was the 17th and final race of the sports car world championship of that year.

The race

The sports car world championship came to an end with a curious event in November 1979 . At the Autódromo Internacional El Jabali, which opened in February, the only race in Central American El Salvador in the history of the World Cup took place. The race track near Quezaltepeque was operated by Autodromos de El Salvador SA and was opened with the Gran Premio Delta . One lap was 3250 meters long.

The race was part of the World Challenge for long-distance drivers and met with little or no interest from the established teams. The manufacturers' world championship ended the season with the 6-hour race in Vallelunga and the world championship title from Porsche , and the driver’s championship was decided before the start of the race, so Dick Barbour decided not to compete and thus Don Whittington won the championship even without his race win would have decided.

The absence of all European and most of the North American championship teams resulted in a race with a mass of amateur Salvadoran pilots. However, some domestic professionals were able to keep up with the few US starters. Enrique Molins shared the cockpit of a Porsche 935 with Don and Bill Whittington and won the race five laps ahead of his two compatriots Carlos Pineda and Eduardo Barrientos and the US driver José Garcia , who drove a Porsche Carrera .

Some of the vehicles used were just as unusual as the sometimes very amateur drivers. The Datsun 1200 Pickup , which finished ninth overall, was the only pickup to ever finish in the top ten in a World Championship race. In addition to some Alfa Romeo Alfasuds , two Hillman Avengers were also registered.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	Size 5	81	Scorpio Racing	Bill Whittington Enrique Molins Don Whittington	Porsche 935	199
2	Size 5	82	Scorpio Racing	Carlos Pineda Eduardo Barrientos José Garcia	Porsche Carrera RSR	195
3	Size 5	15th	Garcia Brothers	Javier Garcia Luis Sereix	Chevrolet Corvette	190
4th	Size 5	5	Viceroy Racing	Guillermo Valiente Luis Escalon	Nissa 510	187
5	Size 5	54	Montura Racing	Alberto Vadia Tony Garcia Albert Naon	Porsche Carrera RSR	178
6th	Novice	91	Wet racing	Mauricio Nasser Salvador Jose Nasser	Datsun 510	165
7th	ser.T / GT	21st		Ernesto Barriento's Guillermo Cassina	Alfa Romeo Alfasud	162
8th	ser.T / GT	55	Bosch El Salvador	Emilio Centeno Carlos Lopez Portillo	Honda Civic	158
9	Size 5	40	Francisco Javier Monroy	Francisco Javier Monroy Ricardo Hasbun Cassis	Datsun 1200 pickup	158
10	ser.T / GT	33	Keilhauer	Salomon Safie Jose Giron	Hyundai pony	155
11	Size 5	4th	ARA Centro Frio	Mauricio Luis Meardi Roberto Cader	Toyota Corolla	154
12	ser.T / GT	25th	Caribe Motors	Carlos Enrique Martino Juan Andres Castillo	VW Golf GTi	149
13	Novice	10		Samuel Gonzalez Jose Miguel Menendez	Datsun	145
14th	Novice	12	Maria Pia	Carlos Danilo Cabrera Jose Augustin Artiga Oscar Augusto Diaz	Mazda RX-3	141
Failed
15th	Size 5	44	Industrial automotriz	Ricardo Cromeyer Cayetano Bettaglio Sergio Canales	Mazda RX-2	182
16	Novice	53	Tropical Motors	Jaime Gadala Maria Eduardo Aviles Miguel Nasser	Hillman Avenger	158
17th	ser.T / GT	80	Kawasaki of El Salvador	Alex Giesemann Jose Adolfo Rubio	Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV	153
18th	Size 5	19th	Atlacatl Automotriz	Antonio Fajardo Jose Fajardo Mario Molina	Datsun 1600	119
19th	ser.T / GT	65	Atlacatl Automotriz	Manuel Espitia Salvador Zelaya Antonio Fajardo	Toyota Trueno	110
20th	Size 5	13	Lubritec Matchbox	Luis Escalon Rafael Alvarez Roberto Trigueros	Mitsubishi Galant	107
21st	Size 5	83	Kawasaki of El Salvador	Benjamin Gonzalez Pino Miccolo	Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm	92
22nd	Novice	17th	Barba Racing	Rene Barba Ricardo Barba Ernesto Barba	Datsun	88
23	ser.T / GT	24	Risek Motors	Mario Ernesto Lozano Cesar Nunez	Fiat 124	51
24	Size 5	88	Equigas	Eduardo Barrientos Carlos Moran Don Whittington	Porsche Carrera RSR	51
25th	ser.T / GT	90	Buffalo Prince	Eduardo Cader Alex Caceres	Porsche 911	46
26th	ser.T / GT	7th	Bosch El Salvador	Jose Adolfo Rubio Alberto Hellebuyck Alfredo Gutierrez	Alfa Romeo Alfasud	43
27	Size 5	60		Dick Vreeland Javier Garcia Luis Sereix	Chevrolet Camaro	31
28	Size 5	57	Dave Heinz	Dave Heinz Benjamin Gonzalez	Chevrolet Corvette	29
29	Size 5	69	Boglione	Elias Hasbun Juan Wright Lino Boldrini	Austin Mini Cooper	29
30th	Size 5	46		Mauricio Miranda Lupon Hugo Miranda Lupon	NSU Prinz 1200TTS	20th
31	ser.T / GT	26th	Llaresa	Eduardo Lopez Eduardo Melendez Roberto Santana	De Tomaso Pantera	4th
Not started
32	Size 5	01	Libra Racing	Carlos Moran Eduardo Barrientos Ludwig Heimrath senior	Porsche Carrera RSR	1
33	novice	13		Demetrio Moliviatis	Datsun	2
34	Size 5	34	Laboratorio Diesel Control	Rigoberto Monterrosa Eduardo Galdamez	Opel Kadett	3
35	Novice	48	Mary	Ricardo Martinez Videz Rene Barba Alex Flores	Honda Civic	4th
36	Size 5	68	Suzuki of El Salvador	Juan Jose Grane Valdemar Raun	Suzuki Fronte Abarth	5

¹ not started ² not started ³ not started ⁴ not started ⁵ 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
37	Size 5		Roger Mandeville	Roger Mandeville	Porsche Carrera RSR
38	Size 5	0	Gordon Oftedahl Carl Shafer	Gordon Oftedahl Carl Shafer Daniel Muniz	Chevrolet Camaro
39	ser.T / GT	1	Bracos	Pino Miccolo Benjamin Gonzalez	Alfa Romeo Alfetta
40	ser.T / GT	18th		Roberto Trigueros Carlos Alvarez Rafael Alvarez	Mitsubishi Lancer
41	Novice	30th	Aguirre Importacionnes	Rolando Gonzalez Jose Gervacio Gonzalez Carlos Dardano	Hillman Avenger
42	Size 5	31		Mauricio Marchetti Edmundo Pazzetti	Ford Escort
43	Size 5	31		Eduardo Soto Wess steward Leonardo Ruiz	Toyota Starlet
44	Size 5	31		Edgar Rolano Lazo Luis Gaitan Arthur Gutierrez	Toyota Corolla
45	Size 5	50		Rodrigo Terran	Porsche Carrera RSR
46	Size 5	52		Ricardo Cestoni Roberto Avalos	Datsun 510
47	Size 5	78	Jose Gonzalez	Ignacio Gonzalez Jose Gonzalez	Chevrolet Camaro

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
Size 5	Bill Whittington	Enrique Molins	Don Whittington	Porsche 935	Overall victory
ser.T / GT	Ernesto Barrientos	Guillermo Cassina		Alfa Romeo Alfasud	Rank 7
Novice	Mauricio Nasser	Salvador Jose Nasser		Datsun 510	Rank 6

Racing data

• Registered: 47
• Started: 31
• Valued: 14
• Race classes: 3
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: warm and dry
• Route length: 3.250 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 6: 00: 00,000 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 199
• Total distance of the winning team: 646.750 km
• Winner's average: unknown
• Pole position: Enrique Molins - Porsche 935 (# 81) - 1: 35.310 = 122.757 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Bill Whittington - Porsche 935 (# 81) - 1: 36.200 = 121.622 km / h
• Racing series: 17th round of the 1979 World Sports Car Championship

literature

• Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. A complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .

Web links

• Race results

Previous race 6-hour race of Vallelunga 1979

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 24 Hours of Daytona 1980