The Matra-Simca MS670 was a Group 5 prototype race car introduced in 1972 for the World Championship for Makes . The MS670 replaced the previous Matra-Simca MS660C .
65-408: The MS670 only made one appearance in 1972, the 24 Hours of Le Mans . Matra entered four cars, Jean-Pierre Beltoise / Chris Amon in the older Matra-Simca MS660C , François Cevert / Howden Ganley , Henri Pescarolo / Graham Hill and Jean-Pierre Jabouille / David Hobbs . Hill/Pescarolo won the race by a lap from Cevert/Ganley. Beltoise/Amon retired with engine failure and Jabouille/Hobbs retired with
130-580: A 3-lap lead over the team cars in Group 2. Right through the night the two leading Matras stayed on the same lap, exchanging places based on pit strategy. A misty dawn broke up the routine, as the Alfa Romeos fell away with their engine issues. The Lola lost over an hour with brake problems and Weigel's Porsche also had clutch problems. Although the BMW had retired with a broken engine there were also cracks in
195-531: A broken gear shift lever. In both the 1000km of Le Castellet and 1000km of Brands Hatch Beltoise/Jarier won from Pescarolo/Larrousse. For the final race of the 1974 season, the Kyalami 6 Hours, Pescarolo/Larrousse won from Beltoise/Jarier. In the World Championship for Makes , Matra had scored one hundred and forty points, earning it first in the championship for the second consecutive season but at
260-507: A broken gearbox. In the World Championship for Makes , Matra had scored twenty points, earning it seventh in the championship. The first race of the season was the 1973 24 Hours of Daytona and Matra entered one car using the MS670 driven by Cevert/Beltoise/Pescarolo and retired from the race with engine failure. The driver line ups for the 1973 Vallelunga 6 Hours were Cevert/Beltoise and Cevert/Pescarolo/ Gérard Larrousse , all drivers using
325-640: A lap ahead of the French Ferrari of Ballot-Léna/Andruet. Charles Pozzi's car was first GT home and also won the Index of Thermal Efficiency doing about 6.75 mpg. A late-race spin for the NART Ferrari cost it time to repair, finishing two laps further back. In a strong performance, five of the nine Ferraris finished, with Mike Parkes’ Filipinetti car just overhauling the Belgian car in the last hour. All
390-467: A new, third-generation, Group 5 Sports Car class with a 3-litre engine limit (or 2142cc if turbo-powered, using the x1.4 equivalency) with a minimum weight of 650 kg (1,433 lb). There was also no minimum production required. Not for the last time, the FIA’s idea was to encourage manufacturers to build, develop and use engines based around the current Formula One 3.0-litre standard. Recognising
455-481: A pair of privateer entries. After a positive first run at Le Mans the previous year, Brit Alain de Cadenet decided to build his own car to race. He employed Brabham designer Gordon Murray to build a car around the Cosworth DFV (developing 390 bhp) and Brabham BT33 suspension. The lightest of the 3-litre prototypes, De Cadenet got sponsorship from Duckhams Oil and the car was just ready in time for
520-676: A solid 66 arriving for practice and for the first time for a few years a full grid of 55 cars took the start. In a major surprise, after winning every round in the Championship to date, and dominating the timing in the Test Weekend in March, Ferrari withdrew its works team less than a fortnight before the race. Having just secured the World Championship title, it claimed the engines on the Group 5 312 PB were only good for
585-476: A tyre blowout at the Mulsanne kink at 320 kp/h (200 mph). As night fell and the track dried, Bonnier and van Lennep were putting in quick times to catch up and set the fastest lap of the race with a 3:46.9. At quarter-distance still had the two Matras swapping the lead (89 laps) with a comfortable 3-lap margin over the three Alfa Romeos. Sixth was Joest (84 laps) The Ferraris had a strong hold on GT as
650-632: A year ago, and was loaned from the Schlumpf Collection . It was refitted by Porsche with a new 3-litre engine capable of 360 bhp. Other customer teams brought Porsche Group 5 cars: the Spanish Escuderia Montjuich had a 908/03, André Wicky ’s Swiss team had one of several 908/02s as well as an older 907. Jo Bonnier , Lola’s European agent, convinced Eric Broadley to develop a 3-litre version of its successful T210. Designed by Patrick Head and John Barnard ,
715-676: Is a sports car endurance race held annually at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York . The race dates from 1948, and has been a part of the SCCA National Sports Car Championship , United States Road Racing Championship , World Sportscar Championship , IMSA GT Championship , Rolex Sports Car Series and currently the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship . The first Watkins Glen Grand Prix
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#1732797488530780-588: The 1000 km of Spa were Pescarolo/Amon/Hill and Pescarolo/Larrousse/Amon, Pescarolo/Larrousse/Amon finished third and Pescarolo/Amon/Hill retired with engine failure. The team skipped the Targa Florio but entered the 1000km of Nürburgring with Cevert/Beltoise and Pescarolo/Larrousse driving but both cars retired with engine failure. Matra entered four cars for the 24 Hours of Le Mans , Pescarolo/Larrousse, Cevert/Beltoise, Jabouille/ Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Patrick Depailler / Bob Wollek . Pescarolo/Larrousse won
845-484: The 365 GTB/4 “Daytona” as a GT car, and nine of those cars were entered by the Ferrari agents of six different countries. These comprised Luigi Chinetti ’s North American Racing Team (NART), Jacques Swaters ’ Ecurie Francorchamps , Georges Filipinetti's Swiss team , Colonel Ronnie Hoare's Maranello Concessionaires from London and Charles Pozzi ’s Paris-based team. Chevrolet had five entries this year to take on
910-623: The Camel Continental . A second event later in the year was also held lasting for just three hours or 500 kilometers, and was known as the New York 500 . The Continental was modified once more in 1985 , this time running sports prototypes in one three-hour event, and grand tourer cars in a second three-hour event. By 1986 , the event was shortened altogether, and became a single 500 mile race, then shortened once more in 1987 to just 500 km. For several years IMSA kept
975-608: The FIA 's decision not to return the World Championship to the United States in 1982, the event was not held again until 1984. It returned as an event for the IMSA Camel GT Championship . Under the control of IMSA, the event was radically altered and shortened. In the 1984 running, a break was held after three hours before the race began again and completed the next three hours. This event became known as
1040-536: The Monaco GP ), received serious burns to his face. Matra went all out on Thursday and salvaged French pride with a 1-2-3 qualification for Cevert (3:42.2), Pescarolo and Beltoise. Stommelen (3:47.9) and Bonnier were next then Elford's and Vaccarella's Alfas in sixth and seventh. The fourth Matra of Jabouille headed Larrousse with the Joest Porsche (4:03.3) and de Cadenet's Duckhams performing impressively for
1105-458: The World Championship for Makes , Matra had scored one hundred and twenty four points, earning it first-place in the standings. The first race of the season was the 1000km of Monza and the driver line ups were Pescarolo/Larrousse and Beltoise/ Jean-Pierre Jarier but both cars retired with engine failure using the new Matra-Simca MS670C . The driver line ups for the 1000 km of Spa were Jarier/ Jacky Ickx and Pescarolo/Larrousse, Jarier/Ickx won
1170-528: The 1000 km races, and not 24 hours. This did not sound convincing however, since they had achieved a 1–2 victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring , but during a 24-hour simulation run the flat-12 engine in the Ferrari blew up during the 14th hour. Alfa Romeo had voiced the same concern about their engines’ durability but still showed up to Le Mans. John Wyer also chose not to bring his team's Gulf-Mirages because their Weslake V12 engines were not ready and under-prepared. Although everyone had been outclassed by
1235-556: The Alfas (running Stommelen, Elford then Vaccarella - all 171 laps). Seventh was Joest's longtail Porsche (167) with the hard-charging Lola back up to eighth, 15 laps behind the leaders. With Weigel's Porsche ninth (161) and the Duckhams tenth (155 laps) the field was now very strung out. Things were still the same in GT – Pozzi and NART Ferraris on 154 laps, while Mass and Stuck (151) had stolen
1300-710: The Capri team too – Mass/Stuck stopped on the Mulsanne Straight with a broken conrod and Glemser's car needed a differential change. In the early morning, Bonnier (after being again delayed) was running very fast and had got his Lola back up to eighth. Then at 8.25am, he came up to the Filipinetti Ferrari GTB4 of Florian Vetsch on the straight with 2 slight kinks in it between Mulsanne and Indianapolis, with thick forest on either side. The Ferrari kept its line and, deciding to force an overtake before
1365-590: The Continental as a 500 km race for prototypes in the summer, and the 500 km New York 500 for grand tourers in autumn. IMSA chose to drop the New York 500 in 1992 , retaining the Continental as an event just for prototypes until 1995 . In 1996, IMSA restored the Watkins Glen event to its historic format, combining prototypes and grand tourers once again. By 1998 , Watkins Glen chose to schedule
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#17327974885301430-526: The Corvette engines failed; Pozzi leading NART (both 77 laps) while the three Capris were running like clockwork (76 laps). But during the night first Vaccarella then Elford had clutch problems and each lost half an hour as new ones were fitted. So, by half time, at 4am, the Matras were running 1-2-3. The 670s still exchanging the lead at pit stops (178 laps) and the 660 recovering well, having just overtaken
1495-542: The ETCC was the Schnitzer Motorsport team running a BMW 2800 CS. Although BMW had recently head-hunted Jochen Neerpasch from Ford-Germany to set up BMW Motorsport , this was essentially a privateer effort for the company's first post-war entry. Despite the BMW's 3-litre engine putting out 340 bhp, the car was 250 kg heavier. The other entry was a British entry of an ex-rally Datsun 240Z . Ferrari
1560-523: The Ferrari and Chevrolet competition. Four cars were entered and the Spanish Escuderia Montjuich ones had strong works support. In the smaller GT-category, there were seven Porsche 911s from privateer teams. This year NART ran a Dino 246 on behalf of Ferrari to contest the 2.5-litre class. Once again, NART offered its junior car to winners of the Trofeo Chinetti - a competition for young drivers. The European Touring Car Championship (ETCC)
1625-499: The Ferrari challenge. The French teams of Henri Greder (once again with Marie-Claude Beaumont as his co-driver) and the Ecurie Léopard returned. American John Greenwood also brought a pair of specially lightened Corvettes that proved to be very fast, reaching 330 kp/h (210 mph) on the Mulsanne Straight. They ran on standard BF Goodrich radial road-tyres. Their competitor, Goodyear tyres, had run successfully with
1690-562: The Florida-based English Racing Team winning the GT division at Daytona and Sebring. They asked NART if they could use an entry to get to Le Mans, who agreed as long as the car displayed the Ferrari motif on the side of the car. A new manufacturer for Le Mans was the Italian De Tomaso company. The newly homologated Pantera had a Ford 5.3-litre V8, pushing out 330 bhp was less powerful than
1755-516: The Ford chicane bypassing the dangerously fast Maison Blanche section. Financed by Porsche, it therefore became known as the “Porsche curves”. The Ford chicane was also redesigned with a second chicane added just up the track to allow a dedicated pit-lane entrance lane to be built. This allowed cars to decelerate off the racing line and off the main track, greatly increasing safety. Although the modifications only added 71 m (232 ft 11.28 in) to
1820-471: The Pescarolo/Hill car to build a secure lead over Cevert/Ganley and Jabouille/Hobbs, with the Joest Porsche well back in fourth. De Cadenet's Duckhams was doing very well in fifth until a slow brakepad change and bodywork repair dropped behind it the remaining Alfa Romeo. The rain returned with two hours to go and created havoc. Cevert, de Adamich and Craft were on slick tyres and all aquaplaned off
1885-516: The Porsche 917s in 1971, Alfa Romeo had proven the most competitive, even getting three wins that season. For 1972 they had developed the latest iteration of the Tipo 33, the open-top T33/3 . Designer Carlo Chiti used a tubular chassis rather than a full monocoque making them narrower and 50 kg lighter. The 3-litre V8 developed 445 bhp. The team picked up a number of ex-Porsche drivers for
1950-604: The Six Hours as part of the new United States Road Racing Championship . This championship change was short lived, as the USSRC folded during the 1999 season prior to their second running at Watkins Glen, leaving an FIA GT Championship event as the year's sportscar headliner. In the wake of USRRC's collapse, the Grand American Road Racing Championship took control of the event, and retained
2015-487: The barrier at the Dunlop Curve while running 7th. Cevert and Ganley lost time in the pits fixing wet electrics. Then just before noon, as the rain got heavier, Ganley was going slowly down the Mulsanne Straight when he was hit from behind by the Corvette of Marie-Claude Beaumont. He made it to the pits to get the rear-end repaired (taking nine minutes), but the Corvette was too badly damaged to continue. This allowed
Matra-Simca MS670 - Misplaced Pages Continue
2080-669: The cars’ age and youth respectively. Fastest GT was Migault in his Ferrari in 20th (4:21.7), and the best Touring Car was the Capri of Mass/Stuck in 30th (4:25.9). As if to prove a point, the Capris were right among the Daytonas, faster than most of the Corvettes, Panteras and Porsche 911s. Three of the Panteras blew their engines, traced to a faulty batch of pistons from the US. Fastest in
2145-669: The chequered flag with a comfortable margin of eleven laps over their teammates Cevert and Ganley. This was the first victory of a French car since the Rosier's Talbot-Lago victory in 1950 . It also made Graham Hill the first and, to date, only driver to win the Triple Crown of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Indianapolis 500 and the Formula One World Championship. Although aware of the bad accident, Hill
2210-477: The curve, his Lola hit the Ferrari at speed and flew 100 metres over the barriers into the trees. Fellow driver Vic Elford described Bonnier's Lola as "spinning to the air like a helicopter". Critically injured, Jo Bonnier died soon afterward. He was a veteran of 13 Le Mans and chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association . Vic Elford, coming upon Vetsch's car on fire, immediately stopped to rescue
2275-469: The demise of the 5 Litre Group 5 Sports Car and the 3 Litre Group 6 Sports Prototype categories and their replacement by a new 3 Litre Group 5 Sports Car class. There was also a significant change to the track with the construction of the new technical section subsequently named the Porsche Curves bypassing the dangerous Maison Blanche corner, which had been the site of many serious accidents in
2340-534: The driver who had already escaped with burned hands. By coincidence it was right beside a broadcasting television camera. Shaken by the accident, Elford then pulled into the pits to be substituted by Marko, only for them to retire soon after when the replacement clutch packed up. Ninety minutes later the Alfa of Stommelen/Galli also retired with a broken differential, leaving the last Alfa Romeo running in fourth. It started raining again at 10.30am. The Weigel 907 hit
2405-468: The end of the year Matra pulled out of motor racing. 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans was a motor race staged at the Circuit de la Sarthe , Le Mans , France on 10 and 11 June 1972. It was the 40th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the ninth race of the 1972 World Championship for Makes . 1972 marked the start of a new era with revised FIA regulations dictating
2470-709: The first Lola to finish at Le Mans. Results taken from Quentin Spurring's book, officially licensed by the ACO Class Winners are in Bold text. For Group 2 and Group 4 cars. Taken from Quentin Spurring's book, officially licensed by the ACO As calculated after Le Mans, Round 9 of 11 6 Hours of Watkins Glen The Six Hours of Watkins Glen (currently sponsored as the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen )
2535-414: The first time since 1966) had a short-tail version. The fourth car was the reliable 660C, given to Jean-Pierre Jabouille / David Hobbs . Porsche was now focussing its efforts on its 917 Can-Am project. However, Reinhold Joest got considerable unofficial factory assistance with his 908 LH entry, and sponsored by ATE . The three-year old car had been owned by Jo Siffert who had been killed less than
2600-507: The growing interest in touring car racing, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) opened the entry list to Group 2 Special Touring Cars, alongside the Group 4 Special GTs and the new Group 5. Entries for the Group 2 and 4 categories had a 2-litre minimum but no upper limit on engine size. They also revamped the minimum distance and speed requirements. No longer a set lap-time to qualify, all cars had to be within 140% of an average of
2665-454: The lead from Cevert on the first lap but things started going wrong straight away. On the second lap, Beltoise's engine expired on the front straight and then Bonnier cut through to take the lead on the third lap. During a short rain-shower, Bonnier's teammate de Fierlandt put in some quick laps to take the lead. But the Lolas’ smaller fuel-tanks meant they had to pit earlier, and more often, than
Matra-Simca MS670 - Misplaced Pages Continue
2730-413: The new Matra-Simca MS670B , Cevert/Pescarolo/Larrousse won and Cevert/Beltoise retired with engine failure. The driver line ups for the next two races, starting with the 1973 1000km of Dijon were Cevert/Beltoise and Pescarolo/Larrousse. Pescarolo/Larrousse won the race and Cevert/Beltoise finished third. The 1000km of Monza saw Pescarolo/Larrousse third and Cevert/Beltoise eleventh. The driver line ups for
2795-499: The new Matra-Simca MS680 . Pescarolo/Larrousse won the race, Jabouille/Migault finished third, both Jaussaud/Wollek/Dolhem and Beltoise/Jarier retired with engine failure. The 1000km of Zeltweg returned to two cars with Pescarolo/Larrousse winning the race and Beltoise/Jarier finishing third. The team returned to the MS670C for the remainder of the season. Beltoise/Jarier won the Watkins Glen 6 Hours and Pescarolo/Larrousse retired with
2860-428: The new T280 used the Cosworth DFV engine. It was very fast and had easily won the four-hour race at the Test Weekend. With works-support, Bonnier entered two cars: one for himself and 1971 winner Gijs van Lennep (released from Mirage for the race) and the other for Gérard Larrousse /Hughes de Fierlandt. Sponsored by Swiss cheese, they were this year’s art-cars painted up with gruyere cheese-holes. There were also
2925-602: The only one that had not used a new American engine. At 6.20pm, the Jabouille/Hobbs Matra 660 ran out of fuel within reach of the pits. Someone had accidentally flicked it across to the reserve tank, which dropped them down to 12th and 5 laps down. After four hours, the two Matra 670s were being pursued by Larrousse in the Lola. Stommelen had been delayed by a fuel-pump change but the Alfas still ran fourth, fifth and seventh split by Joest's Porsche. Weigel's 908/02
2990-522: The other GT manufacturers had bad races with a number of engine problems. Chevrolet, De Tomaso and Porsche only had a single finisher each. Three months after the race, Porsche unveiled its new 911 customer model: the 2.7-litre Carrera RS to even up the competition in Group 4. The advent of the Group 2 Touring Cars was successful, with two of the Ford Capris finishing, in 10th and 11th. René Ligonnet's private entry Lola T290, coming home in 14th became
3055-464: The other prototypes. After that, it was the Alfa Romeos’ chance to take up the challenge as first Elford, then Stommelen moved up the order. In the GT class, Migault's French Ferrari had the lead until a jammed gearbox sidelined it, whereupon the sister car of Ballot-Léna/Andruet took over. Three of the Panteras had already retired due to the dodgy pistons – the remaining one of Claude Dubois being
3120-454: The overall track length, there was a noticeable change in lap times slowing the prototypes' average speeds by 30 km/h (18 mph). The circuit still had cars using full throttle for over 65% of the lap however. Prize money this year included FF80000 (£6400) for outright victory, and half that to the respective winners of the GT category and Index of Thermal Efficiency. With the new regulations there were 91 applications, and this led to
3185-459: The past. Having already won the World Championship for Makes, Ferrari chose not to contest the race. Matra-Simca were strong favourites for the outright win after not running the other races to focus on its Le Mans preparation. Once the challenge from Alfa Romeo and Lola had dissipated overnight, Matra were able to ease off to secure a popular 1–2 victory for the home country – France's first since 1950. Henri Pescarolo and Graham Hill were
3250-459: The race and Pescarolo/Larrousse retired with a broken head gasket. The 1000km of Nürburgring saw Beltoise/Jarier and Pescarolo/Larrousse driving. Beltoise/Jarier won the race and Pescarolo/Larrousse finished fifth. Pescarolo/Larrousse won the 1000km of Imola and Beltoise/Jarier finished fourth. Matra entered four cars for the 24 Hours of Le Mans , Pescarolo/Larrousse, Jabouille/ François Migault , Jaussaud/Wollek/ José Dolhem and Beltoise/Jarier in
3315-688: The race switched to the SCCA 's new series, the United States Road Racing Championship . In 1968, the race was expanded to six hours, and joined the World Sportscar Championship . Along with the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring , the Six Hours of Watkins Glen served as an American round of the WSC from 1968 until 1981 , traditionally held during the summer. With the track's bankruptcy and
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#17327974885303380-437: The race, Jabouille/Jaussaud finished third, Cevert/Beltoise retired with an accident caused by a puncture and Depailler/Wollek also retired with a broken oil pump and engine failure. The 1000km of Zeltweg returned to two cars with Pescarolo/Larrousse winning the race from Cevert/Beltoise. In the final race of the 1973 season, the Watkins Glen 6 Hours , Pescarolo/Larrousse won but Cevert/Beltoise retired with broken ignition. In
3445-410: The race. Guy Ligier, keen to progress his JS-2 GT racecar, approached Citroën about getting a Maserati engine – whom they had bought out three years previously. They obliged and three 3-litre V6 JS-2s were present. Because insufficient numbers had been produced it had to run in the Group 5 category. Ferrari had not released its Group 5 car to its customer teams yet, but had been able to homologate
3510-511: The race. The 3-litre V12 was detuned for the race down to 450 bhp, pushing it to 310 kp/h (195 mph) on the Mulsanne Straight. With the French media stirring up a patriotic fervour, team director Gérard Ducarouge took no chances and bought 4 cars and 60 crew. Aerodynamic long-tail versions were prepared for Jean-Pierre Beltoise / Chris Amon and François Cevert / Howden Ganley while Henri Pescarolo / Graham Hill (back at Le Mans for
3575-566: The small GT class was the Kremer 911 which did manage an identical time to the Capri (despite reserve driver Bolanos rolling the car in practice ). Last on the grid were the young NART drivers in the Dino (4:53.9), getting in when several faster cars were withdrawn. For the first time a French President was the honorary starter. In front of Georges Pompidou and a large partisan crowd, Matra started with all four of their French drivers. Pescarolo took
3640-426: The three best practice laps put up. Also the sliding scale of target distances was discarded. Now cars had to achieve at least 70% of its class winner to be classified. Therefore the Index of Performance, now redundant, was discontinued. Also, the Index of Thermal Efficiency now only applied to Group 2 and 4. But the biggest change was to the track layout, with a new series of curves being built between Arnage and
3705-504: The three cars entered: Vic Elford / Helmut Marko , Rolf Stommelen / ”Nanni” Galli and Nino Vaccarella / Andrea de Adamich . Matra , like Jaguar in the 1950s, chose to concentrate its efforts for the prestige of a Le Mans victory. The latest version of the 660, the MS660C had been over a second slower than Ickx's Ferrari at the test weekend. But a new model, the MS670 was entered for
3770-554: The track approaching the waterlogged Esses. The Duckhams had the heaviest damage and fell to 12th before getting back on the track for the final lap. As a final twist, the third-placed Jabouille/Hobbs Matra 660 was stopped by gearbox problems with less than 90 minutes remaining, and the Spanish Porsche running 8th was stopped by a wheel-bearing failure in the final minutes. In the end, the Matra 670 of Pescarolo and Hill took
3835-651: The winners, with a comfortable 11-lap margin over teammates François Cevert and Howden Ganley . However the race was marred by the death of veteran Formula One racer Jo Bonnier who died when his Lola prototype collided with a Ferrari GT and flew over the barriers into the trees on the Sunday morning. Once again, the CSI (Commission Sportive Internationale - the FIA ’s regulations body) overhauled its FIA Appendix J, redefining its motorsport categories. The former Group 6 Prototypes and Group 5 Sports categories were combined into
3900-495: Was eighth followed by the Duckhams and the charging Matra 660. The Pozzi Ferrari led GT in 12th and the Glemser/Soler-Roig Capri was 15th. Another short shower wet the track and de Fierlandt put his car in the sandbank at the Mulsanne corner. He then burnt out an already weakened clutch trying to extricate himself. The Bonnier/van Lennep Lola had also been delayed by gear selection issues and when Bonnier had
3965-642: Was fastest in the test weekend in March with a 3:40.4, but they were a no-show for race-week. On the damp first night of practice on Wednesday, it was Stommelen in the Alfa Romeo and Larrousse in the Bonnier-Lola who set the pace. The session was cut short though by a serious accident when an advertising hoarding blew onto the track. The Thompson/Heinz Corvette was damaged but the next lap the 2-litre GRAC sports-prototype crashed and burst into flames. Driver Lionel Noghès (grandson of Antony Noghès , founder of
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#17327974885304030-405: Was held in 1948 on a 6.6-mile course around Watkins Glen State Park and the village of Watkins Glen . Cameron Argetsinger , a Cornell law student and SCCA member, organized the event along with the local Chamber of Commerce. The 8-lap, 52.8-mile race was won by Frank Griswold in a pre-war Alfa Romeo 8C . In 1950, three spectators were injured during a support race, and driver Sam Collier
4095-536: Was killed during the Grand Prix. The 1951 event became a part of the new SCCA National Sports Car Championship series. In 1952, twelve spectators were injured and one killed when a car left the circuit in the village. This led organizers to move the course to a hillside southwest of Watkins Glen for 1953. Drivers complained of poor visibility and run-off, prompting the construction of a permanent circuit, today called Watkins Glen International , in 1956. In 1963,
4160-504: Was only told of Bonnier's death after the race and was deeply affected. They were former teammates, close friends and had been the “senior statesmen” of the Formula One grid in the early 1970s. Nine laps further back in third was the unheralded Porsche 908LH driven by Reinhold Joest , Mario Casoni and Michel Weber. It was then a close flurry for the minor places: The sole remaining Alfa Romeo, of Vaccarella and de Adamich finished just
4225-763: Was proving popular with manufacturers and spectators. When the ACO opened the entry list to Group 2 cars, the Ford-Germany works team calculated that their pace in winning the Spa 24 Hours could get them into the top-10 overall at Le Mans. Three cars were prepared: the Capri RS2600 was refitted with a 2.9-litre V6 that could put out almost 300 bhp. Its drivers were all Le Mans debutants: current ETCC champion Dieter Glemser with Alex Soler-Roig , Jochen Mass / Hans-Joachim Stuck and Birrell /Bourgoignie. Their opposition in
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