No hard feelings

You don’t have to be a big connoisseur of motorsport to figure out that despite the apparent comradery, sincere hugs in the podium, and hearty laughs at press briefings, there is a lot of competition in the sport. There always was, there always will be. Super inflated egos, good doses of money, media exposure, sponsors, adrenaline, fame, beautiful women, all mixed with nationalism and short careers are explosive elements.

Each teammate is really just another Formula 1 opponent. That's why there is so much antipathy among drivers in the top category of motorsport, specially now that racing is no longer as deadly as in yesteryear - danger actually enabled comradery. However, whether you like it or not, one less colleague means an open opportunity.

Here's the scenario. A driver risks his own life to save the driver who involuntarily ruined his Formula 1 career.

I'm not inventing things, it happened.

In 1973 Ferrari was going through one of its worst seasons. Despite winning two races in the World Championship of Makes, in Formula 1 the team went from bad to worse. Its car, which in 1972 was  competitive, became a disaster in updated guise. In addition, there was the serious political situation. Ah, Ferrari politics!!! Mauro Forghieri, the excellent Scuderia engineer was removed from the team earlier that year. Some say he asked to leave, others say he was kicked out. The fact is that Caliri, and the other engineers did not handle things well in 73, and during the course of the year the Cavallino team collapsed.

Jacky Ickx, the team's top driver for four years, left before the end of the season. And for the first time in many years, Ferrari was absent from several GPs.

Meanwhile, Arturo Merzario persevered, testing the F1 cars and prototypes in Maranello. He had lunch with the Commendatore from time to time, and actualy persuaded him to bring Forghieri back. Arturo also suggested bringing back Clay Regazzoni. Little by little, a good version of the B3 was developed, the version that would be used in 1974.

In the middle of the year, Marlboro was already quite displeased with BRM, and stated that it would not renew the sponsorship, which was eventually invested in McLaren. Also unhappy was Clay Regazzoni, who had pole in the first race of the season at Buenos Aires, leading it for a while, but who had completely lost confidence in the team towards the middle of the season. As Ickx moved away from Ferrari, Clay worked on his return to the team for 1974.

The obvious thing would be to keep Merzario. Among other things, he contributed greatly to the development of the B3, plus the Commendatore actually liked him. Meanwhile, Caliri had been furious with Arturo since the 1000 km of Nurburgring when Arturo failed to comply with team orders and diced with Ickx for the lead, after the Matra-Simcas dropped out. Caliri, who angrily extracted Merzario from the car when Arturo finally heeded to pit orders, was one of those who wanted the Italian out of the team. The Merzario hate-club eventually convinced Lucca di Montezemolo, the new boss, that Arturo should be kicked out.

Many names were considered. Jean-Pierre Jarier, who was the rage in F2 that year, Chris Amon, former team driver, even the names of Brazilians Pace and Emerson were considered. In the end, through Regazzoni’s lobbying, Ferrari ended up opting for his former BRM team mate Niki Lauda, ​​rejecting  Arturo.

The Italian had no choice but to go to the weak Iso-Marlboro team, thus ending any possibility of a top flight F1 career once and for all.

The rest is history. The B3 became an excellent car, and Ferrari narrowly missed the 1974 championship. Lauda was the fastest driver of the year, and in 1975 became the first Ferrari champion since 1964.

1976 - the Nurburgring is the scenario once more. After driving an excellent GP of England with March, at one point reaching fourth position, Arturo Merzario loses the place due to lack of sponsorship. The world of F1 is small. The same Jacky Ickx with whom Merzario had his issues between 1973 and 1975  left the Williams team, dejected, after the British Grand Prix. Frank did not hesitate, and despite financial issues with Merzario in 1975 that led the Italian to leave the team and almost seize Williams property in Monza, Frank rehired Arturo.

Merzario and Lauda recently

Williams's car, a former Hesketh, was a piece of crap. It was no wonder that Ickx left the team. But Merzario, above all, liked to race and be a part of the scene, so much that he raced through his 60s! And there he was, at the same Nurburgring that caused his Ferrari dismissal.

Trying to save a current teammate, as Arturo did in 1971, when Ignazio Giunti perished in an accident in Buenos Aires, is one thing. Risking life and limb to save the driver who helped sink his F1 career at Ferrari, altogether another. And this is exactly what brave Arturo did. With the help of Brett Lunger, Guy Edwards and Harald Ertl, Merzario plunged into the flames of Lauda's burning No. 1 Ferrari, which could explode at any moment, and helped take the Austrian out of the car in time to save his life. Remember that Lauda was a front runner when he crashed, and many people saw the accident AND DID NOT STOP!

Lauda survived, and that same year, he reached out to Arturo to give him a present, a gold Rolex watch. Arturo refused to accept, only received the gift upon insistence of the engineer Carlo Chiti who was also present.

No hard feelings, Arturo and Niki built a beautiful friendship that persists to this day. Recently, they were together in the Nordschleife, cementing this friendship on the basis of the courage and kindness of a great human being, despite his small frame. Niki would still win many other GPs and two championships, while Merzario's F1 career only went downhill from there. It was also the end of the Nordschleife in F1, much to Denis Jenkinson’s dislike.

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The wealthiest Formula 1 driver on Earth

There was a great deal of controversy surrounding Canadian driver Lance Stroll past year. In the opinion of many, his billionaire father would be the only leverage to the young driver's career. This opinion seems to prevail in many countries, except Canada, I suppose. Time - that is, the 2018 season - will tell whether or not Lance has any talent, for he will need it to get this latest Williams far up the grid.

However, this post is not about Lance. After all, Lance’s father is very  much alive, so Lance himself is not an extremely wealthy individual just yet. As the post is entitled "The wealthiest Formula 1 driver in the world", do the math.

Yes, I know a certain Bernard Ecclestone tried to qualify for the 1958 Monaco and British Grand Prix with an old Connaught-Alta. At the time a mere car dealer, Bernie was very optimistic to think that had any chance to start the race, for, among other things, there was a huge entry list that year. Bernie's competitive career is somewhat obscure. Ecclestone was not the only top Formula 1 team owner to have tried a career as a driver. Ken Tyrrell, Max Mosley, Frank Williams, Eddie Jordan, among others, also drove competitively without much success. Colin Chapman, in my opinion, could have been a good driver, and Enzo Ferrari was not a bad driver in the 20’s. On the other hand, multi-champion Alain Prost tried to own a F1 team and was a failure. Le Professeur was completely out of his element as team chief. To each his own.

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The world's richest former Formula One driver is neither Michael Schumacher nor Ayrton Senna's estate.  Not Jackie Stewart, either. Do not even think about Eddie Irvine, although he has been exemplary in terms of investing his money.

He is an Italian driver who did not do very well, at least in F1. He tried to qualify 15 times between 1989 and 1990, and actually ran 9 GPs with Minardi. At the time, F1 had an immense number of Italian pilots, among them Alboreto, Patrese, Nannini, so he did not stand out even among its countrymen. His best finish was a timid 11th. place. He won races in Italian F3, but when he tried his luck on the F-2 and F3000, he did not do well. However, in sports cars he had a reasonable resume. In fact, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours of 1985 with Klaus Ludwig and John Winter, other less expressive races, and also drove for the Lancia and Toyota teams.

His name, Paolo Barilla, who according to Forbes magazine, has a fortune of $ 1.3 billion. He and his brothers inherited the largest pasta maker in Italy, the homonymous Barilla.

You might be a tad disappointed that the guy's net worth was basically the result of inheritance. Be that as it may, he is by far the richest Formula 1 driver ever.

2020 UPDATE

Some people have taken exception to this post, stating that Bernie Ecclestone and Roger Penske were probably wealthier than Barilla.  As for the first, his fortune can be at best estimated. Penske's fortune has allegedly taken a hit as of late, and probably more so during the 2020 pandemic. As for pasta, people are still eating tons of it, all over the world. I also believe that Barilla at least tried to have a career as a race driver, which cannot be said of either Bernie and Roger, who were business people doing some driving on the side.

Some people have mentioned Revson(!), Pedro Diniz (!!!), and even Johnny Dumfries. I have no idea how much Prince Bira was worth, he might have been a more likely candidate.

Since the subject of money in racing apparently arises your interest, you should know that I have written an entire chapter on money in racing in my book Motor Racing in the 70s - Pivoting from Romantic to Organized. The issue is not discussed only in terms of Formula 1: Sports Car, Le Mans, USAC, NASCAR, Lower Formulae, Can AM, Interserie, Formula 5000, IROC Formula Super Vee, Touring Cars and other categories are also discussed, providing some rare facts and figures in regards to this issue. Hundreds of sources were researched for the book.

TO BUY MY BOOK Click here https://www.amazon.com/Motor-Racing-70s-Pivoting-Organized/dp/1732674426 You may also buy it from amazon stores i UK, Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Mexico, India, Australia, Spain, Japan, providing the ISBN number 9781732674424.

The book is not only about money, of course. It has 472 pages, 242 photos, and provides highlights of global racing in the decade, with long lists of venues and drivers from 85 countries, hundreds of unknown manufacturers, short bios of main personalities from the period, essays on the main racing categories of the world, with applicable rare statistics. Some of the information will blow your mind away. 

Carlos de Paula is one of the top Brazilian Portuguese translators in the USA since 1982. And now a top Portuguese AI Translation editor as well. 

Some considerations concerning the Bahrain Grand Prix

This is not a news report. There are tons of other more qualified sites where you can read reports on the race. These are just some observations I had about the race.

Ferrari is doing mostly well, however, my feeling is that Mercedes still has the upper hand, and it has lost two easy races. However, the gap has shortened between the top 2 teams in F-1.

In fact, it seems obvious that having a Mercedes engine is no longer guarantee for good performance. Both Force India and Williams have dropped further down the field, while Renault, Toro Rosso, McLaren and Haas have leaped ahead.

For Robert Kubica, strangely, good news. Had he been hired as the Williams race driver, certainly tons of people would blame him for the poor Williams performance. It would be a nasty comeback for the talented Pole. Better dreaming about what could have been, rather than being disappointed with poor results.

Mclaren dropped Honda, and now, two races into the season, has to witness a Honda equipped Toro Rosso, driven by a rookie, no less, qualify and finish better than a Mclaren Honda did the last three seasons. Worse yet, Pierre Gasly was a front runner during the entire race, mostly running 4th or 5th.

Another surprise was Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber. I, for one, believed Alfa Romeo would be better served with a link up to Haas (both technically and in marketing terms), and when the Sauber-marriage was confirmed I was disappointed. I confess I am an Alfista at heart and seeing Alfa eternally at the back of the grid did not make me happy. Yet, Ericsson did race well yesterday, and yes, part of the result was due to a one pit stop strategy. But Ericsson, never highly touted during his F1 career, actually showed a lot of grint and skill keeping the car ahead of faster machinery.

Kimi Raikkonen again suffered the ills of frantic Ferrari pitstops that remind me of 50s, 60s and 70s entertaining Ferrari pit work. Kimi is so far doing all the team requires of him, but honestly, I do not think the team is serving him well.

I do not remember a top line team doing as bad as Red Bull did on a first lap of a race as yesterday. Both cars out in unrelated incidents. It can only get better.

A funny thing I noticed. Bahrain, being Bahrain, a devout Muslim country, Martini sponsorship on the Williams, and Chandon on Mclaren were nowhere to be found. Strangely, the logos for Estrella Galicia appeared on Renault, and Singha on Ferrari. Isn't beer considered an alcoholic beverage in Bahrain?

I guess beer is not an alcoholic beverage in Bahrain. Beer logos were prominently found, not so Chandon and Martini Rossi.

Jody Scheckter, a champion full of surprises

Jody Scheckter had a very unusual Formula 1 career, full of surprises. He literally burst into the scene, a very fast, unruly driver in his first outings with McLaren in 1972 and 1973, proving extremely crash prone. He had a famous come together with Emerson Fittipaldi in France, while leading, caused a pile up in the first stages of the race at Silverstone, plus crashed in Canada. His mount was great, a first year McLaren M23, and he could have scored quite a few points. After all, smooth driver Jacky Ickx in fact scored a podium at the Nurburgring in his first try.

Then Jody was hired by Tyrrell for 1974. He was obviously not a first pick. Tyrrell was indeed a very conservative type of guy, at the time very much used to constant success. Unfortunately, things went from excellent to bad at the end of 1973. Tyrrell won the driver's title at Monza, then lost both Francois Cevert and Jackie Stewart at Watkins Glen, one dead, the other retired. I find it unusual that Tyrrell would hire two relatively inexperienced drivers for 1974, but that is what he did, after Chris Amon failed to strike Ken's fancy.

Surprisingly, the explosive Jody became a very sedate driver, in fact, he was not that fast in the early 1974 races, the 006 model known as a difficult to drive car. Only after the new 007 came onboard the results appeared, and by the end of the year he became quite the opposite of the 1973 Jody, a reliable driver who was expected to score points. The transformation was amazing, but quite a lot of the speed was gone - forever.

A couple of years more with Tyrrell proved inconclusive, then he was surprisingly hired by Wolf, for 1977, and more surprisingly still, won the first time out. A third surprise, he continued on the pace for the rest of the year, becoming runner up to Niki Lauda.

Then another surprise in 1978. He continued at Wolf, and all that pace and reliability disappeared. At the end of the year he was hired by Ferrari.

At Ferrari, he picked up the pace again, although he had a very tough internal battle, as his teammate was the extremely talented and fast Gilles Villeneuve. On the strength of reliability, a favorable scoring system and some luck (Williams did not debut its new challenger FW07 before), Jody finally became world champion, although not a dominating one.

Then good ole Jody sprung yet another surprise in 1980. All the fire was gone, his performance was pathetic, although, admittedly, that year's Ferrari was no piece of cake. By the end of the season he failed to qualify for a race, ending up with the worst year-after performance by a current world champion. Not surprisingly, Jody retired, although he claimed he still had plenty of offers.

He retired before reaching 30 years of age, never racing again.

BELL, DEREK in Formula 1

 

Born 10/31/1941, Pinner, Middlesex, England

Starts:9

Points: 1

Wins:0

Poles:0

Fastest Laps:0

Bell had been around Formula 2 for sometime when he was hired by Ferrari as a Formula 2 driver in 1968. Eventually he got the chance of a lifetime, debuting in F-1 with the Prancing Horse’s cars. He qualified well (for a rookie) in Italy (8th), but retired, while the going was even tougher in USA (qualified 15th, retired as well). He got no further offers to drive Ferraris in F-1, but was hired to handle the four wheel drive McLaren in the 1969 British GP, an outing that ended in retirement as well. In 1970, Bell finished as runner up in the European Formula 2 championship, and debuted in Sports cars. His F-2 entrant, Tom Wheatcroft, put together a deal for Bell to drive a Brabham in the Belgian GP, where Bell retired. John Surtees also gave Bell a chance in the US GP, where Derek got his single Formula 1 point, finishing 6th. Surtees would give Bell other chances, including an entry in the 1971 British GP, where Bell retired. Then for 1972 Bell was retained by Tecno, as one of the PA123’s drivers. This turned out to be a total dud, and Tecno miserably failed to reach the success it had achieved in F3 and F2. The Martini sponsored cars were heavy, the proprietary 12 cylinder engines down on power and unreliable, and Bell continued to further damage his reputation as a single seater driver. Bell persevered in F2 for two more years, 1973 and 1974, while racing a wide range of machines, from touring cars to sports cars and, Formula 5000 and Can Am racers. John Surtees gave him a last GP chance in 1974. Derek was entered in five races, but the TS16 was a tough nut to crack. Bell finished 11th in Germany, but failed to qualify four other times. It became clear to Bell that pursuing a top level single seater career would no longer be possible, and he concentrated in Sports Cars, where he became one of the most successful drivers ever, including five Le Mans victories. He also became a successful broadcaster, and occasionally still races in the USA.

OUTSIDE OF FORMULA 1

Derek has had one of the most diversified careers out of Formula 1, having driven a large number of cars during four decades of racing:

Formula 1 (Non championship): march

Formula 2: Brabham, Ferrari, March, Surtees, BMW

Formula 5000/Group 8: Lola, Penske, Surtees

Formula 3: Brabham

Can-Am/Interserie: Mclaren

Sports cars: Ferrari, Porsche (917, 908, 935, 962, 936, 934, 956, 962, 924), BMW M-1, Abarth, Alpine-Renault, Mirage, Alfa Romeo, McLaren, Kremer-Porsche, Courage, Aston-Martin, Ford M10, Mazda RX7 , BMW 320 Group 5.

Touring cars: Jaguar, BMW, Volvo, Mazda 323

THE 3 LITER PROTOTYPE ERA

By Carlos De Paula

 

In hindsight it is always easy to criticize decisions that went wrong. On the surface, everything was fine with the World Championship of Makes in the configuration it had in 1971, yet, FISA decided to outlaw the 5-liter Group 5 monster machines, and run the championship exclusively with 3-liter prototypes, which would be essentially Grand Prix racers with prototype bodies. While it is true that only a couple of manufacturers, Porsche and Ferrari, had built new generation 5 liter Group 5s, and these would eventually become old, one gets the feeling that the decision was indeed hasty. Perhaps the 5 liters could contest the championship for a couple more years, ably backed up by 3-liter prototypes as had been the case hitherto. By 1971 the prototypes were no longer grid fillers. Alfa Romeo had won three races on merit, Ferrari was often the fastest car (even faster than the 917 and 512s), and even updated Porsche 908s sprang surprises here and there. However, there was nothing that indicated tons of manufacturers were ready to produce a new generation of 3 liter machines either. By very definition, the Group 5s had on their side volume: to qualify for this group, a minimum of 25 machines had to be built. Prototypes, on the other hand, could be singleton machines.

So, when the 1972 World Championship of Makes started, it appeared as if on the first year the contestants would be Ferrari and Alfa Romeo, with updated versions of their 1971 machines, Joakin Bonnier’s team with Cosworth Lolas, the announced Gulf Mirage and a host of Porsche 908s which were still raceworthy. Matra-Simca was inclined to do only Le Mans. So the grids lost a lot of the depth it had during the 5 liter ERA. 2 liter prototypes and GTs such as Porsche 911 and De Tomasos made up most of the grids, which often featured even Group 2 Touring Cars. Growing pains, it was hoped.

 

On the good side, both Ferrari and Alfa Romeo appeared in force, fielding mostly 3 cars per race, and driver strength was solid. In those days, Formula 1 drivers often raced in other categories, for one, to increase their earnings. Additionally, testing was not as frequent as it is today, neither were sponsor commitments, thus drivers were more available for racing. So a large number of the regular Grand Prix drivers contested at least a single race of the World Championship of Makes in 1972: Jacky Ickx, Mario Andretti, Clay Regazzoni, Tim Schenken, Ronnie Peterson, Carlos Pace, Peter Revson, Andrea de Adamich, Nanni Galli, Helmut Marko, Brian Redman, Arturo Merzario, Howden Ganley, Reine Wissel, Francois Cevert, Jean Pierre Beltoise, Graham Hill, Chris Amon, Henri Pescarolo, Derek Bell, Rolf Stommelen, Wilson Fittipaldi Junior.

 

From the onset it became obvious that Ferrari was the class of the field. Alfa Romeo had shown pace and reliability in 1971, but in 1972 it had neither. Only Stommelen qualified close to the Ferraris, which ran away with the races. In some rounds, Wissel and Larrousse showed the Cosworth powered Lolas had promise, but any challenge would never last more than a few laps, plus at least one of the team drivers, Hughes De Fierlandt, was unable to match their professional teammates speed. The Mirages were not ready early in the season, and at any rate were insufficiently fast to make the Ferraris tremble. So the whole championship became a Ferrari festival. The leading pair was Ickx/Andretti, but Schenken/Peterson also won races, and so did Merzario, Munari, Redman, Reggazoni.

 

Alfa Romeo was optimistic at the start of the year, fielding four cars in Buenos Aires, but as the season went on, Chiti’s team became less sure of itself. After losing four straight races to Ferrari, Alfa Romeo did not appear in the home race at Monza and Spa as well, two very fast tracks that favored the Ferraris. The strategy was to return in the roads of Sicily, in the Targa Florio, where Autodelta fielded four cars. Ferrari, on the other hand, entered a single car in the race, with junior driver Merzario and rally driver Sandro Munari. To Alfa’s desperation, it also lost this race, in spite of Helmut Marko’s Herculean efforts. So Alfa ended up racing a couple more times, at the Nurburgring, and at Le Mans, a race which Ferrari was to miss.

 

In the latter race, Matra-Simca fielded four cars, with very strong driver pairings, Pescarolo/Hill, Cevert/Ganley, Beltoise/Amon and Jabouille/Hobbs. Alfa was unable to challenge Matra, which finished 1-2 in the race. Even the Joest Porsche 908 finished in front of the fastest Alfa of Adamich/Vacarella.

 

In Austria, Ferrari entered four cars, but surprisingly, the Cosworth powered Mirage and Lola posted the fastest qualifying times. In the race it was more of the same: Ferrari finished 1-2-3-4, with Carlos Pace and Helmut Marko on the driving strength.

 

So for 1973 it was expected that Ferrari would reproduce the same form, although Matra-Simca was to contest the whole season. The year turned out to be the absolute best of this era, with four manufacturers winning races on merit, and Matra and Ferrari fighting to the end. However, there was no growth in entries, numerically or qualitywise, quite the opposite. Alfa entered only a few races with a single car. Ferrari fielded two cars most of the time, occasionally a third, with Reutemann/Schenken. Whatever remained of Ecurie Bonnier contested a couple of races and soon the 3 liter Lola was gone as well. Mirage fielded 2 cars in certain races, and Matra-Simca fielded two, except at Le Mans, where it entered four cars. If FISA was expecting Grand Prix teams such as Lotus, McLaren, Brabham, et all to prepare prototype versions of their Cosworth racers, the intent failed miserably. The only hope laid in Porsche’s renewed interest, in the form of a Turbo engined Porsche Carrera, which obviously focused on the future, rather the present of sports car racing.

 

Porsche ended up winning twice, at Daytona, with Americans Gregg/Haywood, and at the Targa Florio, with Van Lennep/Muller. This would be the last Targa Florio valid for the World Championship, and the first World Championship victory by a turbo engined car. Matra-Simca won five times, always with the pair Pescarolo/Larrousse, even though Cevert was often the hare in the team. Ferrari won twice, with Ickx/Redman, and Mirage won a single time, in Spa, with Bell/Hailwood. Alfa Romeo was mostly uncompetitive, even though the new 12 cylinder car showed promise. Grand prix drivers still graced the fields, such as Cevert, Beltoise, Reutemann, Ickx, Reggazoni, de Adamich, Stommelen, Pace, Hailwood, Amon, but the depth problem was still there. Races rarely had even ten 3 liter cars, grids were still filled by myriad Porsche 911s and even smaller GTs and touring cars, and the Austrian round had less than 20 starters. The calendar, which had for years remained quite stable, had new, untraditional races replacing the traditional dates.

 

For 1974, Ferrari dropped out, but Alfa Romeo promised a more consistent challenge to Matra-Simca. Things looked good at Monza, when Alfa beat an uncharacteristic unreliable Matra team, finishing 1-2-3. From the second round on, things were back to normal. Matra won everything in sight, including Le Mans for a third time, and Alfa, like in 1972,  failed to enter a few races, when it became obvious that Monza was a flash in the pan. The year was difficult for racing in general, with the worldwide recession brought about by the oil crisis of 1973, and endurance racing was strongly affected. There was no challenger to replace Ferrari, although Mirage appeared to be a solid proposition, not on the same league as Matra. Matra’s leading pair continued to be Pescarolo/Larrousse, but Jarier/Beltoise also won many races, and even Jacky Ickx shared a win for Matra. Porsche continued to develop the Turbo Carrera, which finished second in Le Mans, but the car was not fast enough to beat the Matras overall. The end of the 3-liter formula was near, as Matra announced it was quitting the series at the end of 74. For 1976 the World Championship of Makes would be contested by a new breed of racers, the new Silhouettes, production based race cars such as the Porsche Carrera.   

 

Although Matra was leaving, another French team, Alpine Renault, which had contested the European 2 liter championship the year before, announced it would participate in the championship with a new turbo challenger. However, Autodelta also announced it would pull out, thus killing any opportunity of a relevant championship. Eventually, former Interserie entrant Willy Kauhsen put together a deal to field the Alfas on behalf of the factory, with engineering support from the works. The first race of the championship was a Porsche benefit, with no Group 6 cars fielded at Daytona. The first round of the championship proper took place at Mugello, and although Merzario scored the pole for Alfa, the race was won by rookie Alpine Renault, with Larrousse/Jabouille. However, the Alfas proved superior, in fact winning all seven other rounds, led by Arturo Merzario who won four races. The Mirage challenge vanished, the team having changed hands and lost Gulf sponsorship. In GELO colors, the cars did appear in Germany, and finished second driven by Schenken/Ganley. Reinhold Joest had some support from Porsche, fielding a Turbo engined Porsche 908. Even 2 liter sports cars were becoming rare in the top results, so Porsche Carreras featured strongly in the top 6 of most races. Even a Group 2 BMW finished third in one race, in Spa. So the formula was indeed a failure.

 

In 1976 there would be a World Sports Car Championship, in addition to the World Championship of Makes in which the 3 liter Group 6 cars could race. As it turned out, this championship would last a couple of years only, but at least it would feature the Porsche works team. Porsche had built a new Le Mans challenger, the 936, and the Championship was an ideal ground to develop the car. The opposition would come from Alpine Renault. Which had a strong team of drivers that featured Jabouille, Depailler, Jody Scheckter, Laffitte, Jarier. Alfa Romeo appeared sporadically and there were still odd Porsche 908’s, including Joest’s turbo powered example. This car ended up winning the Nurburgring round, when  the 936 and Alpines failed. From then on,. Porsche won everything. Although Alpine scored most poles, and even Alfa scored one with Brambilla in Salzburg,  at the end of the races the 936 carried race honors. The Mosport round of the championship was so poorly supported that Can Am cars were allowed in to make up the numbers, so the overall winner was Jackie Oliver, in the retired Shadow Chevrolet. A large number of 2 liter Osellas made up the numbers, so it was more o the same. For 1977, Porsche was gone again, having met its objective, which was to develop the 936. Alfa Romeo was back with a full Autodelta works team, but this was overkill. Alfa won everything, so the only interesting battle was between Merzario and Brambilla. Two of the rounds, Estoril and Salzburgring, had fewer than 10 cars on the gird, so FISA finally got the message and changed the status of the series to European level. Group 5, as it turned out, did not save endurance race, and in fact a few 3 liter, and many 2 liter Group 6 cars were contesting the World Championship of Makes until 1981, as we will see in another article.   

 

Amazingly enough, the powers that be in motor racing did not learn from the lesson, and attempted to make “Prototype/Grand Prix cars” again, with the formula the replaced Group C, the 3.5 liter Sports Cars of 1991/1992. Just like in the 70’s, the deal was a complete failure, resulting in the ultimate demise of the World Championship of Makes.