Author: the braking zone

Round four of the championship takes place on the brand new short course at the Nurburgring.  The midsummer rains have come to the Eiffel Mountains as practice gets underway.  The new Nurburgring might fit 80,000 people to come and watch a sports car race, but the mystique and challenge of the old Nordschleife has gone by the wayside in the Group C era.  Vern Schuppan is teaming with Germany’s Christian Danner in the camera car, the #16 Richard Lloyd Canon Porsche 956.  But, in the rain, Schuppan got caught out, plowing through the gravel trap, damaging the right front corner of the car.  Schuppan and Danner, were scratched from the field.  Game over, before the race even begins.

Stefan Bellof has pole in the Rothman’s Porsche, and 42 cars overall, will take the start here at the new Nurburgring.  OK.  The cars are set to roll for the start of the race.  Stefan Bellof leads the way with Hans Stuck alongside in the #9 Schiesser sponsored Brun Porsche 956 he is sharing with fellow German, Harald Grohs.  Go!  It’s a clean start, and Bellof leads away from Hans Stuck, and then comes the #14 Canon Porsche 956.  Christian Danner, after his accident with the sister car, has joined as a third driver in #14 alongside Jonathan Palmer and Jan Lammers.

Bellof and Stuck are getting after it early in this motor race, while, with a ringside seat, it’s the aforementioned Canon car, with Jan Lammers at the wheel of it.  For several early laps, these three Porsche 956’s were glued together.  Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass follow in fourth spot in Rothmans Porsche #1, while one of the Lancia’s is fifth overall.  It’s the #4 of Bob Wollek and Riccardo Patrese, being followed by the sister car (#5), of Alessandro Nannini, and Paolo Barilla, the all-Italian squad.  Stuck gets past Bellof, and now, Bellof has his hands full with Johnny Palmer.  Hey Stefan, here’s Johnny!  So, these two blokes are content to play cat and mouse for a bit.

The privateer Porsche’s are doing extremely well running with the factory prepared machines.  Stuck draws away, but Palmer decides “I want second spot”, and goes three wide with a couple of back markers to get it!  Boy oh boy!  Mechanical troubles for Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass, benefit the #33 Skoal Bandit Porsche 956 for John Fitzpatrick and David Hobbs, moving them to fourth overall.  In the meantime, Rupert Keegan in the sister Skoal Bandit Porsche, the #55, has gone dancing with Oscar Larrauri.  Keegan probably thinks, “hey Oscar, are you dancing with two left feet or what?  Why did you spin me out?”

Somehow I wonder if these two blokes exchanged Christmas cards after the season.  I can’t imagine Larrauri was on Keegan’s list after this little shemozzle.  No wonder Larrauri is known as a wild man.  Play it cool, Oscar.  Meanwhile, both Rothmans Porsche’s hit pit lane at the same time.  Hans Stuck is in the lane as well for full service, and a driver change, handing the car to Harald Grohs.  The lead battle between Rothmans and Canon Porsche is boiling.  They lap past the C2 leaders, the #70 Spice Tiga Ford Cosworth being shared by Gordon Spice, Ray Bellm, and Neil Crang.  There’s more competition through the top five, as Harald Grohs is holding off challenges from both Jacky Ickx and Thierry Boutsen.

It really is anyone’s race so far, here at the Nurburgring.  The Spice Tiga is in another zip code in the C2 class.  No one can touch these blokes.  They’ll go on to win.  But, there’s a change for the lead.  The #14 Canon Porsche, has passed Stefan Bellof in the #2 Rothmans Porsche.  Palmer, Lammers, and Danner (sounds like a law firm, doesn’t it?), are setting sail in the mid-point of this motor race.  The skies are darkening, and rain showers could be on the horizon.  The #19 Schiesser Porsche passes one of the two GTX class Porsche 935’s in the field.  This is the #64 car driven by Italian’s “Victor” (we don’t know his full name), and Gianni Giudicci, along with Angelo Pallavicini from Switzerland.

The Ickx/Mass Porsche is having trouble, and so is the Lancia squad, as the electronics are playing up on the LC2 prototypes.  Lucky for the Nannini/Barilla pairing, they still run in the top six.  Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass could see their points lead in the driver’s championship evaporate.  They are experiencing brake issues on the #1 Porsche.  Rain has come to the Nurburgring.  Not an unusual sight at all.  Now, with the rain tires, the Skoal Bandit team are running Goodyear tires and the rest of the frontrunners are on Dunlop rubber.  What does this mean?  The Goodyear skins have superior durability and traction as compared to the Dunlop’s.

The track is getting wetter, as we have one of the Group B production cars off the road.  This is the #101 BMW M1 with car owner Jens Winther sharing with fellow Dane Lars-Viggo Jensen, and Brit David Mercer.  More trouble on the slick track as the #14 Porsche is off the road!  That car was in the lead!  Well, not anymore.  The Canon crew finally decides to bring the car in, changing from slick tires to wets.  They’ve lost gobs of time after that small mishap on track.  It’s game over for the Brun Porsche.  “Rainmesiter” Hans Stuck, didn’t live up to the nickname, spun off, and incurred crash damage, expiring from the race with a crunched Porsche 956.

Thierry Boutsen in the #33 Skoal Bandit Porsche inherits the race lead, sharing with David Hobbs.  The #2 Stefan Bellof and Derek Bell 956 Porsche had a spin, and allowed the Skoal car to go by.  The Tiga Ford still leads C2, with Ray Bellm at the controls.  The conditions are still slippery.  Manfred Winkelhock spins the #10 Kremer Porsche 956 he shares with Switzerland’s Marc Surer, after some argy bargy with the #18 Obermaier Racing Porsche 956 of David Sutherland.  Sutherland is sharing with Germany’s Jurgen Lassig, and New Zealander Mike Thackwell, a veteran of Group C and also single seater racing.

Finally, the track begins to dry, and Thierry Boutsen has now driven for the maximum allotted race time of four hours.  Here at the Nurburgring, we won’t break the 1,000 kilometer distance, and instead, the race will run to its 6 hour time limit, and the rule states, the official result is based on whichever one, time or distance, comes first.  The battle for the lead is between the factory Rothmans Porsche and the Skoal Bandit privateer team owned by John Fitzpatrick.  Jacky Ickx into the pit lane for routine service and a driver change, as Jochen Mass will take over.  But, the #1 team continues to have recurring brake issues.

The Rothmans #1 will finish seventh.  We have only six laps left before this race is over.  It’s a battle royal between Hobbs and Bellof.  Hobbs is the rabbit, and Bellof is the hound.  Bellof catches David Hobbs, and goes on to win it, with a mere 15 seconds, the margin of victory!  How close do you like it?  So, here are the results.

1. #2 Bellof/Bell           Rothmans Porsche          Porsche 956
2. #33 Boutsen/Hobbs                Skoal Bandit Porsche Team         Porsche 956
3. #5 Nannini/Barilla  Martini Racing                  Lancia LC2/84
4. #14 Palmer/Lammers             Canon Porsche  Porsche 956
5. #10 Surer/Winkelhock           Porsche Kremer Racing  Porsche 956
6. #19 Larrauri/Sigala                   Team Gaggia Porsche Porsche 956

Next up, a return to England, and the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, in two weeks time.

It is time, for the most prestigious sports car race, anywhere, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in Le Mans, France.  This year, Jaguar makes their long awaited return to this great motor race.  Two cars are entered by Group 44 Racing from the United States, who is very successful in the IMSA championship.  One (#40), for Tony Adamowicz from the United States, Northern Ireland’s John Watson, and France’s Claude Ballot-Lena.  The other, (#44), for team owner, American Bob Tulius, England’s Brian Redman, and Doc Bundy, from the United States.

The Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5’s race with 6.0 liter, 60 degree V12 engines.  The Porsche effort, at Le Mans this year, sees no factory Rothmans cars.  They withdrew because of the FIA’s fuel regulations changes, which they deemed to be unfair.  Joest Racing and their trio of New Man sponsored Porsche’s become the favorites, and of these, the most likely to win could be the #7 car with Klaus Ludwig and Henri Pescarolo.  Pescarolo is already a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans?  Can he make it four in 1984?

Two cars are being entered by the Canon Porsche team.  Johnny Palmer, Jan Lammers, and Richard Lloyd will drive one, the usual #14 car, and then, there is car #16, to be driven by Lloyd, Pink Floyd drummer, Nick Mason, and Frenchman, Rene Metge.  The weather at Le Mans is gorgeous, and ideal for racing.  It is sunny, and in the mid-80’s.  53 cars will take the start, being led by the two factory Martini Lancia’s.  #4 is on pole with Bob Wollek and Alessandro Nannini, choosing just a two-driver lineup, and #5, is second fastest, with three drivers, as Paolo Barilla and Mauro Baldi, are joined for Le Mans, by Hans Heyer of Germany.  There is a third Lancia, car #6.  It is in the yellow paintjob of BP Residences Malardeau, and to be shared by Frenchman Xavier Lapeyre, and Italian Lancia regulars Pierluigi Martini, and Beppe Gabbiani.  The pole time for Wollek and Nannini was 3:17.11 at a top speed down the Mulsanne straight of 217 miles an hour!  Now, that’s quick!

One more note on Lancia.  For Le Mans, they are using a bored out version of the Ferrari 308C V8 with a turbo.  The engine is bored out to 3 liters, rather than the usual 2.6 liter displacement.  OK.  The cars are on the front straight, the trois couleurs flag waves!  The 52^nd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is go!  Lancia’s are 1-2 and lead the field.  Stefan Johansson pulls ahead of Klaus Ludwig.  It’s the battle of the New Man Joest Porsche’s.  The Swede, Johansson, is sharing with Jean Louis Schlesser of France, and Colombian driver, Mauricio de Narvaez.

Surprise, surprise!  Peugeot leads Le Mans ’84 on lap one, as Roger Dorchy muscles his way to the front!  He is driving the #23 Secatava WM P83B Peugeot with it’s 2.8 liter turbo Peugeot PRV ZNS4 V6, alongside countrymen Alain Couderc, and Gerard Patte.  Richard Lloyd takes the #16 Porsche 956 camera car, and makes a pass on the similar machine, #47, the Obermaier Porsche with Boss sponsorship, of Jurgen Lassig.  The German shares the car with regular co-driver George Fouche of South Africa, and Canada’s John Graham.  Bob Wollek overtakes Roger Dorchy for the race lead.

Wollek leads Roger Dorchy, Stefan Johansson, Alan Jones, and John Watson.  Alan Jones, the 1980 Formula 1 World Champion, from Australia, is sharing the #11 Kremer Racing Porsche 956 with countryman Vern Schuppan (last year’s Le Mans winner for Rothmans Porsche), and Frenchman Jean Pierre Jarier, another former F1 driver turned sports car specialist.  Richard Lloyd has a brief off course excursion in the camera car.  Peugeot, Porsche, Porsche, Lancia, is the order.  Roger Dorchy leads Vern Schuppan, Stefan Johansson, and Bob Wollek.  But, the pressure of leading Le Mans is all too much for the young Frenchman!

Dorchy makes a colossal mistake, and turns sharp left instead of sharp right!  Crunch!  Dorchy demolishes the front end of the WM Peugeot against the Armco!  It’s disaster for the Peugeot boys.  Dorchy if he gets that mangled car back to the lane will be chewed out mercilessly by the team manager.  Alan Jones in the #11 Kremer Porsche 956, takes the lead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  The #7 New Man Porsche makes an early pit stop.  Klaus Ludwig and Henri Pescarolo must be running a slightly different early race strategy.  They will drop out of the top ten, but don’t worry.  This is not the last we’ve heard from car #7.  Vern Schuppan brings car #11 to pit lane, and also pitting, are Lancia.  Alan Jones takes over the #11 Porsche, and this sends Lancia back to the lead.

The battle at the front of the Le Mans 24 Hours is heating up.  Stefan Johansson has also been in the lead, briefly in these opening hours.  Mauro Baldi and Paolo Barilla in the #5 Lancia led for a time.  While Rthe British fans into a frenzy!  Bob Tulius, Brian Redman, and Doc Bundy had led Le Mans, albeit briefly.  The cars would hit trouble, later on.  When Jaguar pitted, the battle resumed between the Wollek/Nannini Lancia, and the #47 Lassig/Fouche/Graham Porsche.  Check that.  It’s the #11 Porsche for Schuppan, Jones, and Jarier.  Through Tertre Rouge, the #4 Lancia takes the lead back.  The battle between the Lancia and the Porsche would endure for five hours.  The cars fly down the Mulsanne straight.  There are still no chicanes on the straight.  It’s a flat out, four mile blast.  The chicanes would come, well after we complete our series on Group C, the Thunder of the ‘80s.  Meanwhile, the Aston Martin Nimrods crept their way into the top ten by dusk.  #32 of Mike Salmon, Richard Attwood, and John Sheldon led the sister car, #31, of Ray Mallock and Drake Olson.

It’s game over already, for the second of the two Skoal Bandit Porsche’s as Rupert Keegan goes off the road, after spinning on oil lain down in Indianapolis corner.  So, he and team mates, Guy Edwards, and Brazilian Roberto Moreno, see no further action in the ’84 Le Mans race.  Checking in with C2, this class is already becoming survival of the fittest, as cars are dropping like flies.  No Alba’s, no Ecurie Ecosse, and no Tiga.  All of those teams have already retired from the race, leaving the two Lola Mazda’s for the BFGoodrich tire company, to pick up the pieces.

#67 is being shared by Jim Busby (the team owner), and Rick Knoop from the United States, and Boy Hayje from Holland.  The sister car (#68), has Japan’s Yoshimi Katayama, being joined by American’s John Morton and John O’Steen.  However, all was not well.  At a quarter past 9PM, there was a massive crash on the Mulsanne straight.  John Sheldon in the #32 Aston Martin Nimrod, had a massive shunt just after the kink on the Mulsanne.  The car vaulted over the Armco, and in the process, the forest was set on fire, and a race marshal, was killed.  The Aston Martin Nimrod was written off, destroyed entirely, and Sheldon sustained serious injuries.

The sister Aston Martin Nimrod, #32, with Drake Olson at the wheel of it, also crashed.  So, he and co-driver Ray Mallock saw their race come to an end.  The Viscount Downe Aston Martin team, was out, and living a nightmare at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  No rekindling past glories of the 1959 win for Aston Martin and David Brown Racing with Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori in the DBR1, 25 years later.  For the next hour, the cars were held behind the safety car under a full course yellow.  Vern Schuppan was also involved in a separate crash, when while driving the #11 Kremer Porsche, he clouted Roger Dorchy who had another shemozzle with the WM Peugeot, and both of those cars retired on the spot.

Night comes.  No real drama, fun for the fans, too, at the carnival etc. to get away from the racing for a while.  The Martini Lancia’s looked to be running away with this motor race, but everything had gone pear shaped for the LC2’s by 3AM.  Hans Heyer brought #5 in, with four of the five gears workable in the transmission, as fifth gear was stripped completely.  The problem was fixed, but Heyer, Barilla, and Baldi dropped to 14^th place in the overall.  At dawn, as the sun rose over La Sarthe, the sister #4 Wollek/Nannini Lancia continued to lead.  #4 encountered suspension issues, handing the lead to the #33 Skoal Bandit Porsche 956 of David Hobbs, South Africa’s Sarel van der Merwe, and Frenchman Philippe Streiff.

Jaguar hung in there for as long as they could.  But, reliving their glories was not to be.  #44 of Tulius, Redman, and Bundy was out with a transmission failure, and Tony Adamowicz crashed the #40 sister car, so, he and co-driver’s John Watson and Claude Ballot-Lena, were also retirements.  More suspension issues also cropped up for Lancia at dawn.  Ditto, for the Skoal Bandit Porsche, #33.  The car had dropped a cylinder and was only on five of six.  So, retirement was also inevitable for the Hobbs/Streiff/van der Merwe driven car.  Inheriting the lead in all these retirements was the tortoise, so to speak, the #7 New Man Joest Porsche for the two-driver squad of Henri Pescarolo and Klaus Ludwig.  Consistency and luck may pay off for this duo.  Henri Pescarolo already has three consecutive Le Mans wins, with Matra, to his credit in 1972, ’73, and ’74, with the screaming Matra Simca V12 spyders, that were such gorgeous automobiles.  But, Pescarolo and Ludwig are facing a challenge.

It wasn’t their race to win just yet, as the #26 Preston Henn owned Henn’s T-Bird Swap Shop Porsche 956 was hot on their heels, with Henn of the U.S., co-driving with fellow American John Paul Jr. and Jean Rondeau of France, who had won this race before, in 1980, with his own car that he designed.  Meanwhile, the Jaguar challenge came to a halt.  The #40 XJR5 of Brian Redman, was out with transmission failure, along with team mates Bob Tulius and Doc Bundy.  Jaguar would have to wait, to regain their past glory, at Le Mans.

Vern Schuppan, Alan Jones, and Jean Pierre Jarier have brought the #11 Kremer Porsche 956 up to third in the overall.  David Hobbs continues to keep the #33 Skoal Bandit Porsche 956 in fourth, despite running on just five cylinders.  Then there’s drama for the leading #7 New Man Porsche.  Henri Pescarolo brings the car to pit lane, with busted front suspension!  Reinhold Joest’s team springs into action to repair the damage, and the #26 Porsche for Rondeau and Paul Jr. moves to the lead.  On the same lap, the New Man Porsche does complete its service and is back on track.  Vern Schuppan and Alan Jones run third, and Jean Pierre Jarier has joined their team.

Phillipe Streiff is closing in fast as well in the #33 Skoal Bandit Porsche, still running on five cylinders.  The #4 Lancia actually is running in sixth overall.  It’s lasted quite a bit longer than people thought after it’s litany of issues.  Late in the morning, Jean Rondeau is passed for the lead by car #7.  Group C2 at Le Mans will be won by Mazda, as John Morton, John O’Steen, and Yoshimi Katayama, with the BFGoodrich car, have a big lead. Joest Racing wins Le Mans, with Porsche!  Klaus Ludwig and Henri Pescarolo, are victorious, and Pescarolo earns his fourth Le Mans triumph!

Jones, Schuppan, and Jarier, contend with a blown motor, but still finish the race!  Wow!  The #7 Joest Racing New Man Porsche 956 of Klaus Ludwig and Henri Pescarolo are indeed, the winners of Le Mans, 1984!  Lancia only salvages eighth spot with the #4 Bob Wollek, Alessandro Nannini LC2.  Here are the results of the ’84 24 Hours of Le Mans.

1. #7 Ludwig/Pescarolo New Man Joest Racing                  Porsche 956
2. #26 Rondeau/Paul Jr./Henn Henn’s T-Bird Swap Shop             Porsche 956
3. #33 Hobbs/Streiff/van der Merwe Skoal Bandit                                               Porsche 956
4. #9 Brun/von Bayern/Akin Brun Motorsports GmbH              Porsche 956
5. #12 Merl/Schornstein/Winter New Man Schornstein Racing Team     Porsche 956
6. #11 Jones/Schuppan/Jarier Porsche Kremer Racing                 Porsche 956

With Le Mans in the rearview mirror, we move next, to the “new” Nurburgring circuit in the Eiffel Mountains of Germany.

The 2.9 mile layout of the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in Northamptonshire, England is the venue of round two of the World Endurance Championship, and the entire length of the Grand Prix track will be used for this race.  20,000 people will see one of the biggest entries of the year, besides the 24 Hours of Le Mans, contest the Silverstone 1,000 Kilometers.  53 cars entered, and ultimately, 44 of them will start the race.

Three Rothmans Porsche’s are entered for this race, and by the same token, Lancia has also come loaded for bear.  They have more power from their 2.6 liter Ferrari Abarth V8’s, and have a third car, which is the privately entered Jolly Club car for Italian’s Beppe Gabbiani and Pierluigi Martini.  The Skoal Bandit Porsche team led by John Fitzpatrick is close to and hoping for their first win.  We have other notable cars here at Silverstone, among them, the Lola, the Cougar, private Porsche’s, and the Sehcar from Switzerland.  We have the Canon Porsche and also the Joest New Man Porsche, #7 to be driven by German Klaus Ludwig, and Frenchman Henri Pescarolo.

Also, there is the newly turbocharged monster, the Aston Martin Nimrod, which is the most powerful racer on the Group C grid for this event.  There are two of them.  The #31 for the British trio of Richard Attwood, John Sheldon, and Mike Salmon, and the #32 for Ray Mallock and Drake Olson.  There is another Rothmans liveried Porsche in the race, set to carry an onboard camera during the race, for the first time.  This is car #16, with Rothmans livery, and this Porsche 956 will be shared by Richard Lloyd, and Nick Mason, yes… the drummer for Pink Floyd, is driving in this race.  The installation and calibration of the onboard camera takes as much time to work out as the preparation on the car itself.  Lloyd and Mason must both drive a few laps in qualifying in order to actually qualify and be a part of this motor race.  Lloyd is on a timed qualifying lap.  So, we will take a guided tour of the Silverstone circuit.  Down the front straight, under the Shell bridge, and through Copse corner.  Downshift from fifth to fourth gear, power past the apex, sliding to the outside of the road, hitting 170 miles an hour in fifth gear.  Brake, and downshift again, for the 120 mile per hour Becketts corner.

Lapped traffic in the way, and we head now, onto Hangar straight.  This is one of the fastest parts of the track.  Lloyd is going to have to try threading the needle here, with a trio of other Porsche 956’s, and here comes Stowe corner and the grandstands.  Don’t get too close as you peel through Silverstone’s fastest turn.  At Club corner, Richard Lloyd can see the Canon Porsche he owns, ahead.  140 miles per hour through Club corner.  Try to hit 200 miles an hour at the Express bridge.  Uphill, through Abbey in fifth gear, pulling 8,000 RPM.  We hit 200 miles per hour under the bridge, and are on the verge of nipping past the Canon car.

No dice.  Too much traffic.  Lloyd is frustrated by having his lap ruined, and has to get past his competitor, the red Grid sports car #21.  This is the Charles Ivey Racing entry, the Grid S2 powered by the 2.8 liter flat six twin turbo Porsche 930 motor as opposed to the Type 935/76 2.6 liter twin turbo flat six in the back of a 956.  Three British drivers share the Grid car for this race.  John Cooper is sharing with Dudley Wood and Barry Robinson.  The run for the pole continues hot and heavy and Jacky Ickx returns from his qualifying lap only to complain about heavy traffic holding him up, preventing him from going for pole.  Jochen Mass has a decision to make.

He decides to go out on racing tires and not qualifying tires, not going for a flying lap, but going instead for the optimum setup for the race itself.  Porsche will indeed have the front row of the grid, or a spot there.  Ickx and Mass won at Monza, in the season opener, last time out.  Jacky Ickx is pleased with pole, and likes the competition factor Lancia provides.  Porsche does not know the source of the trouble for their motors right now.  More than 40 cars are entered for the Silverstone 1,000 Kilometers.  Keep up the fight against the private Porsche’s and Lancia, as well as the sister Rothmans car.  No team orders.  Fitted with qualifying tires, Stefan Bellof wants to do a flyer.  Dr. Bott, Porsche engine man, warns to look after the engine.  There is only one more fresh racing engine for this weekend at Silverstone.  This is the last one we have.

Rothmans Porsche has been eating up engines, like cookies off a platter.  Bellof lost a motor on Friday in practice, and Bell, during Saturday morning practice.  Both Rothmans cars are on their race engines.  Bellof is back into the lane a lap after setting off on his qualifying run.  Cue the dun dun duuun! horror music!  The new lump in the back of the Porsche 956 is misfiring badly.  Cough, sputter, cough.  The Bosch Motronic engine management system is changed, but the problem persists.  Jacky Ickx discusses with Norbert Singer that the new motor is down on power.  So, Porsche’s weekend, particularly the Rothmans team, it is all going pear shaped here at Silverstone.

Porsche assistant Team Director Peter Falk is also worried.  It is decided that new parts are to be flown in, from Germany, and a complete rebuild will happen.  New pistons are needed.  The pistons are the culprit as to why the engines are coughing, sputtering, and not running.  Ickx and Mass’ confidence has been deflated, and now, instead of lowering lap records, Stefan Bellof has to patiently wait for the motor to be rebuilt.  The situation is no better at Lancia.  Lancia has a misfire for their cars, and this too, means that Paolo Barilla and Mauro Baldi, are also stuck in a rut.  They can’t lower their best lap times either, as the thrash also goes on in their garage, to get the cars fixed.

The engine electronics systems for each Lancia LC2/84 is taken apart and rebuilt.  Tire troubles for Lancia, though, should be a thing of the past, as new Speedline wheels will prevent rim failure and tire punctures.  Lancia is now running on Dunlop tires, to put them on par with the factory Porsche’s.  The Jolly Club Lancia, #6, for Beppe Gabbiani and Pierluigi Martini, pits.  Gabbiani won the Silverstone Formula 2 race in 1983.  Also favored is Richard Lloyd and Canon Porsche/GTi Engineering with Jan Lammers and Johnny Palmer.  Now, they have another car here, without anything in it.  It’ll have to be filled with lead.  Aha.  April Fools!  Or, May Fools!  That’s the show car.  The crew can pick it up, and move it.

Skoal Bandit Porsche looks competitive.  David Hobbs and Thierry Boutsen are fifth quick, while the sister car is ninth with Rupert Keegan and Guy Edwards, but having problems.  The car is belching smoke, in the pit lane.  Oh dear.  It’s a turbo fire, but thankfully, it is minor.  There are interesting reactions from the drivers.  David Hobbs is horrified, and yet, Thierry Boutsen brushes it off like, “no biggie”.  John Fitzpatrick, team manager is also racing a third car here at Silverstone this weekend.  The #34 Bob Jane T Marts Team Australia 956 is in the hands of Peter Brock and Larry Perkins.  Brock and Perkins are both stars of Australian saloon car racing, and Perkins also did some Formula 1 racing back in the day.

#34 qualifies 11^th quick for the race.  Look out for Aston Martin, with their lineup of Mike Salmon and former F1 racer and Le Mans winner, Richard Attwood.  John Sheldon is the third driver in the Aston, who is the recent Sports 2000 champion.  The Aston Martin V8 beast, has 60 more horsepower than the factory Porsche’s and Lancia’s.  Speaking of Porsche power, one to watch in this race will be the #35 Procar Automobile AG with Dutchman Huub Rothengatter and German Claus Schickentanz sharing the driving duties.  Barry Robinson tosses the #21 Grid Porsche into the sand trap at Copse, but incur no damage.  No wonder a sticker on the Grid car reads, “Danger, Demo Man”.

Watch too for the Anglo Japanese team in the #38 Dorset Racing Dome RC82 Ford Cosworth.  The chassis is actually built by March, and the team does have an all-British lineup.  Richard Jones, Mark Galvin, and John Williams, will share the car.  The #13 Primagaz Team Cougar car is also expected to run well, the Primagaz Team Cougar Cougar C01B Ford, a Nicholson built Ford Cosworth DFL V8 with Yves Courage of France, team owner, and British sports car ace with a French name, Alain de Cadenet.  Also, look for another Cosworth powered car.  This, the #65 Lola T610 for John Bartlett, the car owner, John Brindley, and Steve Kempton, another all British team.

Obermaier Racing is back with their #18 Porsche 956 with a familiar cast of drivers, from the previous season.  South Africa’s George Fouche, sharing with Jurgen Lassig of Germany, and Herve Regout, of Belgium.  Also, look for the #7 New Man Porsche.  Reinhold Joest and team manager Domingo Pierdadas have in this 956, Henri Pescarolo of France, and Klaus Ludwig of Germany.  Sweden’s Stefan Johansson is listed, but it is unclear whether he’ll drive the car in the race or not, and is purely a reserve driver.  #7 qualifies sixth on the grid.  Pescarolo has three wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and Ludwig, is contracted to race with Ford in IMSA in 1984.  We also have the Kremer Porsche back this year.  A new driver lineup and a new sponsor for this team, the #11 Kremer Racing Dallas Porsche 956, will be shared by Franz Konrad of Austria, and Brit David Sutherland.

Winner at Le Mans last year, Vern Schuppan, has the wheel of the #19 Brun Motorsport GmbH Porsche 956, sharing with car owner Walter Brun, and Hans Stuck.  Brun is upset because one of the car’s engines has already lunched itself this weekend.  Massimo Sigala and Oscar Larrauri are back, at Silverstone.  Remember that wild flip they had at Monza?  Well, the car is repaired, and #9 is ready to race again.  They run seventh quickest in practice.  In C2, Alba might have it all their own way here at Silverstone, because the Lola Mazda’s from BFGoodrich Racing are not here.  Three Alba’s are at the top of C2.  Carlo Facetti and Martino Finotto in #80.  Marco Vanoli, Davide Pavia, and Almo Coppelli are in car #81.

The #82 machine has three more Italian drivers.  Maurizio Gellini, Pasquale Barberio, and Gerardo Vatielli are sharing the car.  Mazdaspeed has their 727C with the two rotor rotary engine, in C2.  Yojiro Terada is sharing with Pierre Dieudonne.  The C2 cars have restricted fuel and lower weight, as well as smaller engines.  The Duke of Norfolk’s son, Eddie Arundel has a car entered here at Silverstone in C2.  Arundel has jcbuilt his own car, the Arundel C200, with the ubiquitous 3.0 liter Ford Cosworth DFV V8.  Arundel sharing with fellow Brit James Weaver, who would go on to have a stellar sports car racing career, and John Jellinek from the U.S.

Also on the C2 grid is the West German Gebhardt JC842 powered by a 2.0 liter BMW 4 cylinder, being shared by Brit Bob Evans, and Germany’s Frank Jelinski.  Don’t count out the #70 Tiga GC84 Ford for Spice-Tiga Racing, to be shared Gordon Spice and Ray Bellm, in their home race in Britain, and Australian Neil Crang.  The car is sponsored by Wasp Eze.  Scotland’s Ecurie Ecosse are back, with their Ecosse Ford, for Mike Wilds, and David Duffield.  Alba thought they’d have it made in the shade, but the Ecosse is going to give the Italian team all they can handle, and more.

The carparks are full of fans.  Metro minicars provide a support race for the big show.  Endurance racing challenges Formula 1 in popularity.  The race is dry, but the weather has a chill in it.  44 cars will start this motor race, as they work their way around the circuit, behind the safety car.  The cars stream down the Hangar straight.  There won’t be a bigger field, save for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, this year.  Now, the safety car pulls off, and we are green at Silverstone!

We will race 212 laps.  Into Copse corner for the first time.  Bob Wollek and Riccardo Patrese will lead into turn one.  The weather is dry, with no threat of rain.  Early on, Riccardo Patrese battles with Jochen Mass.  Martini Lancia vs. Rothmans Porsche, as we’ve come to expect so far this season.  The trouble is, with traffic.  The backmarker C2 and Group B GT cars, those drivers don’t necessarily look in their mirrors to notice one of the faster Prototypes catching up on them.  Alba, Tiga, and Ecosse, those three cars and teams are scrapping for C2 honors at the moment.  At least four Group C2 cars are in a hotly contested race.  Commentator Brian Kreisky equates it with the early days of Formula 3.  That’s how intense the competition is.  The #4 Wollek/Patrese Lancia continues to lead the motor race overall.  We have a new contender.  In third, yes, it’s our old pals, the #14 Canon Porsche 956 with Jan Lammers and Jonathan Palmer sharing the driving duties.

Lancia could play a spoiler here at Silverstone, depending on their reliability throughout the 1,000 kilometer race.  Oh dear.  We have a spinner!  Off the road, getting crossed up, is Peter Brock in the #34 Team Australia Porsche 956 he is sharing with Larry Perkins, two legends of Australian motorsport, particularly in touring cars.  That is a second or third John Fitzpatrick Racing entered 956.  No harm, no foul.  Brock continues on in the race.  Lancia leads Group C, while in Group C2, there is a new leader, the #70 Tiga Ford for Spice-Tiga Racing with Ray Bellm, Gordon Spice, and Neil Crang.  Wow.  The Canon Porsche is up to second overall, and will be giving the Rothmans boys a run for their money today.

#14 is on a charge, but he’s having some difficulty with the backmarkers.  The Palmer/Lammers team, is quickly closing up on the Patrese/Wollek Lancia.  The #1 Rothmans Porsche 956 holds third, with the usual pairing of Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx.  Their team car, follows, #2 of Stefan Bellof and Derek Bell.  In fifth spot, is the #33 Skoal Bandit Fitzpatrick Racing Porsche 956, of Thierry Boutsen and David Hobbs.  Also in the top six is the #55, the second Skoal Bandit Porsche 956, with Rupert Keegan and Guy Edwards sharing the car.

Lancia hits the pit lane.  They thought they had the fuel mileage, but the Canon Porsche goes longer on a tank of petrol, and now leads it’s second consecutive race in the WEC.  Engine gremlins have struck Lancia.  It could be game over for them, as Riccardo Patrese sits forlornly in the cockpit.  Rothmans Porsche bring car #1 to pit lane.  The #2 Bell/Bellof Porsche pits, and there is one more Lancia still in contention.  That’s the team car #5, for Paolo Barilla and Mauro Baldi.  The #14 Canon Porsche is still leading the factory Rothmans cars.  Pit stop time again for the Lammers/Palmer entry.  At halfway, the race for the Bell/Bellof #2 Rothmans 956 had gone pear shaped.  They were outside the top ten, just barely hanging on.

Riccardo Patrese is back in the race in the Lancia, but is being lapped by the Porsche’s, including the #1 Ickx/Mass Rothmans car.  Barilla/Baldi in the sister Lancia, they remain in the fight in the top six.  Johnny Palmer tries to lap David Hobbs in the #33 Skoal Bandit Porsche, but Hobbs is having none of it, and there’s nearly some argy bargy between those two!  Gently, boys.  More mechanical woes for Stefan Bellof and Derek Bell.  The turbocharger is playing up, and by the same token, Thierry Boutsen and David Hobbs in the Skoal car have also hit trouble.  Boutsen is having gear selection trouble.  Something is wrong with the transmission, or more likely, the shifter linkage.  None of the Rothmans Porsche drivers look too pleased.

However, their fortunes may change.  There’s smoke spewing from the back of the #14 Canon Porsche as it enters pit lane.  There was an oil line that had come loose from the motor on the Canon car.  So, Palmer and Lammers would lose the lead and have to settle for a fifth place finish.  Up to second, comes a car we have not heard much of at all in this race.  The #7 New Man Porsche 956 of Henri Pescarolo and Klaus Ludwig.  One lap left.  Paolo Barilla and Mauro Baldi will finish fourth in the surviving Lancia LC2/84.  Jacky Ickx, and Jochen Mass, in the #1 Rothmans Porsche, they win the Silverstone 1,000 Kilometers!  Pescarolo and Ludwig finish second, with the #55 Skoal Bandit Porsche of Rupert Keegan and Guy Edwards, rounding out the podium.  In the meantime, after their dramas, the sister Skoal Bandit Porsche, #33, of David Hobbs and Thierry Boutsen, claws their way back to finish eighth overall.

Not so lucky, though is Jurgen Lassig in the #18 Obermaier Racing Porsche 956!  He loses the left front wheel, headed for the finish.  Therefore, he and team mates George Fouche and Herve Regout, are demoted by the David Sutherland driven #11 Porsche 956 for Kremer Racing, that he shared for this race, with Austria’s Franz Konrad.  So, Porsche wins, and in Group C2, the winner is the #81 Jolly Club Alba Giannini of Almo Coppelli, Marco Vanoli, and Davide Pavia.  Let’s look at the results.

1. #1 Ickx/Mass Porsche 956        Rothmans Porsche
2. #7 Ludwig/Pescarolo Porsche 956   New Man Porsche
3. #55 Keegan/Edwards Porsche 956   Skoal Bandit Porsche
4. #5 Barilla/Baldi Lancia LC2/84     Martini Racing
5. #14 Palmer/Lammers Porsche 956  GTi Engineering/Canon Porsche
6. #11 Konrad/Sutherland Porsche 956  Kremer Engineering

C2 Winners:

#81 Coppelli/Vanoli/Pavia            Jolly Club Alba AR2 Giannini Carma

Next up, it’s the fabled 24 Hours of Le Mans, in France.

This is the second season, of the seven season retrospective series on the Group C championship.  We begin the 1984 season, in Italy, at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.

The 1984 World Endurance Championship, was to be the best series yet.  Rothmans Porsche renews their battle with the privateer Porsche 956s, and with Lancia Martini Racing.  Later in the season, we will see Jaguar, making their return to top flight international sports car racing, for the first time, since the late 1950s/early 1960s.  There were eleven events, and we will highlight ten of them, as the race at Kyalami in South Africa, unlike last year in 1983, had a very poorly subscribed entry.  It will be briefly mentioned, but look for ten races, to be highlighted this year.

Bob Wollek is now the new top driver for Lancia Martini Racing, and having competed for Porsche, well, now the Frenchman from Strasbourg, is out to beat them.  Many privately entered Porsche’s are in the series this year and will surely be competitive against the Rothmans cars.  One of their top rivals is the #14 car, the Canon liveried Porsche 956 of Jan Lammers, the Dutchman, and once again, Johnny Palmer is his co-driver.  The Brit is ready for another year of Group C competition.  Keith Green is the Canon Porsche team manager.  Lancia is already showing they can compete with the Porsche’s in a straight fight, despite the fact that in practice, Riccardo Patrese binned it, and the mechanics had to set about repairing the LC2 racer.

They were up to the challenge of fixing the LC2-84 and it would take part in the race.  Earning pole, was Stefan Bellof in the #2 Rothmans Porsche.  So, things were starting out quite in the way they had finished in ’83, with the Rothmans cars at the sharp end of the grid.  Not only are the big cars of Group C1 looking healthy, but so are the smaller displacement Group C2 cars.  In the C2 division, there would be a battle royal between the Lola Mazda’s, the Ecurie Ecosse team, and later on in the year, Gordon Spice with his Spice chassis, campaigned by a number of teams, and the Italian built Alba cars.  We have a full grid of 32 cars, and are ready for a start!

Lights out!  Away we go!  Group C 1984 is underway!  Stefan Bellof immediately takes the lead in the Monza 1,000 Kilometers.  Two new Italian recruits for Lancia are in hot pursuit of the defending champion, Stefan Bellof.  Paolo Barilla and Mauro Baldi are the lead Lancia drivers in 1984.  The cars serpentine their way through the first of the Lesmo chicanes.  One big change for ’84 is that we have a lot of privateer Porsche 956’s coming into the fold to give the Rothmans boys a tough run for their money.  Stefan Bellof leads the way from Lancia, Canon Porsche, and new teams from Skoal Bandit Porsche and New Man Porsche/Joest Racing.

There are two Skoal Bandit liveried Porsche’s in the championship.  #33 is shared by David Hobbs and Thierry Boutsen, while #55 has two young British racers, Rupert Keegan and Guy Edwards, at the wheel of it.  Bellof leads, as there is an eight car battle for second, led by the #14 Canon Porsche of Lammers and Palmer.  The Skoal Bandit cars are the new cars and new livery for John Fitzpatrick Racing.  Stefan Bellof and Derek Bell are consolidating their lead in this motor race, so far.  Jacky Ickx in the #1 Rothmans Porsche he shares as usual with Jochen Mass, begins climbing his way through the field.  There’s a massive battle for the next ten spots, and the racing is getting really tasty here at Monza, in the early going.  Lammers and Palmer inherited second place, after passing the #5 Baldi/Barilla driven Lancia.

The sister #4 Lancia of Bob Wollek and Riccardo Patrese is seventh in the overall, ahead of Jacky Ickx in Porsche #1.  Ickx finally gets past Riccardo Patrese in the #4 machine.  Group C2 is being led by the Alba cars with their Gianinni built Carma 1.9 liter 4 cylinder engines.  Most of these cars have Italian driver lineups, and so it is that the #80 Jolly Club Alba of Carlo Facetti and Martino Finotto leads #81, the sister car, for Almo Coppelli and Davide Pavia.  In hot pursuit of the Alba’s are the #77 Ecosse C284 with the Swindon built 3.0 liter Ford Cosworth DFV V8 engine (a classic in auto racing), piloted by the British trio of Ray  Mallock, Mike Wilds, and David Duffield.  Behind them, it’s the #67 BF Goodrich Lola Mazda Rotary of Americans Jim Busby and Rick Knoop.

Jacky Ickx is up to third and Thierry Boutsen is harrying the Lancia for fourth.  Now, we have our first incident of this race.  Oscar Larrauri takes the #9 Brun Motorsports Gaggia sponsored Porsche 956, and flips it!  Team mate, from Italy, Massimo Sigala won’t be happy about that, as the Argentine driver, is on his head.  Larrauri is buried in the sand, and should have brought a bucket and spade to dig his way out of a whole mess of trouble.  Meanwhile, pit stop time for Rothmans Porsche.  Car #2 is in the lane for service.  Derek Bell takes over the controls from Stefan Bellof.

Jan Lammers and Johnny Palmer take the overall lead in the #14 Canon Porsche, while the first of the factory cars, is second.  That’s the #1 Ickx/Mass entry.  At the end of the pit cycle, Derek Bell is back in the lead as Jacky Ickx hands the #1 car to Jochen Mass for the next stint.  New rules for 1984, stipulate that in the 1,000 kilometer events, no more than 600 liters of fuel can be used by each car.  Now, the plot thickens again.  All three privately entered Porsche teams, Joest, Skoal Bandit, and Canon, each one had major engine failures, and the mystery remains.  Why did the turbocharged Porsche engines in the back of the privately entered 956s go ka-blammo?

Lancia has both of their LC2-84s in the top six at the moment, here in their home race at Monza.  Bellof and Bell lead, and Ickx and Mass have clawed their way back to second.  Bob Wollek in the Lancia is pushing a little too hard, and is off the road, trying to make up time on the leaders.  In Group C2, right now, the Mazda’s have it all their own way, as both of the Alba Giannini cars, retired from the race.  Game over, for Alba.  Derek Bell brings Porsche #2 into the lane, to hand over to Stefan Bellof.  Each stop is roughly 90 seconds to two minutes in duration.  The #14 Canon Porsche we saw running so well earlier, has suspension damage that is being fixed.  Jan Lammers and Jonathan Palmer, will recover to finish fifth overall.

Bellof is still leading the motor race, and it seems that a Rothmans Porsche 1-2 at Monza, is inevitable.  It’s a bad day for Skoal Bandit Porsche.  David Hobbs and Thierry Boutsen retired with a blown motor, and now, #55 of Rupert Keegan and Guy Edwards has lost a wheel and damaged the suspension beyond repair.  Riccardo Patrese has big damage to the Lancia.  It’s a pear shaped afternoon for Lancia, too.  They had crash damage, electrical problems, and most dramatically, a fire in the pit lane.  Riccardo Patrese flames his way into the lane, likely with the oil cooler or something knocked off the car, and the mechanics put out the fire, but the car, is done for the day.  It’s another episode of game over, play again next time.

Stefan Bellof cruises to victory.  But, it’s short lived.  The #2 Rothmans Porsche and the third place #5 Lancia of Paolo Barilla and Mauro Baldi, were both disqualified by the stewards, This disqualification was appealed, and the FISA governing body, reinstated their positions in the race.  Let’s look at the race results.

1. #2 Bellof/Bell           Porsche 956        Rothmans Porsche
2. #1 Ickx/Mass           Porsche 956        Rothmans Porsche
3. #5 Baldi/Barilla        Lancia LC2/84    Martini Racing
4. #19 Stuck/Grohs/Brun  Porsche 956   Brun Motorsport/Kremer
5. #14 Palmer/Lammers   Porsche 956   GTi Engineering
6. #12 Merl/Schornstein  Porsche 956    New Man/Schornstein Racing Team

Winners in C2 once again:

#67 Busby/Knoop                            Lola T616 Mazda               BFGoodrich

Next up, in three weeks, it is the Silverstone 1,000 Kilometers at Silverstone in England.

A big field is entered for the finale of the 1983 World Endurance Championship, and includes not just the Group C entries, but also GT and touring cars from South Africa that are locally entered for the motor race.  Ten weeks, after the race at Mount Fuji, we’ve reached the climax of the championship.  Jacky Ickx is the favorite to earn the championship, and no matter what Derek Bell does and how he performs, if Ickx finishes in the top four, he will be the 1983 World Sports Car Champion.  Anything can happen in racing, and usually does.  The race is in mid-December, and that’s the rainy season here in South Africa.

During the practice days, you could set your watch by it.  At 3:30 P.M. every afternoon, the skies would open.  This Sunday’s race will be at 2:30.  So, an hour in, the brollies will come up as there’s likely to be a shower or storm.  It’s an all Rothman’s Porsche front row.  Stefan Bellof had a monster lap for pole, running a 1:10.88.  Watch for the #35 Brun Motorsport Gaggia sponsored Porsche 956.  Touring car champion Umberto Grano of Italy, makes his sports car racing debut, sharing with Hans Stuck as well as fellow Italian, Massimo Sigala.  Thierry Boutsen qualified fourth.  Boutsen is sharing the #11 Fitzpatrick Racing Porsche 956 with David Hobbs and Desire Wilson.  No longer a driver, John Fitzpatrick is overseeing his team, as the team manager.

Watch out for the #14 Porsche 956 as well.  This is the car we are used to seeing in Canon colors.  Here in South Africa, the car is in Team Gunston livery, to be shared by Jan Lammers, Johnny Palmer, and Henri Toivonen of Finland.  Toivonen, a star of rallying was hopeful of driving.  But he isn’t here at Kyalami, instead, recovering from illness.  He will make his debut, next year, in 1984.  Lancia is next on the grid with 1983 South African Formula 1 Grand Prix winner Riccardo Patrese, sharing the car with fellow Italian Alessandro Nannini.  Lancia was beset with engine woes during practice.  This race will be just under six hours… six hours, technically, and one hour of the race will be run at night.

Next on the grid is the second John Fitzpatrick Racing Porsche 956.  Car #16, with Kreepy Krauly sponsorship is to be shared by a trio of South African drivers, in their home race.  Sarel van der Merwe sharing with Tony Martin and Graham Duxbury.  Sarel van der Merwe and Graham Duxbury are stepping into sports cars for the first time.  Van der Merwe is a South African rallying champion, while Graham Duxbury has run well in Formula Atlantic open wheel cars.  The #5 Lancia is next on the grid in the hands of Piercarlo Ghinzani, Hans Heyer, and Italian Giorgio Pianta.  It is unclear if Pianta will drive the car.

Lancia has the speed to stay with the factory Porsche’s, but they will need reliability to really be in the fight.  Joest Racing has two cars in this event.  Bob Wollek is slated to run in both cars.  He shares #8 with Chico Serra of Spain, and Stefan Johansson.  Wollek will also partner in car #12 with Dieter Schornstein and John Winter, real name, Louis Krages.  Krages used the pseudonym so his mother would not find out he was a racing driver.  More about that, will be known, as we continue this series on the World Sports Car Championship.

Tenth on the grid is the #8 car, the Johansson/Serra/Wollek entry.  Eleventh on the grid is the #22 Kremer Porsche of Franz Konrad from Austria, Dutchman Kees Kroesemeijer, and South African George Fouche.  Next up, another Rothman’s Porsche.  This is the #3 with Al Holbert from the U.S. and Vern Schuppan sharing the driving chores.  The car has a new double clutch transmission, being tested in this race by 2/3rds of the lineup that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier in 1983.  This is a hydraulic gearbox, which works via solenoids opening and closing hydraulic valves.

One clutch operates 1^st, 3^rd, and 5^th gear.  The other, 2^nd and 4^th.  A driver can change gear without taking his foot off the gas pedal.  Who will be the 1983 World Endurance Champion?  Derek Bell, or Jacky Ickx?  We have to watch out for the rainstorms, as Kyalami has had a lot of humidity, and is situated 6,000 feet above sea level.  After the Eddie Kidd stunt show with a flying motorcycle over 13 Mazda’s and stunt drivers driving cars and trucks on two wheels, we are set to race.  Here are the top qualifying positions.

1. #2 Bell/Bellof Porsche 956        Rothman’s Porsche
2. #1 Mass/Ickx Porsche 956        Rothman’s Porsche
3. #35 Stuck/Sigala/Grano/Grohs Porsche 956        Brun Motorsport
4. #11 Boutsen/Hobbs/Wilson Porsche 956     Fitzpatrick Racing/Carwill
5. #14 Lammers/Palmer Porsche 956        Team Gunston
6. #4 Patrese/Nannini/Alboreto Lancia LC2/83     Lancia/Martini
7. #16 van der Merwe/Martin/Duxbury Porsche 956  Fitpatrick Racing/Kreepy Krauly
8. #5 Ghinzani/Heyer/Pianta Lancia LC2/83  Lancia Martini

Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell, are separated by a mere eleven points.  It’s time, to race!  Go!  Bellof leads Mass, with Hans Stuck in third in the Brun Motorsport Porsche.  Three wide behind the top three!  Jan Lammers, Thierry Boutsen, and Riccardo Patrese are already playing dodge ‘em cars!  Into Crowthorne corner for the first time.  They sweep next into Barbeque Bend.  Derek Bell leads Jochen Mass and Riccardo Patrese.  Then come Stuck, Lammers, and Boutsen to round out the top six places.  Bob Wollek runs seventh.  The Rothman’s Porsche’s are pulling clear of everyone else.

There’s a massive scrum for fourth as Jan Lammers tries to get around Hans Stuck.  For Derek Bell and Stefan Bellof, teamwork is paramount if they want to win the championship.  Jacky Ickx has to finish fourth or better, to win the title, and his team mate Jochen Mass knows that.  Hans Stuck goes past Bob Wollek, but Wollek isn’t finished by any stretch.  Patrese, Lammers, and Stuck all battle for position.  Leaders are hitting lapped traffic already, in among the Group B GT cars, the conventional touring cars, and the modified touring cars.

The weather is dry right now, as Piercarlo Ghinzani forces the issue on Thierry Boutsen!  Whoa!  That was close!  Gently, boys.  The storm clouds are gathering as the Rothmans Porsche’s still lead.  Lammers and Wollek are all over Patrese like a rash.  In ninth overall is the third Rothmans Porsche, car #3 of Al Holbert and Vern Schuppan.  South African George Fouche is running well in his home race in the #22 Kremer CK5 Porsche he shares with Konrad and Krosemeier.  The four car battle for third is really heating up at the moment.

Lammers, Stuck, Wollek, Boutsen.  The world championship fight is on.  Bellof will assist Bell.  Mass will assist Ickx, as it’s down to Rothmans Porsche for the championship.  Clouds are forming over Kyalami.  Rain is not far away as Patrese and Lammers duke it out.  Holbert and Schuppan are ninth in the overall with the #3 Rothmans Porsche.  George Fouche is up there.  Lammers wants it, and Patrese has it.  No dice!  Lammers is off the road and back on through Crowthornes!  Thierry Boutsen is reeling in Piercarlo Ghinzani.  Stefan Bellof puts a little daylight between himself and Jochen Mass.

Lammers wants the spot.  But Riccardo Patrese won’t budge, and slams the door in his face.  Bob Wollek is a real scrapper here, and he too, wants by Lammers.  Bob Wollek puts the Joest car ahead of the Gunston car for the time being.  Boutsen and Stuck close in, too.  Bob Wollek is still going for it, but can’t pass in the Lindsay Saker liveried Joest Porsche.  Dark clouds loom.  The skies could open at any moment now.  When it rains here in South Africa, by golly does it rain!  The traffic jam is still there!

Wollek makes a genius move, using the back markers to his advantage.  Some slow Group B and touring cars won’t get out of the way.  Bellof leads Mass and Wollek and the clouds get darker.  Piercarlo Ghinzani moves past Jan Lammers, but brakes very late!  Don’t take your team mate out!  Ghinzani nearly collects Riccardo Patrese, and gives Cesare Fiorio and the Lancia crew a moment of shock!  That’s bad team tactics, boys.  Look out!  Al Holbert, meanwhile continues running ninth.  Sarel van der Merwe has the second JDavid Porsche in tenth.  That’s the one he shares with Martin and Duxbury.

Through the traffic jam, Hans Stuck overtakes Thierry Boutsen.  Still on slick tires, the pit crews can no doubt see the rain coming.  Stefan Bellof in P1, as Wollek and Patrese continue their battle.  Bellof is about to lap one of the sister Rothmans Porsche’s, the #3.  Mass is closing in, and the two Lancia LC2-83’S continue liner stern in fourth and fifth in the overall.  Boutsen, Stuck, and Holbert complete the top eight.  Sarel van der Merwe remains ninth.  Pit stop time for Joest Porsche #8.

Jacky Ickx is preparing to take over Porsche #1, and Derek Bell, Porsche #2.  Chico Serra replaces Bob Wollek in the #8 Porsche.  Porsche #2 in the lane on lap 41.  244 make up this race on the 2.5 mile layout here at Kyalami.  Porsche #1 is in, too.  So, the championship battle is right here, in pit lane before our very eyes.  The rules dictate the strategy.  Five pit stops for a 1,000 kilometer race.  Porsche #3 is also in the lane.  Problems with the air jack on Porsche #1.  Derek Bell leads this motor race by 55 seconds.  Lancia #4 pits for fuel, tires, and a driver change over to Alessandro Nannini.  Chico Serra runs fourth.

Rain clouds are more ominously inevitable now.  A drizzle turns into a shower and could be a deluge at any moment.  Treaded rain tires at the ready in pit lane.  Rain is falling everywhere, and Jacky Ickx remains on slicks out on track.  Porsche #2 hits the lane, from the lead.  Rain tires for Derek Bell.  Lancia are in the lane, too.  Calamity corner has ensued as one of the Nissan GT cars slides off the road!  That’s the #94 BP/Nissan/Autoquip Nissan Skyline.  Hennie van der Linde and George Santana pilot the 2.8 liter V6 powered racer.  He’s off the road, on the wet grass, and ker-runch!  He slams the barrier, having careered through the safety net fencing down there.

Derek Bell leads and more off-roading!  This time, it’s the #51 Sivama Lancia LC1.  There’s a trio of Italian’s in that car.  Pasquale Barberio is sharing with Mario Radicella, and Maurizio Gellini.  The Lancia is back on the road, but the surface is getting wetter out there.  Deary me!  More drama!  One of the Alfa Romeo’s in the touring car division is going for a wild ride on the grass!  This is the #82 Alfa Romeo SA, Alfa South Africa entry.  Arnold Chatz at the wheel of it, and… zonk!  Into the tires Chatz goes!  Rain is bucketing down, and there’s lightning flashing, too!  This is going to be a cracking race for the rest of the way, if the weather stays in a sour mood.

Now, Vern Schuppan in Porsche #3 is going well, and one of the Lancia’s is off the road.  Not the factory car, but one of the privateer entrants.  That’s the Sivama entry with Mario Radicella at the controls.  He’s totally overcooked it, and is in the fence down at that carpark at Leeukop on the far side of the track.  Trouble for Rothmans Porsche!  Jacky Ickx in pit lane, but he has damage to the 956!  Ickx has looped it at Sunset Bend, turn four, not to be confused with the final turn at Sebring International Raceway in Florida.  The ground effects and the undertray have been ripped away.  This could present a major aerodynamic headache.  Ickx has dropped to sixth overall, with the turbo exposed for all to see.  The malaise continues for the Sivama Lancia.  Derek Bell leads the driver’s championship, as Jacky Ickx is outside the top four.

…And, there’s a massive kerfuffle at Sunset!  Chico Serra slid off the road, onto the grass, and would you believe it, David Hobbs in the #11 JDavid Porsche 956 has somehow come a cropper and landed on top of Serra’s race car!    Game over for both cars and a couple of Porsche 956’s are headed to the Stuttgart junkyard.  Reinhold Joest, and John Fitzpatrick will both be beside themselves seeing their cars out of this motor race.  Serra spun off on his own, and Hobbs didn’t see him, and also went off the road, big style.  The Sivama Lancia is still in trouble, in a dangerous place on the course.  They ought to move that car, as Mario Radicella runs for his life!

Now, here’s what you call a sticky situation.  The marshals are moving Radicella’s Lancia out of the way, to safety.  The Alfa Romeo’s driver, Arnold Chatz or Eric Saunders (not sure which), doesn’t know that!  Thank God they didn’t collide at two miles an hour!  Jan Lammers brings the #14 Team Gunston Porsche 956 through.  They’ve had their problems, losing a wheel and falling like a stone down the running order.  Chatz and Saunders are in a real pickle right now, because the Alfa has a wobble wheel, and the catch fencing, pieces of it, are caught in the fenders.

Nissan #94 is also dragging that net having come out of the catch fence down there.  Derek Bell still leads, but the Alfa Romeo’s these chaps are all over the shop!  The #81 machine is four-wheel drifting his way around Kyalami.  Rofino Fontes and Abel d’Oliviera share that racer.  As the track dries, the bloke can’t do any drifting, because all that does, is pitch him off the road, and into a barrel roll in that same corner where we saw those earlier melees.  That’ll teach you to show off in front of the public.  It’s a complete sideways flip for the Alfa.  Jacky Ickx is fifth overall, but now, he has a new problem, because the passenger side door of the Porsche 956 is open, flapping in the breeze.

Mercifully, the Nissan Skyline makes its way to the lane, dragging the mangled catch fence behind it.  Oh boy!  More drama!  Big damage for Massimo Sigala, missing the entire nose of the #35 Brun Motorsports Porsche!  Sigala, on slicks, paid the price, for ignoring his pit crew, begging him I’m sure, “Massimo, pit now, for slick tires!”  Alfa Romeo #82 is in the lane, also with the catch fence dragging, while the poor old marshals are trying to get the team car off his head.  Roll it over, boys.  Good grief.  The middle section of this motor race at Kyalami has become a pig’s breakfast!  Derek Bell is driving like he’s on a mission, and poor old Abel D’Oliviera is back on his wheels, with a severely crunched roof on that Alfa Alfetta GTV6.  One gently used Alfa Romeo… a fine motorcar and that’s no way to treat it, putting it on its lid.

Up to second is the #4 Lancia.  We haven’t called their number for a bit, Alessandro Nannini at the wheel of it.  A dry line forms on the road, but the Lancia squad is still on wet weather tires.  Lancia #5 is second, and up to third comes Jacky Ickx.  He’s still got the flapping door and the bodywork damage.  An early stop for Alessandro Nannini!  Now, their strategy means that they can’t take on fuel.  The team opts for slick tires on Nannini’s car.  Team boss Cesare Fiorio will be really upset about this, because his fuel calculations are botched now.  Tires only for Nannini, and Fiorio isn’t in the best mood.  Stay away from an upset team boss.

Porsche, in the lane with #1 and Jacky Ickx.  Fuel, and slick tires.  Ickx drops out of the top four, promoting Al Holbert and Vern Schuppan to fourth overall.  Ickx’s second world title is in play here.  Ickx spun at Sunset corner earlier.  He resumes fifth in the overall.  Team boss Peter Falk is diligently studying the lap charts, printing them off the computer, scanning every detail.  Ickx has recovered to fourth overall and if he stays there, he’ll be the champ.  Derek Bell pits Porsche #2, and routine service for the car, as well as changing drivers, back to Stefan Bellof for the finish.  They go for slick tires.  The two Rothmans team bosses are in an intense rivalry.  Norbert Singer on #1 and Klaus Bischoff for #2.

Gunston pits their Porsche 956 from eighth overall, down a ways after their wheel fell off earlier.  Jonathan Palmer replaces Jan Lammers.  Lancia #5 in the lane for slick tires.  We haven’t heard as much from Hans Heyer and Piercarlo Ghinzani today in South Africa.  Ghinzani will take the car to the end.  Porsche #2 leads.  Al Holbert has been running a consistent fourth in the #3 Rothmans Porsche which is the fly in the ointment, the spanner in the works, for Ickx and Mass in their title quest.  Meanwhile, the Lancia in second overall has lost the door!

Piercarlo Ghinzani gets a new door as his co-driver Hans Heyer wonders why, and is amused.  Check that.  That’s the top running Patrese/Nannini car, and Riccardo Patrese takes over.  Graham Duxbury pits the JDavid, Kreepy Krauly Porsche 956 from fourth.  The weather is back to normal.  It will be dry as we’ve passed the halfway point in this motor race.  Blue skies and sunshine abound.  John Fitzpatrick is also in pit lane from fifth.  No rain is forecast for the rest of the race, as Stefan Bellof and Derek Bell lead over the Lancia of Alessandro Nannini and Riccardo Patrese.  Piercarlo Ghinzani and Hans Heyer have the sister Lancia, running third overall.  Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass have the second Rothmans Porsche fourth, and Graham Duxbury lies fifth, teamed with Tony Martin and Sarel van der Merwe.  Sixth are Vern Schuppan and Al Holbert, driving the #3 Rothmans Porsche.  Dieter Schornstein follows in the Porsche he shares with John Winter and Bob Wollek, and then comes the Gunston liveried Porsche, #14 of Jan Lammers and Johnny Palmer.

Jacky Ickx is holding on by his fingernails to the world championship, as the Castrol 1,000 Kilometers of Kyalami is building towards it’s climax.  Derek Bell and Stefan Bellof still have their hands full with the two works Lancia’s.  Who will be world champion?  Will it be Jacky Ickx, with Norbert Singer leading the team?  Or, will it be Derek Bell, with Klaus Bischoff at the helm of the team?  Porsche #1 is into the pit lane from fourth in the overall.  Jochen Mass will hand over to Jacky Ickx.  The pit stop has to be quick so they don’t lose out to the fifth place car.

There could be bodywork damage on #1 because of a wheel rubbing, as now, #2 is into the pit lane and Derek Bell will take over the car.  #2 undergoes a brake pad change as well.  #1 beats #2 out of the lane!  Wow!  All is still to play for.  Now, Graham Duxbury might try to play a spoiler here, because he is on the same lap as the #1 Rothmans machine.  The world championship has come down to the two Rothmans Porsche’s as Lancia also stops in pit lane.  Jacky Ickx is hotly pursuing, closing in on the Lancia for the final podium place.  Porsche #16 is fifth, while #12 is sixth.  Bob Wollek will soon replace Dieter Schornstein in the #12 car, but cannot score points.  He is only listed to score points with the sister Joest Porsche, #8 that he started.  That’s the Lindsey Saker liveried car he shares with Chico Serra and Stefan Johansson.

Whoa!  Tony Martin is pushing hard, and nearly flies off the road in the fifth place Porsche, car #16!  Pit stop time for the #14 Gunston Porsche, as Jan Lammers hands back over to Johnny Palmer.  The sun sets as evening draws nearer at Kyalami.  Porsche #16 pits another time at least for fuel.  Oh boy!  Lancia #5 is in pit lane and Hans Heyer is frantically, and animatedly gesturing to the mechanics there is a problem.  One of the Lancia’s turbochargers isn’t working.  It’s all happening, as the third Rothmans Porsche, car #3 is stopped on the road.  This is going to be a wild end to the 1983 Group C season!  Alessandro Nannini runs second in Lancia #4.

Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell are third.  In fourth, it’s #16, followed by #12, the P&G Glass Porsche as Dieter Schornstein remains at the wheel of it.  The fans are enjoying their barbecues, with some tasty looking food on the grill for dinner.  Good food and motor racing.  What more do you need?  Hans Heyer has the Lancia back on track.  We’ve had a great race, but the drama isn’t over!  One of the Lancia’s is off the road at Sunset corner!  Hans Heyer has crashed car #5!  Game over.  Jacky Ickx will consolidate third spot, and is set to become the 1983 FIA World Endurance Champion.  Palmer and Nannini still run well in their respective cars.

An hour remains in the race, and the season.  Poor old Hans Heyer has to be dejected after his crash.  The sister Lancia remains second, as the sun is setting, and we will (for the first time since Le Mans) race in the darkness, for at least one hour, here at Kyalami.  One pit stop to go as the dusk is gorgeous here in South Africa.  No lights for the second place Lancia as they hit the lane for the final time.  The team fits a new nose on the car, with working headlights, and that will solve the problem.  Quick thinking by an aggravated Lancia team boss, Cesare Fiorio.  Stefan Bellof brings the leading Porsche to pit lane to switch to Derek Bell to take the car to the finish.

If they win, it will be their third triumph of the season, having also scored victories at Silverstone and Fuji.  Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass have won two races in 1983, at Nurburgring and Spa.  Jacky Ickx makes his last pit stop.  He must finish either third or fourth, and with either of those two places, he becomes the 1983 FIA World Endurance Champion.  Last minute issues for the John Fitzpatrick Racing Porsche that was fourth.  That is the Martin/Duxbury/van der Merwe machine.  They’ve dropped to sixth overall, having to replace an alternator belt.  Car #12 of Dieter Schornstein, John Winter, and Bob Wollek, has inherited fourth overall.  Johnny Palmer and Jan Lammers are in fifth in the #14 Gunston Porsche.  This is the end of the race, at night, and the end of the season.

Derek Bell and Stefan Bellof win the Castrol Kyalami 1,000 Kilometers!  Jacky Ickx is the 1983 FIA World Endurance Champion!  Ickx says the race wasn’t easy, because during the rainstorm, he spun and damaged the floor of the Porsche.  Ickx said he just tried to stay around third or fourth, and not challenging their sister car.  He says “Derek and Stefan were the fastest and had no mistakes.”  Ickx was sure it was all over, but, there’s a strong bond of friendship at Rothmans Porsche.  Ickx believes Bell should have been world champ.  Bell knew he and Bellof needed to drive as hard as possible, but he was honestly not sure he was going to win.  It was a difficult race in the rain, but Bell says that they pushed hard to the end of the race.

This is Jacky Ickx’s second World Championship.  Ickx believes that there’s no team orders at Rothmans Porsche.  Every driver is responsible.  Beating team mates is a hard thing to do.  It was down to luck and fortune.  What will the racing be like, in 1984?  Many more customer cars are coming in from Porsche, and Lancia will step up to the plate as well.  Jacky Ickx is driver’s champion.  Porsche is manufacturer’s champion, in 1983.  We’ll see you, next year, in 1984, for more Group C racing action.  So long, for now.

Before we tackle the finale, there were two other European rounds of the championship, both in Italy.  The Imola 1,000 Kilometers and the Mugello 1,000 Kilometers.  The races in Italy had smaller fields.  Lancia was back.  They conquered Imola with the #4 LC2 of Teo Fabi and Hans Heyer, winning.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Imola-1983-10-16.html

At Mugello, Joest Racing and Porsche won, with the Marlboro liveried #8 Porsche 956 of Bob Wollek and Stefan Johansson taking the honors.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Mugello-1983-10-23.html

Coming up, soon, will be the curtain closer on the 1983 season, from Kyalami in South Africa.  It was a wild race, and trust me, you will WANT to stay tuned to read about that one.

44 cars would enter this race, and the field was reduced to 37 for practice, and 33 for the actual race itself.  Many Group C cars are entered, and sprinkled into the field are a couple Group B cars, and a fair number from the GT Japan championship.  This is the penultimate race of the 1983 FIA World Endurance Championship.  Geoff Lees was shocked after crashing his Dome Toyota, and the car was set on fire.  Lees, thankfully, was rescued from the blaze, but the car, was totally written off, as was the Porsche 956 of John Fitzpatrick who also wrecked in a separate incident.

A blown tire sent Fitzpatrick reeling into the wall on the fastest corner of the circuit.  This was Fitzpatrick’s last race as a driver, and soon he would make a safer decision.  Step out of the race car, and manage the team.  Two major wrecks and more would come as the marshal’s briefing takes place.  Two worlds collide as we are ready to contest Japan’s annual endurance race.  Nissan and Toyota are set to race against March and Porsche.  Witness the #23 March 83G Nissan, for Hoshino Racing.  This is the car powered by the 2.0 liter LZ20B four cylinder turbocharged motor, in the hands of Kazuyoshi Hoshino, and Akira Hagiwara.

Nissan has entered a Group C car known as the Fairlady which resembles a Lola.  This is actually the LM03C model for Central 20 Racing Team, to be shared by Haruhito Yanagida, and Takao Wada.  Two Porsche 956’s run regularly in Japan, are in this race.  #6 is the Trust Racing Team entry for Australia’s Vern Schuppan, who we saw win Le Mans with Rothman’s Porsche earlier in the year, and Japan’s Naohiro Fujita.  Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass are reunited once more for this race.  Also, be on the lookout for car #48.  This one is a dark horse.  The U.S. based #48 Alpha Racing Porsche 956 for Preston Henn, John Paul Jr., and Kunimitsu Takahashi.

In the non-Porsche contingent, a top runner is the #7 Autobacs Dome from Japan.  It’s the Dome RC83 powered by the double overhead cam 4.0 liter Cosworth Ford DFV engine for Tiff Needell from England, and Eje Elgh from Sweden.  Walter Brun’s Porsche will be sponsored by the Advan tire brand from Yokohama.  Japan’s Kenji Takahashi is sharing with Claus Schickentanz.  Joest and New Man are back for car #12, Bob Wollek, sharing with Volkert Merl and Hans Heyer.

We also have the #3 Matsuda Collection Porsche 956, for Thierry Boutsen, and Henri Pescarolo, and in addition, Mazda are here for their home race.  Would you believe, this will be the only race for the Matsuda Porsche?  That’s right.  After the race, it will reside in the collection itself.  There are numerous GT Japan class entered Mazda RX-7’s, and the #16 Mazda 717C for Mazdaspeed.  Yojiro Terada and Takashi Yorino, are the two Japanese factory drivers, sharing with Belgian Mazda factory driver, Pierre Dieudonne.  Toyota and Nissan are also well represented in Groups B and C.  One of the favorites is the #17 Tom’s Toyota Dome with power from a 2.0 liter turbo 4 cylinder.  It is being shared by Keiji Matsumoto, Kaoru Hoshino, and Masanori Sekiya.

Stefan Bellof and Derek Bell set the pace in qualifying.  The race will have good weather.  Derek Bell and team boss Klaus Bischoff discuss the track conditions.  Jochen Mass is second, for a Rothman’s Porsche front row.  Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx will start from pole.  Henri Pescarolo and Thierry Boutsen are using a Porsche 956 from a museum in Japan, which will run it’s first, and only race, ever, today.  The aforementioned Bob Wollek and Hans Heyer, start fourth on the grid.  New Man Japan importers Taka-Q sponsor the car.  Schuppan and Fujita will roll off in fifth place.  Look out, too, as mentioned, for the Advan Porsche of Claus Schickentanz and Kenji Takahashi.

Another Yokohama Porsche is the Preston Henn owned #48 mentioned above.  Champion windsurfer Ricky Shiba will take ownership of the car after this race is over.  As the skies over Fuji Speedway darken, both Rothmans Porsche’s set out to turn more laps and improve their qualifying times.  Tiff Needell sets himself up to qualify in tenth in the Autobacs Dome Ford.  Qualifying in eighth is the sister Dome, #17.  That’s the Matsumoto/Hoshino/Sekiya car, mentioned earlier.  Nissan runs one place better, with car #23.  That is the aforementioned March Nissan for Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Akira Hagiwara.  After changing tires, Tiff Needell hands car #7 to Eje Elgh to try his luck in qualifying for the Fuji 1,000 Kilometers.

Hmmm.  One of the cars in the Fuji event is what you’d call a “Mickey Mouse” racer, with Disney Japan sponsorship and Mickey Mouse on the front.  This is the #46 factory car for Sauber from Switzerland.  Swiss driver Max Welti will share with Italy’s Fulvio Ballabio, and a third driver is listed who wouldn’t start the race… Venezuela’s Johnny Cecotto.  Mickey Mouse is the same in any language.  East meets West at Fuji.  Two more contenders to look out for are the aforementioned Central 20 Nissan Fairlady and the #21 Porsche Kremer Racing 956.  Franz Konrad was also due to start the car, but in the race, it will be shared by Stefan Johansson and Philippe Alliot.

Qualifying is now done and dusted.  Kremer Porsche isn’t so lucky.  Alliot crashes at 150 miles an hour.  He flips the car over the guardrail.  A marshal is hurt, but Alliot is OK.  Much work for Kremer and company to do if they want to race on Sunday.  Manfred Kremer is told by his sponsors, “race the car at Fuji, or else…”  The thrash will begin.  18 hours to rebuild a demolished Porsche 956.  No Japanese hospitality or sleep, for the Kremer crew tonight.  Sunday beckons, and it’s race time.  Good fortune, as Mount Fuji shows her pretty face, for the first time all week, which is a sign of good things for the race to come, hopefully.

The grandstands are packed.  80,000 fans are ready, to go sports car racing.  34 cars will start, and it’s a miracle!  Moments before the race begins, the Kremer Porsche, reemerges, ready, put back together, to join the fight!  The cars snake their way through the autumn forests in Japan, looking for a start.  33 cars, start this event, and one is scratched.  That’s the #102 RoGroup B Nissan 240RS for Tomei Jidousha.  One of the drivers is sick, and can’t race.  So, there will be no action for Eiji Shibuya and Fumio Aiba.

Here then, is the full 33 car grid.

Group C

1. #2 Bellof/Bell                           Porsche 956          Rothman’s Porsche Team
2. #1 Mass/Ickx                           Porsche 956          Rothman’s Porsche Team
3. #3 Boutsen/Pescarolo         Porsche 956          Matsuda Collection
4. #12 Wollek/Merl/Heyer        Porsche 956          Joest Racing
5. #6 Schuppan/Fujita               Porsche 956          Trust Racing Team
6. #8 Takahashi/Schickentanz  Porsche 956       Brun Speedbox Motorsport
7. #23 Hoshino/Hagiwara           March 83 Nissan  Hoshino Racing
8. #17 Matsumoto/Hoshino/Sekiya  Tom’s Dome 83C Toyota  Tom’s
9. #48 Henn/Takahashi/Paul Jr.  Porsche 956                 Alpha Racing
10. #7 Elgh/Needell                       Dome RC83 Ford        Autobacs Dome Motorsport
11. #20 Yanagida/Wada                   Nissan Fairlady LM03C  Central 20 Racing Team
12. #63 Finotto/Facetti                    Alba AR2 Giannini Carma  Scuderia Jolly Club
13. #62 Totani/Akaike                      MCS Guppy Renoma 83C Mazda  Alpha Cubic Racing Team
14. #21 Alliot/Johansson                Porsche Kremer Racing  Porsche 956
15. #65 Lotterschmid/Nagasaka/Suzuki  Auto Beaurex Motorsport  Lotec M1C BMW
16. #10 Hasemi/Tohira                  Hasemi Motorsport  Nissan Skyline Turbo C
17. #16 Terada/Yorino/Dieudonne  Mazdaspeed  Mazda 717C
18. #88 Motohashi/Suzuki   Panasport Japan  MCS Guppy Panasport C
19. #46 Balabio/Welti     Sauber Racing Switzerland  Sauber C7 BMW
20. #81 Misaki/Nakamura  Misaki Speed  MCS Guppy Misaki Speed C Toyota

GT Japan

21. #121 Oguchi/Fujimura  Yours Sport Racing Team  Mazda RX7 254

22. #181 Seino/Kitagawa  Mazda Sport Car Club  Mazda RX7 254i

23. #120 Okada/Morimoto/Okada  Yours Sport Racing Team  Mazda RX7 254

24. #180 Shiratori/Suzuki/Ihara  Shizumaz Racing  Mazda RX7

25. #182 Arai/Hagiwara  Mazda Sport Car Club  Mazda RX7

26. #123 Ooya/Katsuki/Ishikawa  ERC Racing  Mazda RX7

27. #130 Itabashi/Tabada  TRS Itabashi  Mazda RX7 253i

28. #126 Sawada/Okamoto/Sugiyama  Mishima Auto Racing  Mazda RX7

29. #133 Kusano/Isozaki/Furusawa  Team No. 3 Racing  Mazda RX7

30. #125 Shimegi/Ogura  Sansyou Kogyou Racing Team  Mazda RX7 825

31. #122 Mitomi/Koma  Trust Racing Team  Toyota Celica

32. #136 Nagata/Miyagawa  Gontazaka Enterprise  Nissan Fairlady 280Z

33. #171 Jitsukawa/Sekine  Tomei Jidousha  Nissan Sunny LZ14

That’s the grid, with Group C and C Junior heading the dozen GT Japan entries.  Some of the best drivers are ready to race on a great circuit, and it’s a miracle… the Kremer Porsche makes it to the grid!  Philippe Alliot and Stefan Johansson will start the race!  Bell and Ickx lead the field, as the cars serpent their way through the Japanese countryside.  Now, we’re set.  It’s go!  The Mount Fuji 1,000 Kilometers is on!  Stefan Bellof leads Jochen Mass.  These two will have a definite war, even though they are on the same team.  The cars make their way around carefully.  Bellof and Mass pull away from Naohiro Fujita, who starts the #6 Trust Racing Team Porsche and shares with Vern Schuppan.

The March Nissan, car #23 is holding station where it started, in seventh.  Kazuyoshi Hoshino at the wheel of it.  He is overtaken by the #20, the LM 03C Nissan Fairlady, Haruhito Yanagida at the controls.  Rothman’s Porsche leads, with Stefan Bellof in P1, Jochen Mass in P2.  Stefan Johansson in the #21 Kremer Porsche, is mounting a challenge and wants to pass both Hoshino and Yanagida.  The scrap ensues.  Hoshino vs. Yanagida vs. Johansson.  In the meantime, Naohiro Fujita and Bob Wollek race each other.  Wollek goes inside, and Fujita passes on the outside saying, “no you don’t, sunshine.”  Thierry Boutsen watches this battle, from fifth.

Boutsen is driving in the #3 Matsuda Porsche 956 with Henri Pescarolo of course.  Stefan Bellof opens a lead up over Jochen Mass.  Stefan Johansson is eighth, and passes the Nissan Fairlady for seventh place.  Wollek pulls clear of Fujita as well, but Fujita isn’t done yet.  Once again, the C Junior class is led by the #63 Martino Finotto and Carlo Facetti Alba.  In the back half of the top ten, Eje Elgh is trying to stay ahead of Keiji Matsumoto.  It’s the battle of the Dome cars, except one is Ford powered, and the other, has Toyota propulsion.  The leaders are working their way through load of lapped traffic now.  Keep in mind, the Group C drivers are also in a battle with the Japan GT production based cars.

Fujita finally passes Boutsen, as Bob Wollek retains third, and Stefan Johansson has made it to six.  The #16 Mazda is running well.  That’s the Terada/Yorino/Dieudonne driven car.  Kunimitsu Takahashi is giving Preston Henn’s Porsche a good run.  Bellof and Mass have not ceased and desisted in their battle for the race lead.  It’s still as hot as ever.  Ditto for the Fujita and Boutsen fight.  Bob Wollek is still just riding along in third before he hands the #12 Porsche to Hans Heyer.  Stefan and Jochen both will have to watch how much fuel they use, because they are limited to only five pit stops for fuel, in this motor race.

It’s a hotly contested battle in the Japan GT section of this race, and still in sixth is the #21 Porsche, with Johansson at the wheel.  The #6 Schuppan/Fujita Porsche is continuing to hold down fourth spot.  Jochen Mass is right in Stefan Bellof’s slipstream now.  A change for the lead, as Jochen Mass goes into the lead.  The Rothman’s Porsche boys are setting a torrid pace here at Fuji so far.  Oh boy!  Three wide!  The two Rothman’s cars had to get around a slower driven Japanese Group C car!  OK, folks.  You haven’t missed anything at the front.  Rothman’s Porsche still runs 1-2.  No team orders for Rothman’s Porsche, as Joest, and Matsuda follow.  Ah.  More lead changes and more lapped traffic.  Bellof leads Mass, and the two Rothman’s cars are the only ones now on the lead lap.

It’s pit stop time for Porsche #12.  Hans Heyer will take over from Bob Wollek.  #2 is also in the lane.  Have they used too much fuel?  Derek Bell should get into the car.  Jochen Mass will inherit the race lead and second will be the Trust Porsche of Naohiro Fujita.  We see now too that one of the Japan GT cars, which is actually entered in Group C, is breaking into the top ten.  It’s Masahiro Hasemi in the #10 Nissan Skyline Turbo C he is sharing with Kenji Tohira.  The Nissan Fairlady is seventh in the overall.  The Japanese run cars are running very well.  Kremer, Joest, and Rothman’s Porsche’s have all pitted.  Jacky Ickx takes over from Jochen Mass in car #1, and Derek Bell takes over from Stefan Bellof in car #2.  #1 is a lap up on #2 right now.  Not much changed.  It is a Rothman’s 1-2.  Bell leads Ickx.  Haruhito Yanagida has crash damage, so, he’s gotten into some argy bargy somewhere out on track.  The nose of the Fairlady is more than crumpled.

It’s still Bell and Ickx 1-2.  The Kremer Porsche, #21 is fifth, as Philippe Alliot has taken over from Stefan Johansson.  No changes at the sharp end.  You’ve missed nothing.  Grab a drink and keep enjoying our review of Group C, 1983.  The Kremer Porsche is fourth, and Jacky Ickx proceeds to put a lap on it.  Oh boy.  We have a spin for one of the Japan GT cars.  It looks like one of the Toyota Celica’s has gone off the road!  Now, if you’ve gotten that cold, refreshing drink I mentioned, you may want to swallow what you have now, before Kenji Takahashi goes off the road, on a downhill section of the course.  He’s autocrossing here, look.  He’s doing that Porsche 956 no good.

Mr. Takahashi, you are driving a quarter million dollar Group C Porsche, not a rallycross car!  Be careful out there, sunshine!  The whole left front fender of that 956 is gone.  Car owner Preston Henn will want to have a word with you, Mr. Takahashi and ask you, “what did you do to my Porsche?”  The Trust Porsche runs well, with Vern Schuppan now at the wheel of it.  Schuppan is fourth in the overall.  Ickx and Bell continue to fight up front.  No changes there.  Meanwhile, we revisit the travails of Porsche #48.  Kunimitsu Takahashi is still struggling to get that Porsche back to pit lane.  The Dome is running well, as the leaders and some of the Japan Group C machines work their way through the sea of GT racers.

Derek Bell, into pit lane, and there will be routine service and a driver change, as he hands the car back to Stefan Bellof.  Porsche #2 must be understeering because they are using tires are a much quicker rate than their sister car.  There’s blistering on that Dunlop tire as the mechanic undoes the center wheel nut and replaces that left front tire with a new one.  A long pit stop for #2 as #1 hits the lane.  Jochen Mass will take over from Jacky Ickx.  #1 reassumes the lead after a very quick stop.  Porsche #3, the Matsuda Collection car also pits.  Boutsen and Pescarolo are having a good race.

#1 leads, but whatever issues #2 had, they are resolved.  Stefan Bellof is right back into the fight.  The marshals are doing a wonderful job keeping the fast cars and slow cars from running into each other.  The fans are enjoying the racing, and also, the best Japanese cuisine has to offer.  You’ve got to have good track food, and it seems that the Fuji Speedway does indeed.  Some of the Japanese drivers are having a tough go of it in their home race, and one car attesting to this is the March, in the C Junior division.  Now, there’s another swap for the lead as Stefan Bellof makes a pass on Jochen Mass.  Bell actually had to pit on lap 131 with a punctured tire.

We also have a problem as the Nissan Fairlady 280Z blows it’s V6 engine to bits!  Ka-blammo!  It’s game over for Gontazaka Enterprise and drivers Yoshio Nagata and Hiroyuki Miyagawa.  More worries for Rothman’s as Jochen Mass has a blown tire!  The right rear tire had mistakenly been mounted on the left side stub axle.  So, the tire destroyed itself, and took the bodywork with it, ripping off the side skirt of the 956 revealing the housing for the turbo on the flat 6 engine.  #2 back into the lead despite handling concerns voiced by Derek Bell.  #1 is going to trudge on even with the damage.  Once again the #12 New Man Porsche has been in the wars, having a collision with a backmarker, and bear bond all over the left hand corner of that automobile.  They’ve recovered to fifth in the overall.  Game over for the Kremer Porsche, car #21.  An oil leak has ended their race.  Philippe Alliot and Stefan Johansson, out.  Also, game over for the Nissan Fairlady.  The turbo has cried, enough.

The #7 Autobacs Dome with the Ford engine is also in a bit of mechanical distress.  Not a good sign for Eje Elgh and Tiff Needell.  The car won’t even be classified as a finisher.  Game over, for another.  The Preston Henn Porsche is back in the pits to be worked on with its front nose damage after the autocross shenanigans we saw earlier.  But, there are no spares after the shemozzle.  So, another car bites the dust.  Game over for Alpha Racing.  Stefan Bellof leads Jochen Mass who took over Porsche #1 that is still second overall.  The Trust Porsche #6 is third, followed by Thierry Boutsen in the #3 Matsuda Collection Porsche, and next is the #12, the New Man Porsche with Hans Heyer aboard.

The leader pits for the final time, including a brake pad change to get to the end.  Jacky Ickx will finish out the race in car #1.  If Jacky Ickx finishes second, he’ll maintain the points lead with one race to go in 1983.  The running order is Bell, Ickx, Schuppan, Boutsen, and Heyer.  Five laps left in the race.  But, there’s a massive accident!  We have carnage on the front straight!  It’s one of the Dome’s that has had a colossal shunt!  It’s the #17 Tom’s Dome Toyota with Keiji Matsumoto driving!

Four laps to go and this race is red flagged.  Stop the cars.  Stop, stop, stop.  A rear tire let go at 200 miles an hour, and Keiji Matsumoto, was a helpless passenger as his Group C racer, careered into the Armco.  There was fear the car would catch fire.  The marshals doused the car with the fire extinguisher and Keiji Matsumoto emerged unhurt.  The race is over.  Derek Bell and Stefan Bellof are your winners!

Now, there’s one race to go in the 1983 season.  Europe wins the battle.  Japan will have to regroup for next year.  Let’s look at the results of the Fuji 1,000 Kilometers.

1. #2 Bell/Bellof Porsche 956        Rothman’s Porsche Team
2. #1 Ickx/Mass Porsche 956        Rothman’s Porsche Team
3. #6 Schuppan/Fujita Porsche 956  Trust Racing Team

That’s your podium.  Jacky Ickx leads Derek Bell by 11 points 85-74 with one race left.  Jochen Massa, Bob Wollek, Stefan Bellof, and Thierry Boutsen, round out the top six in the points.  See you for the finale, in South Africa on December 10^th.  But, before we get to Kyalami, stay tuned for a brief, additional post on two more races that took place, coming up, tomorrow.

Round five of the championship is at the legendary, infamous Spa Francorchamps track in the Ardennes forest of Belgium.  In practice, it’s wet, and the conditions are treacherous.  Now, we have fewer entries for this race, obviously, than we did at Le Mans.  That being said, Ford and the Zakspeed team return to action.  Zakspeed have entered their Jagermeister sponsored Zakspeed Group C car powered by the 1.8 liter turbo four cylinder Ford Capri engine for Klaus Niedzwiedz and Klaus Ludwig.  Zakspeed isn’t a full on factory team, but they are here.

Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass have pole, with their team mates Stefan Bellof and Derek Bell, second. It’s a Rothman’s Porsche lockout of the front row.  Pole time for Ickx and Mass was 2:09.38.  Let’s look at the top qualifiers.

1. #1 Ickx Mass Porsche 956        Rothman’s Porsche
2. #2 Bellof/Bell Porsche 956        Rothman’s Porsche
3. #21 Warwick/Konrad Porsche 956        Porsche Kremer Racing
4. #4 Patrese/Fabi Lancia LC2/83     Martini Racing
5. #11 Fitzpatrick/Hobbs Porsche 956        Fitzpatrick Racing
6. #43 Ludwig/Niedzwiedz Zakspeed C1/4 Ford Jagermeister Ford Zakspeed Team
7. #33 Stuck/Grohs/Brun Porsche 956  Brun Motorsport GmbH
8. #6 Francia/Barilla Lancia LC2/83  Euro TV Mirabella Racing
9. #8 Johansson/Wollek Porsche 956  Sorga S.A.
10. #5 Ghinzani/Fabi/Alboreto Lancia LC2/83  Martini Racing
11. #14 Lammers/Boutsen Porsche 956  Canon Porsche
12. #12 Merl/Heyer/Wollek Porsche 956 Sorga S.A.

There’s your top dozen as we prepare to start the Spa 1,000 Kilometers.  We’re underway at Spa!  Flying towards Eau Rouge for the first time, it’s Rothman’s Porsche ahead, just as they started.  Jochen Mass and Stefan Bellof run 1-2 as Derek Warwick slots into third with the Kremer Porsche.  Michele Alboreto in the Lancia is fourth.  The Zakspeed Ford remains in sixth, where it started, Klaus Ludwig at the wheel of it to start this motor race, and John Fitzpatrick comes next in the #11 Porsche 956 he owns and drives, along with David Hobbs.

The intra-team rivalry at Rothman’s Porsche is well underway, as Jochen Mass and Stefan Bellof have scurried away from everyone else.  Through the La Source hairpin, down the straight, and up to Eau Rouge another time.  Derek Warwick has the Kremer Porsche into third, teaming with Germany’s Franz Konrad.  There’s a huge scrum though, for fourth on back.  Three brands fight for one spot.  That shows the mechanical variety in Group C racing.  Porsche vs. Lancia vs. Ford.  Oh dear!  We have a wreck.  Stefan Johansson has spun off the road in the Joest Porsche 956, the Sorga S.A. run car.

Johansson had a coming together with Michele Alboreto in the Lancia.  This could shake up the world championship standings, as we see the battle between Jacky Ickx and Stefan Bellof continue.  Now, Bellof is in the lane for a scheduled pit stop and a driver change.  He will hand Porsche #2 to Derek Bell.  The boys at Rothman’s Porsche are aware it’s game over for Bob Wollek and Stefan Johansson, and those two have already retired from this motor race.  Next lap, and the #1 Rothman’s Porsche hits the lane.  Jochen Mass, out, and Jacky Ickx in.  The battle is hot and heavy still, here at Spa Francorchamps.

John Fitzpatrick continues to run in fourth, having taken over the car he owns from David Hobbs.  Michele Alboreto is fifth in the sister Lancia.  Derek Bell and Stefan Bellof lead the Spa 1,000 kilometers for another 66 laps, between lap 26 and lap 82.  Bad luck for Kremer Porsche.  The flat six in the back of the Boss #21 Warwick/Konrad driven 956 has gone ka-blammo.  A great shame, because the duo was on the podium, practically, before the gremlins took over.  Porsche #2 is in the lane for what seems to be a routine stop, but a brake pad change is necessary on the car.

Plus, Bellof and Bell were struggling with fuel consumption, and thus, this hands the lead back to Mass and Ickx in the sister car.  More trouble for the competition.  Michele Alboreto is out as the Lancia has a transmission issue.  Bob Wollek also took over Porsche 956 #12 for Sorga S.A./New Man.  Wollek has crashed out, and it’s day done for he, Volkert Merl, and Hans Heyer.  Jacky Ickx has a minute lead over Derek Bell.  Onto the last lap, Jacky Ickx will win his home race!  Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass win the Spa 1,000 Kilometers!  John Fitzpatrick and David Hobbs bring the #11 Porsche 956 home in third!  A podium placing, is the best finish these chaps have had in all of 1983 so far.

It’s a Rothman’s Porsche 1-2.  Bell and Bellof come home second.  Lancia finish sixth and seventh, with the privateer car #6 of Paolo Barilla of Italy, and countryman Giorgio Francia, finishing ahead of the Martini backed factory cars.  Here are the results after the 144 laps that made up the Spa 1,000 Kilometers.

1. #1 Ickx/Mass Porsche 956                        Rothman’s Porsche Team
2. #2 Bellof/Bell Porsche 956                        Rothman’s Porsche Team
3. #11 Fitzpatrick/Hobbs Porsche 956                        Fitzpatrick Racing
4. #33 Stuck/Grohs/Brun Porsche 956                       Brun Motorsport GmbH
5. #18 Lassig/Plankenhorn/Regout Porsche 956     Obermaier Racing GmbH
6. #6 Francia/Barilla Lancia LC2/83     Euro TV Mirabella Racing
7. #4 Patrese/Fabi Lancia LC2/83     Martini Racing

After Spa, Porsche are your manufacturer’s champions in the FIA WEC for 1983.  Lancia can still finish, but they have only scored a measly 11 points all year.  Jacky Ickx takes over the driver’s championship points lead from Bob Wollek, by 14 points, 70-56.  There was a race after Spa.  Round six took place at the Brands Hatch 1,000 Kilometers at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, England.  A smaller field entered that race, which was won by the #11 John Fitzpatrick Racing Porsche 956 of Derek Warwick and John Fitzpatrick.  David Hobbs did not drive the car, at Brands Hatch.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Brands_Hatch-1983-09-18.html

Mass and Bell are hanging in there, as we finish the European leg of the season, and move next, to Japan and the speedway at Mount Fuji.

Now, we move to the greatest car race in the world, the 51st running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  This year’s Le Mans has to be one of the best, for over a decade.  51 cars in total, and a full 75% are Group C Prototypes.  Everyone wants to race at Le Mans.  Jacky Ickx is going for his seventh win, and Derek Bell, going for his fourth.  The weather is hot, but gorgeous.  So many nations take part in the Le Mans 24 Hours.  It is truly, a worldwide event.  Now, we look at the top qualifiers.  Winning the pole position battle, Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell in Rothman’s Porsche #1.

1. #1 Ickx/Bell Porsche 956        Rothman’s Porsche
2. #4 Alboreto/Fabi Lancia LC2       Lancia Martini
3. #2 Mass/Bellof Porsche 956       Rothman’s Porsche
4. #5 Ghinzani/Heyer/Fabi Lancia LC2  Lancia Martini
5. #8 Ludwig/Wollek/Johansson Porsche 956  Joest Porsche
6. #14 Lammers/Palmer/Lloyd Porsche 956  Canon Porsche
7. #3 Holbert/Schuppan/Haywood Porsche 956  Rothman’s Porsche
8. #21 Andretti/Andretti/Alliot Porsche 956  Kremer Porsche
9. #12 Merl/Schickentanz/De Narvaez Porsche 956  New Man Porsche
10. #16 Fitzpatrick/Keegan/Edwards Porsche 956  Skoal Bandit Porsche
11. #18 Lassig/Wilson/Plankenhorn Porsche 956  Boss Porsche
12. #6 Andruet/Barilla/Nannini Lancia LC2 Lancia Martini
13. #22 Warwick/Jelinski/Gaillard Kremer Porsche CK5  Porsche Kremer Racing
14. #39 Mallock/Salmon/Earle Aston Martin Nimrod  Viscount Downe – Pace Petroleum
15. #24 Pescarolo/Ferte/Boutsen Rondeau M482 Ford Cosworth  Ford France

There’s your top 15 on the grid.

There is a tremendous atmosphere at Le Mans as the cars set off on the pace lap.  We are moments away from starting the 24 Hours of Le Mans for 1983.  The Trois Coloeurs, waves.  Go!  Jacky Ickx leads from Michele Alboreto headed up through Tertre Rouge and Jochen Mass passes for the lead through the esses and down the Mulsanne straight for the first time.  The Rothmans Porsche’s flew through the speed traps at 246 miles an hour!  Remember, this is long before the current chicanes were put in on the Mulsanne to slow it down.  So, these boys are up there, giving it full welly for four miles.

The third Rothmans Porsche 956, #3, is being piloted by Al Holbert, Hurley Haywood, and Vern Schuppan.  Jochen Mass leads with Jacky Ickx in second.  Up to third is the #14 car of Jan Lammers.  That’s the Canon Porsche 956 he shares with Johnny Palmer and Richard Lloyd, the car owner.  Bob Wollek is fourth in the #8 Joest Porsche, and fifth is the first of the Lancia’s, car #4 with Michele Alboreto at the wheel of it.  Schuppan in the #3 Rothmans Porsche is sixth overall.  Bob Wollek won’t hang around despite this being a 24 hour race, in the mid pack.  He moves up to third, close behind the leaders where all the action is, and Lammers is giving it everything in the Canon Porsche, #14.

Again, Wollek has Klaus Ludwig and Stefan Johansson as his co-drivers.  Jochen Mass is putting a tremendous amount of daylight between himself and the rest of the field, as he goes through Mulsanne corner.  Meanwhile, look out!  Boys, we have a crash, or a spin or something out there!  Jan Lammers and Jacky Ickx engage in a little argy bargy, and Lammers comes off worse, spinning down the escape road.  Lammers was going for it, trying to pass on the outside of Jacky Ickx, and he ended up spinning off the road early in this race.  Jochen Mass leads Le Mans, but Jacky Ickx has dropped like a stone down the order.

With the visit to the pit lane to make repairs, Ickx and co-driver Jochen Mass, have now sunk to ninth in the overall.  The sister Rothman’s Porsche’s pit for regular service, cars #2 and #3.  The Mass/Bellof driven car, and the Holbert/Haywood/Schuppan entry, are both in the lane.  Mass and Schuppan will continue on for another stint in each car.  No driver change.  Meanwhile, Derek Warwick is running well in the #22 Kremer Porsche CK5 with sponsorship from Grand Prix International.  However, Warwick, and team mates Frank Jelinski of Germany and Patrick Gaillard of France, would retire from Le Mans after five hours, with mechanical woes.

Four hours into the race, at 8PM, Porsche #2 of Stefan Bellof and Derek Bell continues to lead the motor race.  Their team car is closing in, and by the five hour mark, Holbert, Schuppan, and Haywood, would take the overall lead at Le Mans.  In the meantime, a battle is brewing between the #11 Porsche 956 for Fitzpatrick Racing, and one of the Lancia’s.  Dieter Quester from Austria has joined David Hobbs and John Fitzpatrick to race at Le Mans.  Fitzpatrick is at the controls presently.  The Rothman’s cars are running like trains as we approach twilight at Le Mans 1983.

Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell have moved up from ninth overall, as darkness falls at Le Mans.  Porsche #2 is experiencing some engine trouble.  Things have changed slightly at the front.  It’s still Rothman’s Porsche ahead, but it is #3 in the hands of Holbert, Haywood, and Schuppan, who now lead Le Mans.  The #14 Canon Porsche 956 runs in tenth overall and they’ve had a couple of issues during the night, but are still in the race.  The same cannot be said, for Lancia.  Night at Le Mans is cruel, and Lancia is finding this out.  It is game over for Lancia.  All three works LC2 prototypes are out.  The #4 Michele Alboreto, Teo Fabi, Alessandro Nannini entry, had it’s transmission fail.  Piercarlo Ghinzani and Hans Heyer, along with Teo Fabi in the #5 entry, lost fuel pressure.  To add to Lancia’s misery, the third entry, car #6 saw it’s 1983 Le Mans challenge end, when the turbo packed up and Jean Claude Andruet of France, along with Paolo Barilla of Italy, who had joined Alessandro Nannini, his countryman, in that car, were done.

Sixteen hours into the race, Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell clawed their way back into the overall lead past their team mates, at 8AM, just after the sun rose.  This lead was short lived.  Their fuel injection command box on the engine, broke, and had to be repaired, forcing Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell down to third overall, now running behind their sister car #3, and a surprising new second place runner, for the Andretti’s.  This is the #21 Kremer Racing Porsche 956.  Michael and Mario Andretti are sharing the car with France’s Philippe Alliot.  Poor old Joest Racing.  Stefan Johansson, Klaus Ludwig, and Bob Wollek had a litany of problems during the night, and then, Wollek went off the road.  They run sixth in the overall but out of contention for any kind of victory or podium honors.

By mid-morning, Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell had passed the Andretti’s and for the final hour of Le Mans ’83 there is a thrilling scrap between the #1 and #3 Rothman’s Porsche’s.  Coming to the finish line, car #3 is getting sick.  There’s smoke out of the left hand bank of cylinders on it’s turbocharged flat six Porsche engine.  With an hour and a half left, at high speed on the Mulsanne, this car had it’s door blown off, literally, and the pit crew had to repair it.  The car has a blocked radiator inlet, being chased by it’s team car… the Bell/Ickx machine.  Despite looking like a steam locomotive and perhaps possibly giving up the ghost, Le Mans 1983 belongs to the #3 Rothman’s Porsche!  Al Holbert, Vern Schuppan, and Hurley Haywood, are your winners!  Haywood’s first Le Mans victory as it is for Holbert and Schuppan.  Hurley Haywood would win this race again, over a decade later.

The car comes to a complete stop.  It has cried, “enough!”  After 24 hours of racing, #3 finishes a mere minute and four seconds ahead of Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell, the closest Le Mans finish, in a decade.  Three very happy drivers, achieve immortality, winning Le Mans.  Here are the final results, from Le Mans.  The winners complete 370 laps, 3,151 miles.  Here are the results.

1. #3 Holbert/Schuppan/Haywood Porsche 956   Rothman’s Porsche
2. #1 Ickx/Bell Porsche 956   Rothman’s Porsche
3. #21 Andretti/Andretti/Alliot Porsche 956   Porsche Kremer Racing
4. #12 Schickentanz/De Narvaez/Merl Porsche 956   New Man/Sorga S.A.
5. #16 Fitzpatrick/Keegan/Edwards Porsche 956   Fitzpatrick Racing
6. #8 Wollek/Johansson/Ludwig Porsche 956   Marlboro/Sorga S.A.
7. #18 Lassig/Plankenhorn/Wilson Porsche 956   Boss/Obermaier Racing

Porsche is way ahead in the constructor’s championship after their Le Mans triumph and as you can see, Porsche’s in factory and privateer hands, took the top seven points paying spots at Le Mans.  Bob Wollek is ahead in the World Championship for drivers, six points clear of Jacky Ickx.  We return to the 1,000 Kilometer format of racing, in Belgium, in the Ardennes Forest, at Spa Francorchamps, in a couple of months, in early September.

This will be the final international race to take place at the Nordschleife, the great 14 mile mountain circuit in West Germany, Nurburg.  Leading drivers want to go down in the history books.  For 1984, the new shortened track will be used.   In qualifying, Stefan Bellof shatters the old lap record, and brings forth a new record of 6:11.83.  He was five and a half seconds quicker than his team car of Jackie Ickx and Jochen Mass.  Jochen couldn’t get within five seconds of Bellof’s time.  1982 Formula 1 World Champion Keke Rosberg is here, to drive, and so is 1968 Nurburgring 1,000 Kilometers winner, Vic Elford.

Unfortunately, for Vic Elford, his Group B BMW M1 did not start the race.  Elford was to have driven the #105 Jurgensen GmbH & Co. KG BMW M1 with team owner Hans Christian Jurgensen, and Edgar Doren.  So, let’s have a look at the top qualifiers.  No surprises at the front.

1. #2 Bell/Bellof Porsche 956        Rothman’s Porsche
2. #1 Ickx/Mass Porsche 956        Rothman’s Porsche
3. #8 Wollek/Johansson Porsche 956        Joest Porsche
4. #14 Rosberg/Lammers/Palmer Porsche 956        Canon Porsche
5. #4 Patrese/Alboreto Lancia LC2            Lancia-Martini
6. #11 Fitzpatrick/Hobbs Porsche 956        John Fitzpatrick Racing
7. #35 Stuck/Brun Sehcar SH C6 BMW  Brun Motorsport GmbH
8. #18 Heyer/Lassig/Plankenhorn Porsche 956  Boss Obermaier Racing

That’s your top eight, as the cars wind their way through the amazing Carousel turn.  The track is mostly dry.  In the morning before the race, there was rain, and so there are damp spots on the road.  It is a great shame this circuit will never be used again for prototype sports cars.  Lancia and Joest Porsche elected to use wet weather tires, while Rothman’s Porsche’s strategy early on, calls for slicks.  Go!  Stefan Bellof is the bloke who will become the rabbit, and the pack behind are the hounds pursuing him around the Nordschleife.

Michele Alboreto has the #4 Lancia second, and Bob Wollek in the Joest Porsche is third.  By the time the cars reach the far side of the Nordschleife, Michele Alboreto and Lancia have muscled their way into the lead.  Bob Wollek is harrying Alboreto in second.  There’s a scrap for fourth through seventh, and the Sehcar BMW is seventh right now.  That is the car shared by Hans Stuck and Walter Brun.  Stefan Bellof has made his way to second, while Jacky Ickx makes a move on John Fitzpatrick.  A lap or so into this race, the Nurburgring, the vast majority of the lap of 14 miles, is dry.  So, Stefan Bellof wants to go for it, and he’s making a pass on Bob Wollek.

Bellof does take the lead of the Nurburgring 1,000 Kilometers.  Jochen Mass has also gotten around Bob Wollek for second, and Wollek will ride in third for the time being.  John Fitzpatrick, sharing with David Hobbs, is fourth.  Incidentally, the Fitzpatrick/Hobbs 956 is on Goodyear tires.  It’s a Rothman’s Porsche 1-2 now, however.  Bellof, followed by Mass.  While Bob Wollek and John Fitzpatrick continue to chase each other, we can see that Keke Rosberg has brought the #14 Canon Porsche up to fifth in the overall, and Michele Alboreto has the Lancia running sixth at the moment.

Everyone who started on wets will have to change to slicks.  Rosberg will tour around for another lap before his stop.  But, we do see Fitzpatrick making his stop, and Keke Rosberg has moved into fourth, before he changes drivers and hands over to Jonathan Palmer.  Stefan Bellof and Jochen Mass continue leading this motor race, as we work our way through some of the lapped group B machines.  Bob Wollek is sixth.  Rain is drizzling around the course.  Incidentally, some of the more fascinating Group B entrants around here include the Porsche 930’s, Porsche 924 Carrera GTS’s, Porsche 928, Ford Escort RS, BMW M1’s, Opel Ascona’s, BMW 320s, a Renault 5 Turbo, an Opel Kadett, and an Audi 80 Coupe.

Bellof leads the motor race.  That’s been a familiar phrase so far.  On lap 20, things went pear shaped for Stefan Bellof.  He flies off the road on lap 20 and has a massive accident!  He crashes hard at Pflanzgarten!  Air got underneath the nose of the Porsche 956, and Bellof, flew into the Armco.  Bellof is fine, but, it’s a sad moment as neither he nor co-driver Derek Bell are going to be in contention to win this final Group C contest at the Nurburgring.  Game over.  Not only did Stefan Bellof have a massive wreck, but on the far end of the mountain, Walter Brun also clobbered the Armco, destroying the #35 Sehcar BMW!  Brun and Hans Stuck, also are retirements on the spot.

The red flag is out, to clean up the wreckage, after 25 laps, (350 miles).  Race order is as follows:

1. #1 Ickx/Mass Porsche 956
2. #8 Wollek/Johansson Porsche 956
3. #11 Fitzpatrick/Hobbs Porsche 956
4. #14 Rosberg/Lammers/Palmer Porsche 956

This is the top four, as we get set to restart the motor race.  The total time run in each race (technically two races in one), will decide the winner of the Nurburgring 1,000 Kilometer race.  Jacky Ickx whistles off into the distance on the restart, and then, he has to make a pit stop.  Keke Rosberg has the Canon Porsche in second, and then comes the Alboreto/Patrese Lancia.  No sooner though, had Jochen Mass taken over Rothman’s Porsche #1, before problems set in.  Broken front suspension on the only surviving Rothman’s Porsche.  Remember, now, Bellof and Bell are out, after Stefan Bellof’s massive wallop into the Armco earlier.

Keke Rosberg leads with car #14, but these blokes were two laps behind in the first stanza of this motor race.  Turbo boost gremlins struck the Joest Porsche of Bob Wollek and Stefan Johansson.  Lancia is up to P2.  Porsche #1 maintains their overall aggregate lead, despite almost losing a lap.  Through the little carousel, it looks like #14 will be on its way to the win.  Yes, indeed. Winner, winner, chicken dinner, for Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx!  Rothman’s Porsche #1 takes the last Group C win on the Nordschleife!

The final results of the Nurburgring 1,000 Kilometers.

1. #1 Ickx/Mass Porsche 956        Rothman’s Porsche
2. #8 Wollek/Johansson Porsche 956  Joest Porsche
3. #14 Rosberg/Lammers/Palmer Porsche 956  Canon Porsche
4. #18 Heyer/Plankenhorn/Lassig Porsche 956  Boss Porsche
5. #51 Laurrari/Sigala Lancia LC1  Sivama Grifone
6. #11 Fitzpatrick/Hobbs Porsche 956  John Fitzpatrick Racing

Of the 34 starters, 17 finished… roughly half the field.  Stefan Bellof turned in the fastest, record lap, at 6:25.91.

Next up, the grandest race of them all, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.