1976 Silverstone 6 Hours

BMW 3.5 CSL ; Winning car of John Fitzpatrick and Tom Walkinshaw after crossing the finish line

The Porsche factory drivers Jochen Mass (left) and Jacky Ickx (right). In the middle, Porsche racing director Norbert Singer

Pit work on the Porsche 935 by Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx

Ronnie Peterson in the works BMW 3.2 CSL Turbo

The winning BMW 3.5 CSL by Fitzpatrick and Walkinshaw ahead of the fourth-placed Alpina -3.5 CSL by Hughes de Fierlant and Harald Grohs

The 1976 Silverstone 6-hour race , also known as The World Championship For Manufacturers 6 Hours, Silverstone , took place on May 9th at the Silverstone Circuit and was the fifth round of the Sports Car World Championship that year.

Before the race

With the race in Silverstone, the 1976 World Manufacturers' Championship was continued. At the beginning of the season, new technical and sporting regulations came into force. The brand world championship was held with Group 5 production cars and, in parallel, a sports car championship with Group 6 sports cars . Group 4 was advertised for GT motorsport. The championship started in March with the 6-hour race at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello . The two German manufacturers Porsche and BMW competed in the first round of the Manufacturers' World Championship , which ended with the success of Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx in the new Porsche 935 . Mass and Ickx also won the 6-hour race in Vallelunga for Porsche.

The following two races counted towards the sports car championship. Reinhold Joest won the Nürburgring in a Porsche 908/4 Turbo . In Monza , Mass and Ickx won in the also new Porsche 936 .

The race

Teams, vehicles and drivers

After the difficulties with various private teams, the executive board of Porsche AG decided at the end of 1975 to have the in-house racing department handle the races for the works cars again. The team brought a Porsche 935 to Silverstone for Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx. Porsche Kremer Racing reported a second 935 for Hans Heyer and Bob Wollek .

At BMW in Munich, the new rules were interpreted extremely. Using four-valve technology and turbocharging, the 3.2-liter six-cylinder engine of the BMW 3.2 CSL Turbo achieved an engine output previously only achieved by the turbo engine of the Porsche 917/10 : up to 590 kW. Due to the enormous torque that was generated, the load limit of the Getrag five-speed transmission was exceeded, and the power could hardly be brought to the ground. BMW works driver Ronnie Peterson explained after the first training session that at 250 km / h on the straight the wheels still spun when accelerating. This raised concerns about considerable tire wear for the race. Peterson, who had left Lotus after the Brazilian Grand Prix because of a violent dispute with Colin Chapman in Formula 1 and switched to March , shared the cockpit of the works BMW 3.2 CSL Turbo with his compatriot Gunnar Nilsson . Nilsson won the British Formula 3 Championship in 1975 and became Peterson's successor at Lotus. The three private BMW 3.5 CSL had to make do with far less engine power than the works car . The Hermetite car was driven by John Fitzpatrick and Tom Walkinshaw . Alpina reported a 3.5 CSL for Hughes de Fierlant and Harald Grohs and Schnitzer one for Dieter Quester and Albrecht Krebs . A fourth 3.5 CSL, reported by Jean-Claude Aubriet , had an accident during training.

While the new Group 5 Chevrolet Camaro (drivers Reine Wisell and Stuart Graham ) made its racing debut, the first race of the Lancia Stratos Turbo was postponed again. Lancia reported a car for Vittorio Brambilla and Carlo Facetti , but did not show up for practice and races.

The course of the race

Jochen Mass in the Porsche 935 was fastest in qualifying with a time of 1: 26.850 minutes and an average of 195.590 km / h. He was almost a second faster than Ronnie Peterson in the factory BMW, who drove a time of 1: 27.930 minutes. These two teams also dominated the early stages of the race until the BMW tires began to show signs of disintegration. As expected, the tire wear was great. After just ten laps, Peterson had to go to the pits for the first time to change. After only 43 laps, a gearbox damage stopped the BMW. The factory Porsche 935 also had problems with the transmission, which forced the car to make some unplanned long stops at the pits. In the end, Mass and Ickx were classified as tenth overall, 51 laps behind the winner.

The race was won by John Fitzpatrick and Tom Walkinshaw in a BMW 3.5 CSL. Since Walkinshaw started a race for the British Touring Car Championship in Thruxton on the same day and also won in a Ford Capri II 3.0 , he was only able to sit in the car for the first hour. The rest of the time, John Fitzpatrick had to drive, who at the end of the race had to fend off many attempts by Bob Wollek in his Porsche 935. He won after a driving time of 6 hours with a lead of 1.1 seconds on Wollek.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	Size 5	4th	Hermetite BMW	John Fitzpatrick Tom Walkinshaw	BMW 3.5 CSL	218
2	Size 5	10	Porsche Kremer Racing	Bob Wollek Hans Heyer	Porsche 935	218
3	Size 5	16	Egon Evertz	Leo Kinnunen Egon Evertz	Porsche 934/5	216
4th	Size 5	3	Alpina	Hughes de Fierlant Harald Grohs	BMW 3.5 CSL	214
5	GT	25th	Egon Evertz	Lella Lombardi Heinz Martin	Porsche 934	206
6th	Size 5	54	Jolly Club	Martino Finotto Umberto Grano	Ford Escort	200
7th	GT	31	Kenneth glue	Kurt Simonsen Kenneth Leim	Porsche Carrera RSR	189
8th	Size 5	24	Bob Neville	Derek Worthington Bob Neville	MGB GT V8	185
9	T	58	Tony Brennan	Tony Brennan Arthur Collier	Ford Escort RS2000	178
10	Size 5	9	Martini Racing	Jacky Ickx Jochen Mass	Porsche 935	167
Not classified
11	T	57	Ken Coffey	Eric Mandron Ken Coffey	Ford Escort RS 2000	149
Failed
12	Size 5	2	Blunder	Dieter Quester Albrecht Krebs	BMW 3.5 CSL	160
13	GT	15th	Louis Meznarie	Hubert Striebig Guy Chasseuil Anne-Charlotte Verney	Porsche 934	90
14th	GT	37	John Cooper	John Cooper Nick Faure	Porsche Carrera RSR	90
15th	T	51	Toyota Switzerland	Manfred Schurti Walter Frey Paul Keller	Toyota Celica	83
16	Size 5	22nd	Zip-Up Racing Team	Pure Wisell Stuart Graham	Chevrolet Camaro	64
17th	Size 5	1	BMW Motorsport GmbH	Ronnie Peterson Gunnar Nilsson	BMW 3.2 CSL Turbo	43
Not started
18th	T	5	Jean-Claude Aubriet	Jean-Claude Depince Jean-Claude Aubriet	BMW 3.5 CSL	1
19th	T	41	John Markey Racing	John Markey Wendy Markey	Mazda RX-3	2
20th	T	56	Derek McMahon	Alec Poole Derek McMahon	Ford Escort RS 2000	3

¹ Accident in training ² Engine damage in training ³ 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
21st	Size 5		Lancia Corse	Vittorio Brambilla Carlo Facetti	Lancia Stratos Turbo
22nd	GT	11	Gelo Racing Team	Tim donation	Porsche Carrera RSR
23	GT	12	Gelo Racing Team	Toine Hezemans Clemens Schickentanz	Porsche Carrera RSR
24	GT	14th	Claude Haldi	Claude Haldi Arturo Merzario	Porsche Carrera RSR
25th	GT	32	Joest Racing	Reinhold Joest Jürgen Barth Eckhard Schimpf	Porsche Carrera RSR
26th	GT	34	Marshall Wingfield	Gerry Marshall Willie Green	Porsche Carrera RSR
27	T	40	John Markey Racing	Wendy Markey Georgie Shaw	Mazda RX-3
28	Size 5	55	Martino Finotto	Romeo Camathias	Ford Escort RS 2000

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
Size 5	John Fitzpatrick	Tom Walkinshaw	BMW 3.5 CSL	Overall victory
GT	Lella Lombardi	Heinz Martin	Porsche 934	Rank 5
T	Tony Brennan	Arthur Collier	Ford Escort RS2000	Rank 9

Racing data

• Registered: 28
• Started: 17
• Valued: 10
• Race classes: 3
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: muggy and hot
• Route length: 4.719 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 6: 00: 00,000 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 218
• Total distance of the winning team: 1024.879 km
• Winner's average: 170.813 km / h
• Pole position: Jochen Mass - Porsche 935 (# 9) - 1: 26.850 = 195.590 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Jacky Ickx - Porsche 935 (# 9) - 1: 28.190 = 192.618 km / h
• Racing series: 5th round of the Sports Car World Championship in 1976

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

Commons : 6 Hours of Silverstone 1976  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Race report
• Race results

Individual evidence

1. ↑ British Formula 3 Championship 1975
2. ↑ Thruxton 1976

Previous race, the Monza 4-hour race in 1976

Sports car world championship

Follow -up race 500 km in Imola 1976