Stefan Bellof

Stefan Bellof

Nation:	Germany
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	1984 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last start:	1985 Dutch Grand Prix
Constructors
1984-1985  Tyrrell
statistics
World Cup balance:	WM-16. ( 1985 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 20th - - -
World Cup points :	4th
Podiums :	1 ( dq. )
Leadership laps :	-

Stefan Bellof (born November 20, 1957 in Giessen , † September 1, 1985 in Stavelot , Belgium ) was a German racing driver . In 1984 and 1985 Bellof drove in Formula 1 . He achieved his greatest successes in sports car races . In the 1984 season he was world endurance champion, German racing champion and European driver champion. Bellof was the first German racing driver to win a world championship title on the automobile circuit. Colleagues and observers thought Bellof was the fastest racing driver of his generation. He died in a racing accident in Belgium in September 1985.

family

Stefan Bellof grew up in an automotive-related environment. His father Georg had taken part in rallies and hill climbs in his youth ; later he was an official in the ONS . The father ran a body shop and paint shop in Gießen, where Stefan Bellof worked as an employee until the 1980s.
Bellof and his brother Georg junior , who was a year older than him , started karting together in 1971 . From 1973 the Bellof brothers took part in German and European championships; often they competed directly against each other. During this time, both were supported financially and logistically by their father who, according to his own account, invested around 50,000 DM annually in his sons. In 1979 Georg junior switched to Bertram Schäfer Racing in the German Formula 3 Championship , which he finished in sixth place. In the family, this performance was perceived as disappointing. Georg Bellof senior then concentrated his support exclusively on Stefan Bellof, while his brother ended his motorsport career.

Bellof lived with Angelika Langner from 1976 until his death, who often accompanied him to the racetracks and designed the design of his helmet. The relationship remained childless. Langner later married the racing driver Harald Grohs .

Career

The climb

The helmet design designed in 1982 by his girlfriend Angelika Langner in the national colors of Germany

In 1971 Bellof joined the Oppenrod karting club with his brother . In his second year he won seven kart races, in 1980 he became German kart champion, two years after his older brother Georg jr. (called Goa ). Also in the 1980s, Stefan achieved his first major successes in the Formula Ford junior class . Stefan Bellof's extraordinary talent was already foreseeable when he competed in Formula Super Vee in 1981 and at the same time finished third in the German Formula 3 Championship . For 1982 he got a chance in Formula 2 with the German team Maurer - BMW . He won the first two races ( Silverstone , Hockenheim ) in the hard-fought series and finished fourth.

Sports car world championship

The factory team of Porsche offered him in 1983 a place in sports car racing , where he immediately outclassed the experienced teammates. Until June 29, 2018, Stefan Bellof was the only one who lapped the Nürburgring - Nordschleife with an average speed of more than 200 km / h, on May 28, 1983 during training for the 1000 km race with a Porsche 956 (chassis no. 007); Lap time: 6: 11.13 minutes for the shortened distance of 20.835 km due to construction work. Ex-F1 driver Jochen Mass was five seconds slower in second place, the reigning F1 world champion Keke Rosberg lost 30 seconds in his first sports car race on the Nordschleife. In the race, however, Bellof crashed while in the lead after setting a new lap record of 6: 25.91 minutes. For comparison: the heavier vehicles still permitted on the Nordschleife today need around seven minutes for the same route variant. Although he was the fastest driver in the team, he was only fourth in the year-end statement.

Formula 2

In 1982 Bellof made his debut at Maurer Motorsport in the Formula 2 European Championship . Maurer was one of the teams that designed their own chassis in this series, which is primarily dominated by customer vehicles. The team had the previous year with Eje Elgh third place; with the commitment of Bellof, team boss Willy Maurer hoped to achieve better results. Bellof had already tested a Formula 2 car for Maurer in October 1981. His involvement with Maurer provided the team with technical support from the engine manufacturer BMW : At the mediation of Dieter Stappert , Maurer received free engines in return for Bellof's commitment for the 1982 season.

Bellof's debut in Formula 2 was successful. This gave him the reputation of the "coming man in German motorsport."

1982 season

Bellof won the first two races of his Formula 2 career with the Maurer MM82 and led the championship until May 1982. After that, there were only a few finishings in the points. He finished second at the Gran Premio del Mediterraneo in Enna and third at the Rhine Cup race at the Hockenheimring . He scored a total of 33 points, so he finished the season fourth in the Formula 2 European Championship.

Stefan-Bellof-S information board at the Nürburgring (2019)

During the 1982 season, Bellof suffered several accidents that led to failures or lost time. In the third championship run, he was out on the first lap due to a collision. In the subsequent ADAC Eifel race on the Nürburgring , he was initially in the top group. Bellof drove the fastest lap of the race and the best time that has ever been achieved with a Formula 2 car on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring. In the further course of the race there was a duel between Bellof and the Spirit factory driver Thierry Boutsen . Boutsen fended off an attempt to overtake Bellof by pushing his competitor off the track onto the side surfaces. This damaged Bellof's rear tire, causing the bricklayer to fall back. Bellof finally crossed the finish line in fifth. Bellof suffered the most serious accident at the Grand Prix de Formule 2 Belgique at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps : on lap 17 in the Eau Rouge , his car lost traction due to aquaplaning. Bellofs Maurer overturned several times and crashed into the Spitzley DS1 docking station , which Thierry Tassin had previously parked here after an accident. Bellof was able to leave his bricklayer on his own before Piero Necchi and Carlo Rossi hit Spitzley in the second docking station. Three years later, Bellof had a fatal accident in the same place in a sports car race. On the first lap of the last race of the season, the Gran Premio dell'Adriatico in Misano , Bellof bumped into the car of March works driver Johnny Cecotto , who still had a chance of winning the championship. Cecotto then spun off the track and lost three laps in the subsequent repair of his car, so that he finally crossed the finish line in 15th place and was only runner-up. Bellof, on the other hand, drove the fastest lap as the race continued and crossed the finish line in fifth. After the race there was a tangible argument between Bellof and Cecotto.

1983 season

Bellof's second year in the Formula 2 European Championship was less successful than his debut season. Maurer entered Bellof for ten races in 1983 . He only competed seven times, however, because this year he drove factory sports car races for Porsche and there were repeated deadlines. Bellof only crossed the finish line three times in 1983; his best result was second place at the Gran Premio de Madrid . He was  canceled three times due to technical defects, in the Grand Prix de Pau he - like his teammate Alain Ferté - was disqualified for being underweight in the car, and in the Gran Premio dell'Adriatico he was not allowed to start because of non-compliant aprons on his car. Bellof finished his second and final Formula 2 season in ninth place.

formula 1

Stefan Bellof in 1984 at the Tyrrell in Dallas

For the 1984 season, Formula 1 teams were interested in the fastest German in years. Despite successful test drives in the McLaren , which was to dominate the F1 until 1986 with a Porsche turbo engine , there was no free space for him. Contractual difficulties due to his commitment to Porsche, on the other hand, prevented entry with the world champion turbo engine from BMW at Brabham or ATS .

At short notice, Bellof was offered a Formula 1 place in the Tyrrell team , which was the only one that still had to make do with the inferior conventional naturally aspirated engines . Since the much more powerful turbo engines were common at the time, and their boost pressure could be turned up during training, starting positions at the end of the field were inevitable. In the first race in Brazil , Bellof started in 23rd place, overtook seven competitors on the first lap and was 13th at the beginning of the third lap after an overtaking maneuver against Ayrton Senna when the throttle cable snapped.

At the Monaco Grand Prix he started again from the back of the field, but was able to move up to 3rd place in the rain before the race was stopped. At times, Bellof not only drove faster than the leading Alain Prost , but also faster than the completely unleashed Ayrton Senna . At the end of the season Bellof would have finished 14th in the World Championship, but the entire team was disqualified because the weight of the cars in the race violated the regulations. Tyrrell had installed a water cooling system for the brakes, the tanks of which were filled with water when they were inspected, but were empty during the race. Shortly before the end of the race, water ballast mixed with lead balls was filled in in order to achieve the minimum weight again.

Between the Formula 1 races, Bellof won the world championship title in sports cars and the German championship with the works Porsche in 1984.

Gravestone in the new cemetery in Giessen

Deadly accident

In the supposed transition season of 1985, he continued to drive in the defeated Tyrrell , but separated from the Porsche factory and now drove in sports car races in the private Group C Porsche for Walter Brun against his former team. At the 1000 km race at Spa-Francorchamps in 1985, Bellof and his Brun - Porsche 956 B-116 collided with the Belgian in the Eau Rouge valley while attempting to overtake Jacky Ickx on the outside in a works Porsche 962 C. Overtaking in this corner was generally considered impossible at the time. Bellof's car crashed head-on against a concrete pillar behind the guardrails with almost undiminished speed, while Ickx's car turned and the driver was only slightly injured. Bellof probably died at the scene of the accident. Officially, however, it was said that the cardiac arrest only occurred in the hospital. Later, his family in particular expressed allegations against Ickx, who, contrary to his better judgment, did not give his opponent the proverbial “place to survive” and ignored the blue flag . In a television interview immediately before the race, Bellof had expressed that the corner in question was too dangerous for an overtaking maneuver.

Almost all contemporary observers assumed that Bellof's fatal accident was due to his own driving error. Bellof's team-mate Thierry Boutsen and Marc Surer , who took part in the race in a Kremer Porsche, agreed that the scene of the accident was not suitable for overtaking; Surer didn't even dare to lap it there. Boutsen was of the opinion that Bellof had misjudged the overtaking process.

As part of an ARD report on Bellof, which was broadcast on October 20, 2013, Bellof's former teammate Jochen Mass also commented on the accident:

“Perhaps Jacky had driven especially carefully down there, not slowly, but more cautiously, and he [Bellof] thought he could [overtake] him [Ickx] out there  - it would have been nice to close Jacky Ickx outside overtaking down there in the Eau Rouge, everyone would have said: the greatest! But these are things that don't always work out. "

He sees the allegations against Ickx as follows:

“That's all nonsense. Jacky drove his line - you don't overtake there. That's why I don't pay attention to whether someone might want to overtake me. "

In conclusion, Mass saw the blame for the accident in the overtaking attempt at Bellof:

“Everyone has their own theory about it. I drove, I was there, I saw it and I also know what can be done there and what isn't with the cars, and that's not it. That was not feasible. "

Quotes about Stefan Bellof

“Stefan reminded me a lot of Jochen Rindt. Neither cared about reputation or convention, and both had incredibly good reflexes. "

- Dieter Stappert

"Stefan Bellof is the greatest talent I've ever seen."

- Jackie Stewart (1984)

"Bellof was a cross between Michael Schumacher and Gilles Villeneuve."

- Herbie Blash

souvenir

Father Georg Bellof (left) and Angelika Grohs, née Langner, (in the foreground) in the Stefan Bellof Memorial to examine Bellof's first formula racing car

Since April 2006 there has been a Stefan Bellof memorial in the collector & hobby world in Alten-Buseck (near Gießen). Mementos from the possession of Stefan Bellof are presented here on around 50 m², including his first go-kart, driver overalls, trophies, certificates and model cars. As a further highlight, Bellof's first racing car has been located there since September 2007. The Formula Ford 1600 PRS from the 1980 season is to be restored to its 1980 condition.

In the Busecker village of Oppenrod , the outdoor go-kart track bears Bellof's name. His hometown Gießen honored him with the Stefan-Bellof-Straße in an industrial park.

On August 10, 2013, a section of the Nürburgring-Nordschleife was named Stefan-Bellof-S , in memory of the lap record of 6: 11.13 minutes on May 28, 1983, the 30th anniversary of 2013. The record lasted until 2018.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1983	Rothmans Porsche KG	Porsche 956	Jochen Mass	failure	Engine failure

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11
1982	Kremer Racing	Porsche CK5	MON	SIL	ONLY	LEM	SPA	MUG	FUJ	BRH
							DNF
1983	Porsche	Porsche 956	MON	SIL	ONLY	LEM	SPA	FUJ	KYA
				1	DNF	DNF	2	1	1
1984	Porsche Brun Motorsport	Porsche 956	MON	SIL	LEM	ONLY	BRH	MOS	SPA	IMO	FUJ	KYA	SAN
			1	10		1	5	4th	1	1	1		1
1985	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 962	MUG	MON	SIL	LEM	HOK	MOS	SPA	BRH	FUJ	SEL
			3	DNF	10		DNF		DNF

Awards

• ADAC Motorsportman of the Year 1984

literature

• Rainer Braun, Ferdi Kräling: Stefan Bellof - A career that is far too short. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2005, ISBN 3-7688-1600-1 .
• Ferdi Krähling, Gregor Messer: Sieg or Selters. The German drivers in Formula 1 . Delius Klasing, Bielefeld, 2013, ISBN 978-3-7688-3686-9

Film documentaries

• The short life of a racing driver. Stefan Bellof - An unfinished career. German TV documentary by Wolfgang Avenarius , ARD 1986, approx. 45 minutes
• Stefan Bellof: Full throttle to death - the short life of a great motorsport talent. German TV documentary by Henning Rütten and Boris Poscharsky , ARD 2013, approx. 45 minutes

Web links

Commons : Stefan Bellof  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of Stefan Bellof
• Website on Stefan Bellof by Thomas Guthmann
• Fansite with information and photos

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Braun & Kräling (2005), p. 17.
2. ^ Enzo Ferrari personally engaged Stefan Bellof ; Mittelhessen.de from September 9, 2012
3. ↑ Statistics of the German Formula 3 Championship 1979 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on February 14, 2015).
4. ↑ ^{a b} Braun & Kräling (2005), p. 23.
5. ↑ (Incomplete) entry on Georg Bellof on the website www.driverdb.com (accessed on February 14, 2015).
6. ↑ Krähling & knife (2013), pp 83rd
7. ↑ Motorsport aktuell, issue 33/2004, p. 6
8. ^ David Hodges: Rennwagen from A – Z after 1945 , Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 , p. 192
9. ↑ Eberhard Reuß, Ferdi Kräling: Formula 2. The story from 1964 to 1984 , Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-7688-3865-8 , p. 185.
10. ↑ Braun & Kräling (2005), p. 48 f.
11. ↑ Mike Lawrence: March, The Rise and Fall of a Motor Racing Legend , MRP, Orpington 2001, ISBN 1-899870-54-7 , p. 156 f.
12. ^ ^{A b} Thomas Voigt, Erich Mullender: Fatal accident . Report on the 1000 kilometer race at Spa-Francorchamps. Motorsport aktuell, issue 37/1985, p. 22.
13. ^ Peter Wyss: Stefan Bellof. Obituary in: Motorsport aktuell, issue 37/1985, p. 24.
14. ↑ ^{a b} Helmut Zwickl: "Stefan misjudged himself ..." , Motorsport aktuell, issue 38/1985, p. 10.
15. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99LEZeb1pUw YouTube.com: Stefan Bellof - With full throttle into death.
16. ↑ Braun & Kräling (2005), p. 53.
17. ↑ Braun & Kräling (2005), p. 125.
18. ↑ Braun & Kräling (2005), p. 111.