1970 1000km of Brands Hatch

The 1970 1000 km of Brands Hatch was an endurance race held at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, England, United Kingdom on April 12, 1970. The race was the 3rd round of the 1970 World Sportscar Championship season.

Layout of the Brands Hatch (1960-1975)

Pre-race edit

The challenging, bumpy and undulating Brands Hatch circuit near London saw New Zealander Chris Amon return temporarily to Ferrari to drive one of their 512's, and he qualified his car on pole position. Amon's fellow countryman Denny Hulme drove a works Porsche 917K with factory driver Vic Elford. This race was only for prototypes; no GT cars were allowed to enter.[1]

Race edit

On the day of the race, the conditions were made awful by heavy rain, wind and cold air- a common occurrence during spring in England. The race started with Elford, Jacky Ickx in another works Ferrari, Jo Siffert in works/John Wyer Porsche 917K all getting past Amon around the outside of Paddock Hill, and Amon was followed by Piers Courage in a works Alfa Romeo, Pedro Rodríguez in the other John Wyer Porsche and the rest of the field followed.

At the end of the first lap, Barrie Smith in a privately entered Lola crashed heavily on the pit straight, and yellow flags were shown at the site of the accident. Rodriguez, who passed cars while yellow flags were being shown (oblivious to the fact), was shown the black flag and went into the pits while an astonishing 2nd, was reprimanded. Ickx, like Rodriguez- was a wet-weather specialist, had passed Elford and was leading the race. But he soon went into the pits with rain-wiper motor failure.

Elford was back in the lead, but the flying Rodriguez, who had come up from coming out of the pits in 12th to 2nd by lap 15 (only about 25 minutes into the race), passed Elford and led the race. This was a lead he kept until the end; he and Elford drove their cars for 5 1/2 of the 6 1/2 hours of the race in the dreadful conditions, and Rodriguez won the race by 5 laps. Porsches romped home 1-2-3-4; the first 3 being 917K's. Rodriguez' performance was such that the race is sometimes known as "the day they forgot to tell Pedro it was raining".

The running of the race was changed from a 6 hour time limit to a 1000 kilometer overall distance.

Official results edit

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Laps
1 S
5.0
10   John Wyer Automotive Engineering   Pedro Rodríguez
  Leo Kinnunen
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 235
2 S
5.0
11   Porsche Salzburg   Vic Elford
  Denny Hulme
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 230
3 S
5.0
12   Porsche Salzburg   Richard Attwood
  Hans Herrmann
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 227
4 P
3.0
57   Racing Team AAW   Hans Laine
  Gijs van Lennep
Porsche 908/02 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 227
5 S
5.0
2   SpA Ferrari SEFAC   Chris Amon
  Arturo Merzario
Ferrari 512S Ferrari 5.0L V12 225
6 P
3.0
56   Martini International   Gérard Larrousse
  Gerhard Koch
Porsche 908/02 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 217
7 S
5.0
5   Ecurie Bonnier   Jo Bonnier
  Reine Wisell
Lola T70 Mk.3B Chevrolet 5.0L V8 217
8 S
5.0
1   SpA Ferrari SEFAC   Jacky Ickx
  Jackie Oliver
Ferrari 512S Ferrari 5.0L V12 213
9 P
3.0
28   John L'Amie   John L'Amie
  Tommy Reid
Porsche 910 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 211
10 S
2.0
25   Central Garage (Mirfield)   John Lepp
  George Silverwood
Chevron B8 BMW 1.8L I4 211
11 P
3.0
28   Nick Gold   Mike Beuttler
  Nick Gold
Porsche 910 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 201
12 P
3.0
51   Equipe Matra-Simca   Jack Brabham
  Jean-Pierre Beltoise
Matra-Simca MS650 Matra 3.0L V12 201
13 S
5.0
3   Scuderia Filipinetti   Herbert Müller
  Mike Parkes
Ferrari 512S Ferrari 5.0L V12 197
14 S
2.0
25   Intertech Steering Wheels   John Lepp
  Angus Clydesdale
Chevron B8 BMW 1.8L I4 195
15 P
2.0
81   A. M. Graphic Racing Organisation   Gerry Birrell
  Andrew Mylius
Gropa CMC Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 195
16 P
2.0
79   Roger Nathan Racing   Roger Nathan
  Mike Beckwith
Astra RNR2 Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 193
17 P
2.0
74   Chevron Racing Team   John Bridges
  Peter Lawson
Chevron B16 Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 189

Did not finish edit

Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Laps
P
2.0
72   Mark Konig   Tony Lanfranchi
  Mark Konig
Nomad Mk.2 BRM 2.0L V8 185
P
3.0
58   Ecurie Evergreen   Alain de Cadenet
  Jorge Omar del Rio
Porsche 908/02 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 179
S
5.0
9   John Wyer Automotive Engineering   Jo Siffert
  Brian Redman
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 176
P
3.0
52   Equipe Matra-Simca   Henri Pescarolo
  Johnny Servoz-Gavin
Matra-Simca MS650 Matra 3.0L V12 161
S
2.0
21   Worcestershire Racing Association   John Bamford
  Peter Creasey
  James Tangye
Chevron B8 BMW 1.8L I4 112
P
2.0
77   Worcestershire Racing Association   Mike Walker
  John Burton
Chevron B16 Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 101
S
2.0
24   Lec Refrigeration   David Purley
  Chris Skeaping
Chevron B8 BMW 1.8L I4 88
S
2.0
22   Paul Watson Race Organisation   Trevor Twaites
  Peter Smith
Chevron B8 BMW 1.8L I4 73
S
2.0
26   Road & Racing Accessories (Holborn) Ltd.   Paul Vestey
  Roy Pike
Porsche 910 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 73
P
2.0
76   Digby Martland   Charles Lucas
  Digby Martland
Chevron B16 Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 69
S
2.0
71   Hans-Dieter Blatzheim   Hans-Dieter Blatzheim
  Ernst Kraus
Porsche 907 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 56
P
3.0
60   Autodelta SpA   Piers Courage
  Andrea de Adamich
Alfa Romeo T33/3 Alfa Romeo 3.0L V8 54
S
5.0
7   Grand Bahama Racing Team   Mike De Udy
  Frank Gardner
Lola T70 Mk.3B Chevrolet 5.0L V8 26
P
3.0
59   Ecurie Evergreen   Chris Craft
  Trevor Taylor
McLaren M8C Ford-Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8 25
S
5.0
82   Daren Cars Ltd.   Jeremy Richardson
  Peter Brown
Daren Mk.2 Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 12
P
2.0
75   Chevron Racing Team   John Hine
  Ian Skailes
Chevron B16 Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 9
S
5.0
7   Grand Bahama Racing Team   Barrie Smith
  Howden Ganley
Lola T70 Mk.3B Chevrolet 5.0L V8 0

Statistics edit

  • Pole position: #2 SpA Ferrari SEFAC Ferrari 512S Spyder (Chris Amon/Arturo Merzario)- 1:28.6 (107.723 mph/174.081 km/h)
  • Time taken for winning car to cover distance: 6 hours 45 minutes 29.6 seconds
  • Average Speed: 148.296 km/h (91.540 mph)
  • Weather conditions: Heavy rain, windy, cold

References edit

  1. ^ "Results". Archived from the original on 2004-03-20. Retrieved 2012-08-04.


World Sportscar Championship
Previous race:
12 Hours of Sebring
1970 season Next race:
1000km of Monza