6 Hours of Silverstone 1978

The victorious factory - Porsche 935/78

The 1978 Silverstone 6-hour race , also known as the Silverstone World Manufacturers 6 Hours, Silverstone , took place on May 14th at the Silverstone Circuit and was the sixth round of the World Sports Car Championship of that year.

The race

At the endurance race at Silverstone, the factory cars from Porsche and BMW met for the first time in the 1978 World Sports Car Championship . Under the leadership of Norbert Singer and Manfred Jantke , a completely new Group 5 prototype was developed and built at Porsche. The Porsche 935/78 was based on the Porsche 911 SC and was given the nickname Moby-Dick by the factory mechanics because of its large dimensions and white base paint . The new 3.2-liter six - cylinder boxer engine developed a maximum of 620 kW (845 hp) at a speed of 8200 rpm with two turbochargers. At the debut at Silverstone the new Porsche was clearly superior to the competition. In free practice, Jochen Mass regularly drove five seconds faster than in his pole position the year before . Qualification training and races went smoothly. With partner Jacky Ickx , Mass was consistently at the top of the race. The lead over the second-placed Kremer -935 of Bob Wollek and Henri Pescarolo was seven laps at the finish.

The works BMW 320i Turbo with a 2-liter turbo engine, driven by Ronnie Peterson and Hans-Joachim Stuck , also had no chance against the Porsche. Starting from sixth training position in the race, the two Formula 1 drivers drove the BMW up to second place in the overall standings, but were several laps behind the lead vehicle when it failed due to a defect in the injection system. The race was a disaster for Georg Loos' team . All three Porsche 935 / 77A cars were down after an accident and technical defects.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	Size 5	1	Martini Porsche	Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx	Porsche 935/78	236
2	Size 5	8th	Porsche Kremer Racing	Bob Wollek Henri Pescarolo	Porsche 935 / 77A	229
3	Size 5	53	BMW Belgium	Harald Grohs Eddy Joosen	BMW 320i	220
4th	Size 5	54	BMW Belgium	Freddy Kottulinsky Markus Hotz	BMW 320i	220
5	Size 5	9	Porsche Kremer Racing	Dieter Schornstein Louis Krages Bob Wollek	Porsche 935 / 77A	219
6th	Size 5	11	Konrad Racing	Franz Konrad Volkert Merl	Porsche 935 / 77A	203
7th	GT	25th	Wrangler Racing Team	Eberhard Sindel Preben Kristoffersen	Porsche 934	198
8th	GT	24	Pallvano Corse	Angelo Pallavicini Peter Bernhard	Porsche 934	195
9	GT	31	Simon Phillips	Martin Raymond Simon Phillips John Beasley	Porsche Carrera RSR	191
10	Size 5	32	Charles Ivey Engineering	Bob Neville Tony Wingrove Pete Lovett	Porsche Carrera RSR	190
11	Size 5	10	Team Vastkustugan	Kurt Simonsen Jan Lundgardh	Porsche 935 2.0	187
12	GT	35	ASA Cachia	Georges Bourdillat Alain-Michel Bernard	Porsche Carrera RSR	184
13	T	41	David Brodie	David Brodie Dave Matthews	Ford Capri III	183
14th	Size 5	17th	Klaus Drees	Mike Franey Klaus Drees	Porsche 935	183
15th	GT	22nd	Kenneth glue	Kenneth Leim Lella Lombardi	Porsche 934	178
16	Size 5	5	Gelo Racing Team	Toine Hezemans Hans Heyer John Fitzpatrick	Porsche 935 / 77A	178
Failed
17th	Size 5	38	BMW Motorsport GmbH	Ronnie Peterson Hans-Joachim Stuck	BMW 320i Turbo	150
18th	GT	28	Meccarillos Racing Team	Jacques Guérin Jean-Pierre Delaunay	Porsche 934	140
19th	Size 5	4th	Gelo Racing Team	Derek Bell Klaus Ludwig Hans Heyer	Porsche 935 / 77A	111
20th	Size 5	6th	Gelo Racing Team	John Fitzpatrick Toine Hezemans	Porsche 935 / 77A	95
21st	Size 5	55	BMW Italia Osella	Giorgio Francia Umberto Grano	BMW 320i	95
21st	Size 5	15th	Meccarillos Racing Team	Claude Haldi Herbert Müller	Porsche 935	66
22nd	GT	23	Max Moritz car dealership	Edgar Dören Gerhard Holup	Porsche 934	55
23	GT	60	Carter Bros. Rochdale Ltd.	Jon Fletcher Barrie Williams	Lotus Elan	41
24	Size 5	51	BMW Sweden Bo Emanuelson Racing	Bo Emanuelsson Ingvar Carlsson	BMW 320i	30th
25th	Size 5	14th	Jolly Club	Carlo Facetti Martino Finotto	Porsche 935	24
26th	Size 5	16	ASA Cachia	Jean-Louis Lafosse Michel Leclère	Porsche 935	24
Not started
27	Size 5	12	Konrad Racing	Franz Konrad Volkert Merl	Porsche 935	1
28	T	42	Jeremy Nightingale	Les Blackburn Brian Robinson Stuart Rolt Jeremy Nightingale	Ford Capri III	2
29	Size 5	52	BMW Faltz Essen	Dieter Quester Tom Walkinshaw	BMW 320i	3
Not qualified
30th	GT	61	Dick Lovett Specialist Cars	Pete Lovett Peter Richman	Porsche 924	4th
31	T	63	Ronnie Scott's Club	Dave McPherson Pete King John Waterman	Ford Escort	5
32	T	64	Ken Coffey	Cyd Williams John Morris Ken Coffey	Ford Escort RS 2000	6th
33	T	68	Hughes of Beaconsfield	Brian Cutting Gordon Mayers	Toyota Celica	7th

¹ withdrawn ² drive shaft in training ³ accident in training ⁴ not qualified ⁵ not qualified ⁶ not qualified ⁷ not qualified

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
34	Size 5	2	Reinhold Joest	Reinhold Joest Jürgen Barth	Porsche 935 / 77A
35	Size 5	26th	Jolly Club	Carlo Rebai	Porsche 934
36	Size 5	27	Jolly Club	Girolamo Capra Michele di Gioia	Porsche 934
37	Size 5	33	Charles Ivey Engineering	Charles Ivey	Porsche Carrera
38	GT	34	Bernard Salam	Bernard Salam	Porsche Carrera
39	Size 5	58	Macinnes Amcron Racing Team	Ian Marshall Matthew Argenti	Lotus Esprit S1
40	Size 5	59	Morfe Racing with Polaroof	Richard Jenvey	Lotus Esprit S1
41	T	66	Remco team	Michele Lauria Daniël Rombaut	Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
Size 5	Jochen Mass	Jacky Ickx	Porsche 935/78	Overall victory
GT	Eberhard Sindel	Preben Kristoffersen	Porsche 934	Rank 7
T	David Brodie	Dave Matthews	Ford Capri III	Rank 13

Racing data

• Registered: 41
• Started: 26
• Valued: 16
• Race classes: 3
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: initially light rain, later dry
• Route length: 4.719 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 6: 00: 00,000 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 236
• Total distance of the winning team: 1109.627 km
• Winner's average: 184.938 km / h
• Pole position: Jochen Mass - Porsche 935/78 (# 1) - 1: 22.380 = 206.202 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Jacky Ickx - Porsche 935/78 (# 1) - 1: 23.980 = 202.519 km / h
• Racing series: Round 6 of the 1978 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 report
• Race results

Preceding race 6 Hours of Dijon 1978

Sports car world championship

Successor 1000 km race on the Nürburgring in 1978