1970 1000 km of Spa-Francorchamps

The 1970 1000km of Spa-Francorchamps was an endurance race held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium on May 17, 1970. It was the sixth round of the 1970 International Championship for Makes.[1]

Spa-Francorchamps in 1970

Pre-race

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Prior to Formula One boycotting and then cancelling the 1969 Belgian Grand Prix because of the dangers of the ultra-high speed 8.7 mi (14.1 km) Spa-Francorchamps circuit, the track was fitted with Armco barriers in some places and was generally made safer. The layout had not been changed, however- and the circuit was still extremely fast and demanding; racing records were smashed at this race by the prototypes. The old Spa layout was just about flat out for the entire 8.7 mile distance and the circuit sped into the rural countryside; whereas now, the circuit stays inside a part of the mountainous Ardennes forest. Lost corners like Burnenville, Malmedy, the infamous Masta Kink, Stavelot and La Carriere were all 180+ mph and corners like Eau Rouge, Blanchimont and Clubhouse were 150+ mph. So every corner except the ultra-slow La Source hairpin was extremely fast and there was never any let-up for the cars on this circuit aside from La Source- and to add to the mental challenge, most of those corners had to be taken just slightly under flat out. Spa was the fastest circuit in Europe at that time, and the great mental challenge of this legendary Belgian circuit in those days was that every corner was just as important as the other- if a driver lifted even just a little bit through any of the high-speed bends, they would lose 2–3 seconds from their lap time, just from having done the slightest little motion that would affect how they were driving. And worse- if a driver made even the slightest mistake, they were very likely to have a huge, catastrophic high speed accident which in those safety-absent days almost always meant serious injury or death.

The works Porsche teams brought the 917K's back into action for this race. They had used the new 908/03's previously at the Targa Florio.

In qualifying, pole position went to the Gulf-Porsche 917K of Pedro Rodriguez/Leo Kinnunen, followed by the other Gulf-Porsche 917K of Jo Siffert/Brian Redman, the works Ferrari 512S of Jacky Ickx/John Surtees, a privately entered 917K of Helmut Kelleners/Jürgen Neuhaus, and another works Ferrari 512S of Ignazio Giunti/Nino Vaccarella. Rodriguez averaged over 157 mph (253 km/h)- a new average speed record on road circuits.

Both the Wyer Porsches and the Ferraris encountered problems. The Ferrari was unstable at medium speed; the Porsches shredded their tires at the very fast bends. Both Siffert and Redman had very hairy moments. Rodriguez was aware of them but, according to John Horseman, he just responded by driving even faster.

Race

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It rained before the start of the race, but by the time the race started, the track was already drying. The teams had to decide on what kind of tires to use. Siffert, Rodriguez and Ickx chose mix condition tires; most of the big bangers chose rain tires.

At the start, Siffert and Rodriguez were banging wheels going into Eau Rouge, with Siffert coming out best. At the second lap Ickx managed to get in touch with the Porsches. As at the third lap the big sports cars were lapping slower GTs, some changes in the lead happened. Siffert was passed by Rodriguez and Ickx, and then he got the lead again. He opened a gap of some seconds but never a large one. Rodriguez, trying hard, shred a tire. After one hour, the first pit stops took place. Siffert's pitstop was slow one and Ickx took the lead. For a while Siffert could not get near the Ferrari. But towards the end of his double stint, he got a message from the pits: an arrow was shown, meaning he was told to speed up and catch the Ferrari. Siffert did come closer to the Ferrari, and Rodriguez had also came closer, but neither were within striking distance. At the second pitstop, Ickx switched with John Surtees and Siffert with Redman. That day Surtees had, apparently, difficulty to deal with traffic and Redman had a very good stint. After some very exciting laps, Redman went ahead, Rodriguez came close, but he had to pit and later Kinnunen abandoned (gearbox). Redman took a large lead. At the last stint, Siffert was very far away but Ickx nevertheless tried hard to gain time. He did gain, but Siffert was informed of it by the pits and responded; the gap was stable from then on.

The race was one of the best examples of the great sports-car battles of the 1970s. Some of the top drivers in the world at the time were battling with each other (Siffert, Ickx, Rodriguez, Redman, Elford) at the most fearsomely fast circuit in Europe, and there was a Ferrari-Porsche confrontation. Rodriguez lapped Spa at 3:16.5, averaging 160.513 mph (258.321 km/h). So the Siffert-Redman Porsche won, and the Ickx-Surtees Ferrari was second.

Once the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix was held 3 weeks later (a race that Rodriguez won for BRM), Formula One cars struggled to get within 12 seconds of this time; although there was a chicane at Malmedy Corner just for the F1 race.

This was the 4th victory in a row for Wyer's team, so far they had won 5 of the 6 races in the championship.

This event set a record for the fastest ever road race in history, and the record would be broken twice more in successive years at the same circuit; and the eventual record stood for decades.

Official results

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Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Laps
1 S
5.0
24   John Wyer Automotive Engineering   Jo Siffert
  Brian Redman
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 71
2 S
5.0
20   SpA Ferrari SEFAC   Jacky Ickx
  John Surtees
Ferrari 512 S Ferrari 5.0L V12 71
3 S
5.0
28   Porsche Salzburg   Vic Elford
  Kurt Ahrens Jr.
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 70
4 S
5.0
22   SpA Ferrari SEFAC   Ignazio Giunti
  Nino Vaccarella
Ferrari 512 S Ferrari 5.0L V12 68
5 S
5.0
43   Racing Team AAW   Hans Laine
  Gijs van Lennep
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 68
6 S
5.0
29   Porsche Salzburg   Richard Attwood
  Hans Herrmann
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 68
7 S
5.0
21   SpA Ferrari SEFAC   Peter Schetty
  Arturo Merzario
Ferrari 512 S Ferrari 5.0L V12 66
8 S
5.0
23   Ecurie Francorchamps   Derek Bell
  Hughes de Fierlant
Ferrari 512 S Ferrari 5.0L V12 64
9 P
3.0
6   Martini International Racing   Gérard Larrousse
  Rudi Lins
Porsche 908/02 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 64
10 S
5.0
33   Ecurie Bonnier   Jo Bonnier
  Reine Wisell
Lola T70 Mk.3B Chevrolet 5.0L V8 63
11 P
3.0
5   Martini International Racing   Hans-Dieter Dechent
  Helmut Marko
Porsche 908/02 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 62
12 S
2.0
31   John L'Amie   John L'Amie
  Brian Nelson
Porsche 910 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 59
13 P
2.0
15   Hans-Dieter Blatzheim   Hans-Dieter Blatzheim
  Ernst Kraus
Porsche 907 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 59
14 S
2.0
32   Paul Vestey   Peter Sadler
  Paul Vestey
Porsche 910 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 56
15 P
2.0
14   Levi's International Racing   Yves Deprez
  Julien Vernaeve
Chevron B16 Mazda 1.0L 2-Rotor 55
16 GT
+2.0
59   Bernard Cheneviére   Bernard Cheneviére
  Claude Haldi
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.2L Flat-6 55
17 S
5.0
30   Gesipa Racing Team   Helmut Kelleners
  Jürgen Neuhaus
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 54
18 GT
+2.0
53   Kremer Racing   Erwin Kremer
  Karl von Wendt
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.2L Flat-6 54
19 GT
2.0
95   Jean-Marie Jacquemin   Jean-Marie Jacquemin
  Bernard Palayer
Alpine A110/1300S Renault 1.3L I4 52
20 GT
2.0
52   Jean-Pierre Gaban   G. van Butsel
  Robert Moerenhout
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 52
21 GT
2.0
60   Georges Duvingeaud   Georges Duvigneaud
  Camille Demoulin
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 50
22 P
3.0
37   Tony Goodwin   Tony Goodwin
  Peter Taggart
Chevron B6/8 BMW 1.9L I4 48

Not classified

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Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Laps
GT
2.0
58   Andre Wicky Racing Team   Sylvain Garant
  Mario Ilotte
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 41

Did not finish

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Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Laps Reason
S
5.0
25   John Wyer Automotive Engineering   Pedro Rodríguez
  Leo Kinnunen
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 44 Gearbox oil pipe
S
2.0
40   Worcestershire Racing Association   James Tangye
  Paul Ridgway
Chevron B8 BMW 1.9L I4 40 Oil pressure
P
2.0
10   Philips Autoradio Racing   Guy Edwards
  Roger Enever
Astra RNR2 Ford 1.6L I4 37 Engine mountings
GT
2.0
51   Jean-Pierre Gaban   Jean-Pierre Gaban
  Willy Braillard
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 33 DNF
S
5.0
35   Racing Team VDS   Teddy Pilette
  Gustave Gosselin
Lola T70 Mk.3B Chevrolet 5.0L V8 31 Puncture/Suspension
S
2.0
39   Intertech Steering Wheels   Angus Clydesdale
  John Markey
Chevron B8 BMW 1.9L I4 22 Oil and water leak
S
2.0
38   Martin Blackie   Martin Blackie
  Peter Humble
Chevron B8 BMW 1.9L I4 18 Overheating
GT
+2.0
54   Jacques Rey   Jacques Rey
  Edgar Berney
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.2L Flat-6 12 Engine
P
2.0
12   Stanley Robinson   Stanley Robinson
  John Blanckley
Unipower GT BMC 2.0L I4 10 DNF
S
2.0
41   Worcestershire Racing Association   John Bamford
  Peter Creasey
Chevron B8 BMW 1.9L I4 10 Oil pump
P
3.0
7   Keith Grant   Keith Grant
  Gerry Marshall
Brabham BT8 Climax 2.7L V8 4 Electrical
S
5.0
35   Racing Team VDS   Gérard Pillon
  Louis Morand
Lola T70 Mk.3B Chevrolet 5.0L V8 2 DSQ (outside assistance)

Statistics

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  • Pole position: #25 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Porsche 917K (Pedro Rodriguez) - 3:19.8 (157.861 mph/254.054 km/h)
  • Fastest lap: #25 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Porsche 917K (Pedro Rodriguez)- 3:16.5 (160.513 mph/258.321 km/h)
  • Time taken for winning car to cover scheduled distance: 4 hours, 9 minutes and 47.8 seconds
  • Average Speed: 240.46 km/h (149.419 mph)
  • Weather conditions: Cloudy, wet at start; later drying

References

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World Sportscar Championship
Previous race:
Targa Florio
1970 season Next race:
1000km of Nürburgring