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Silverstone 6 Hours

Silverstone, Northampton, Great-Britain

Date: 9/5/1976
Track length: 4.719 m
Attendance:
Entries accepted: 28
Starters: 17
Finishers: 11 (10 classified)

Pole position: Mass in 1.26,85 = 195,589 kmh
Fastest lap: Ickx in 1.28,19 = 192,617 kmh

Distance: 6 hours
Average speed: 170,813 kmh
Weather: Hot, humid
Ruleset: Group 1-5/76
Car info: 1976 Cars

Pictures

Though the Lancia Turbo was absent, another opponent of the mighty Porsche appeared at Silverstone. A turbo version of the old faithful CSL was entered with the Swedish pair of Peterson and Nilsson. The car was fast but fragile, clocking second fastest, just over 1 second behind the Porsche but in front of the Kremer car. The rest of the entry was of lower quality; Evertz brought a 934/5 (a 934 with wider wheels and a big rear spoiler) as well as a normal 934, there was another 934. The rest of the field consisted of the usual bunch of Carrera’s, a few Escorts, a local car (an MG B!) and to the back of the 17-car grid it got worse with two group 1 Escorts, the slowest one a cool 33.5 seconds slower than the Porsche.
Porsche could use the air intercooler for the last time here - the CSI had ordered that a normal production bonnet should fit onto the car - which was not possible now, the intercooler sticking out. Kremer had the same troubles.

The race was better than expected.
Peterson was fastest away, but the Ickx tortured the clutch of the Martini Porsche. Mass ran to the car and shoved it together with Ickx to the pits (!) - Giunti’s lesson seemed forgotten here. It took them 16 minutes.
Peterson went into the pits after 14 laps with holes in all four tyres, and switched to a harder compound. But Wollek stayed in front, and after 43 laps the gearbox of the turbo BMW cried enough. Despite this, racing manager Neerpasch was sure a BMW would win.
The repair of the works 935 was more difficult than expected - but went out for a show. The Kremer car now had to come in with a broken turbo, which took over 17 minutes to replace, while the Evertz car had problems with drive shafts but continued.
Quester and Krebs had a comfortable lead over the Evertz and Kremer car, but then a con rod broke - out. When Evertz ran into fuel feed problems, Fitzpatrick could pass, followed by Heyer - who in turn passed the BMW and led with 3 seconds before the last refuelling stop. And there Kremer lost it; the car was not properly parked, the fuel hose was too short and the car lost 24 seconds instead of 10. Heyer did what he could but the BMW won by a mere 20 metres...

Group 5
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out,
remarks
1 1 4 Hermetite Products
BMW 3.5 CSL		 John Fitzpatrick, GB
Tom Walkinshaw, GB
 3498 L6 Div. 3 218 laps 7 1.33,36    
2 2 10 Porsche Kremer
Porsche 935 Kremer		 Bob Wollek, F
Hans Heyer, D
 2857 tc B6 Div. 3 218 3 1.29,90    
3 3 16 Egon Evertz KG Solingen
Porsche 934/5		 Leo Kinnunen, SF
Egon Evertz, D
 2993 tc B6 Div. 3 216 4 1.31,57    
4 4 3 Faltz-Alpina Essen
BMW 3.5 CSL		 Harald Grohs, D
Hughes de Fierlant, B
 3498 L6 Div. 3 214 6 1.32,65    
5 5 26 Egon Evertz KG Solingen
Porsche 934		 Lella Lombardi, I
Heinz Martin, D
 2993 tc B6 Div. 3 GT 206 11 1.40,10    
6 1 54 Jolly Club
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Martino Finotto, I
Umberto Grano, I
 1975 L4 Div. 1 200 8 1.38,27    
7 1 31  
Porsche Carrera RSR		 Kurt Simonsen, S
Kenneth Leim, S
 2994 B6 Div. 2 GT 189 13 1.41,40    
8 6 24  
MG B GT V8		 Derek Worthington, GB
Bob Neville, GB
 3532 V8 Div. 3 185 15 1.49,27    
9 2 58  
Ford Escort RS 2000		 Tony Brennan, IRL
Arthur Collier, IRL
 1993 L4 Div. 1 178 16 1.50,88    
10 7 9 Martini Racing
Porsche 935		 Jacky Ickx, B
Jochen Mass, D
 2857 tc B6 Div. 3 167 1 1.26,85 1.28,19  
11 3 57  
Ford Escort RS 2000		 Eric Mandron, B
Ken Coffey, GB
 1993 L4 Div. 1 149 17 2.00,40    
DNF   2 Team Schnitzer
BMW 3.5 CSL		 Dieter Quester, A
Albrecht Krebs, D
 3498 L6 Div. 3 160 5 1.32,64   Engine
DNF   15 Louis Meznarie
Porsche 934		 Hubert Striebig, F
Guy Chasseuil, F
Anny-Charlotte Verney, F
 2993 tc B6 Div. 3 GT 90 10 1.39,96   Fire
DNF   37  
Porsche Carrera RSR		 John Cooper, GB
Nick Faure, GB
 2994 B6 Div. 2 GT 90 9 1.39,74   Engine
DNF   51 Toyota AG Schweiz
Toyota Celica GT		 Manfred Schurti, FL
Walter Frey, CH
Paul Keller, CH
 1996 L4 Div. 1 83 12 1.40,71   Engine
DNF   22 Zip-Up Racing
Chevrolet Camaro		 Reine Wisell, S
Stuart Graham, GB
   V8 Div. 3 64 14 1.42,74   Brakes
DNF   1 BMW Motorsport
BMW 3.5 CSL Turbo		 Ronnie Peterson, S
Gunnar Nilsson, S
 3195 tc L6 Div. 3 43 2 1.27,93   Gearbox
DNS   5  
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Jean-Claude Depince ("Depnic"), F
Jean Claude Aubriet, F
 3498 L6 Div. 3         Accident
DNS   41  
Mazda Savanna RX-3		 John Markey, GB
David Palmer, GB
 2 x 491 R2 Div. 1         Engine
DNS   56 Derek McMahon racing
Ford Escort II RS		 Alec Poole, IRL
Derek McMahon, IRL
 1840 L4 Div. 1         Engine