So much for trying

Ok, I myself have a little trouble saying that a guy was unlucky in racing, having raced for many years, winning dozens upon dozens of races, championships, and even earning the accolade of "brilliant". However, I felt very sorry for Bob Wollek's earliest forays in the DRM, in the 70's.

I for one thought that Wollek deserved a chance in F1. Many a lesser men (and a few women) drove in the category in the mid-seventies, when Wollek was one of the main Formula 2 drivers. Yet, I suppose team managers either unfairly did not think much of him, or thought there were too many Frenchmen in the category.

Be that as it may, Wollek ended up driving GTs, and eventually, sports cars of all descriptions, having already proven to be good in the category, while driving for Matra-Simca at Le Mans, and Chevrons elsewhere.

Bob found a nice home at the Kremer brothers team, which was already one of the top Porsche teams.

There stood a stone in Wollek's foot, the GELO Team. The team owned by Georg Loos won the European GT Championship in 1976, with Toine Hezemans, the first fully contested by Wollek. The Frenchman had, however, shown an upper hand in the World Championship of Makes.

In 1977, GELO hired Rolf Stommellen, and I followed with much interest the closely fought battle between  Rolf and Bob all season. The German ended up winning, so the score was Gelo 2 x Kremer 0.



Rolf ended up lured back into Formula 1 for 1978, and also into a questionable Toyota Group 5 project by Schnitzer, so the road was clear for Wollek. It was not to be. Toine Hezemans was rehired by Loos, and he won the big banger division of the championship, while Harald Ertl carried overall honors. Gelo 3 x Kremer 0.

For 1979, Wollek did what any human being with a brain would do. If you cannot beat them join them, and that is what he did - he jumped to the Gelo camp, while Klaus Ludwig was hired by Kremer.

The rest is history. Kremer came up with the K3 revised Porsche 935 that year, and Ludwig won all but one race in the championship, his only defeat coming from Gelo's Wollek! 

Eventually, after so much trying, Wollek did win the DRM, but the Kremer/Loos thing of his early tries must have unsettled him a bit.

Carlos de Paula is a translator, writer and auto racing historian based in Miami

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.

The Golden Age of the DRM

By the late 60’s the German economy was in full recovery and local auto racing, which was long a subdued affair, began to flourish. Surely Porsche’s success in the World Championship of Makes revived German interest for auto racing, for such a long time maintained by Mercedes Benz, which quit big time racing after the 1955 Le Mans disaster. However, BMW’s rise to prominence in saloon car racing, as well as F-2, also was a shot in the arm of a moribund local scene. This, in turn, resulted in Ford Germany’s involvement, primarily in the European Touring Car Championship. In fact, the latter two marques waged huge battles all over Europe during the period 1971 to 1974, which brought to light the DRM, the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterchaft, in 1972.

The championship was divided into two divisions, Division I for cars above 2 liters, and Division II for cars above 2 liters. This meant Division I was mostly contested by Porsche 911 and Ford Capris, with an odd BMW, and Division II spoils shared by Ford Escort, BMW 2002 and small engined Porsche 911s. The first championship (1972) was won by Hans Stuck, who drove a Ford in 1972, while Dieter Basche won Division II for BMW. The early days of the championship also included the 1000 km of Nurburgring, the ETC Nurburgring round, the 500 km of Nurburgring (all of which gave double score), as well as the Sauerland and Freiburg hill climbs, but most rounds were specifically run for the championship, at Nurburgring, Hockenheim, Mainz Finthen, Kassel Calden and Diepholz.

Stuck’s main challenger in this maiden championship was Klaus Fritzinger, but several other prominent drivers featured in this championship: Jorg Obermoser, Jurgen Barth, Hans Heyer, Jochen Mass, Rolf Stommelen, Clemens Schickentanz, Jurgen Neuhaus, Harald Ertl, Albrecht Krebs, Reinhold Jost, Dieter Glemser, Erwin Kremer, in addition foreign drivers who did not qualify for points, such as Spaniard Alex Soler Roig, Australian Frank Gardner, who raced a Camaro in a few rounds and Swiss Claude Haldi. The following cars raced in this maiden championship, in Division I: Ford Capri, Opel Commodore, Porsche 911S, BMW 3.0 CS, BMW 2800 CS, Chevrolet Camaro. There was grater diversity in Division II, with the following cars gracing the fields at least once: Ford Escort, BMW 2002, Porsche 911, Opel GT, Alfa Romeo GTA, Alfa Romeo GTAm, Opel Ascona, Opel Manta, NSU TT, Fiat Abarth, Renault Alpine, Opel Kadett, Porsche 914/6, Fiat 128.

As the first edition was a success, for 1973 the BMW works joined the Ford Works team, and Division I was hotly contested, as Porsche was by then fielding the more powerful Carreras. BMW used several of its ETC drivers, such as Brian Muir, Toine Hezemans, Niki Lauda, Harald Ertl (all of them non-German) in addition to newly hired Hans Stuck, but in the end Harald Menzel and Dieter Basche waged battle against Ford’s Hans Heyer, who raced in Division I, and Dieter Glemser, who raced an Escort in Division II. Several of the drivers who contested the European GT championship were then racing in Division I, including Schickentanz, Paul Keller and Gunther Stecknonnig. Helmut Koinigg, who ended up dying, beheaded at the wheel of a Surtees in the 1974 US Grand prix, won the Division II race in Diepholz. The longer “outside” events continued to count double towards the championship, which only had a single hillclimb, and had added Norisring to the schedule.

1974 was tough in motor racing in general, and the DRM schedule was reduced to eight rounds, plus the 1000 km and the ETC round. The BMW works was nowhere to be seen in Division I, except for Diepholz and Norisring, where Stuck raced and won, although Ford continued to field cars for star drivers such as Rolf Stommelen, Toine Hezemans and new star Klaus Ludwig. Although there were less races, the fields were larger, thanks mostly to a large number of Porsche Carreras fielded in division I, for the likes of Hans Heyer, Tim Schenken, Reinhard Stenzel, Hartwig Bertrams, John Fitzpatrick, Herbert Muller and Claude Haldi. The Grosser Preis von Europa meeting featured 32 cars in Division I, including drivers from Italy, Switzerland, France, Austria, Great Britain, Belgium, Sweden and American J. Rulon Muller. Preis der Nationen featured 35 starters in Division II, including a host of Swiss drivers. In the manufacturer front, the novelty was a Toyota Celica, which ran in Klaus Fritzinger’s hands to no great effect. In the driving front, Niki Lauda raced a Ford at the Norisring, a race that was also contested by Derek Bell, in a BMW. Glemser carried the championship again, followed by Obermoser, Ludwing, Stommelen and Heyer.

In 1975, a few BMW 3.5 CSL’s faced the Carrera’s in Division I, while Ford continued mostly unchallenged in Division II. Hans Heyer won division II and Klaus Ludwig won Division I driving factory Fords. Ludwig also raced an Escort in Division II, at Mainz Finthen. Porsches were still being beaten in the first division, but not for long. Among the Stuttgart firm drivers debuted Bob Wollek, who, being a Frenchman, would not score points, a similar predicament facing other Porsche stalwarts such as Schenken, Hezemans and Fitzpatrick. These drivers mostly hauled from the European GT Championship, which was losing in importance to the DRM.

For 1976 the DRM became an international championship, which essentially meant the death of the European GT Championship. Foreign drivers such as Bob Wollek, Toine Hezemans and Tim Schenken, which had been contesting the championship without earning points, could thereafter walk away with the ever more prestigious crown. More important, the Porsche 934 Turbo was allowed to race in Division I, meaning the temporary disappearance of Fords and BMWs from the major division. In fact, Division I comprised exclusively of Porsches in most rounds, while there was still some variety in Division II: Ford Escorts, which won most races, BMW 2002, VW Scirocco and Golf, NSU TT, Porsche 914, Opel Kadett and Ascona and evebn and Audi 80 saw action during the course of the year. In fact, Wolfgang Wolf came in 2nd in the the Div II, at Kassel Calden, driving a VW Scirocco, thus breaking some of the monotony. In the end, Heyer and Ludwig, both of whom raced Fords in Division II, came out on top. Wollek won Div I, followed by Obermoser (Div II), Schenken (Div I), Hezemans (Div I) and Helmut Kelleners (Div I). Among prominent drivers who took part in the championship were Leo Kinnunen, Walter Rohrl, Jurgen Neuhaus and Claude Haldi.

For 1977 there was further upgrade for the championship, which was to be run by Group 5 cars, the FIA silhouette cars that were racing in the World Championship of Makes. 1977 was unarguably the championship’s best year, with a down to the wire battle for Div I honors between Rolf Stommelen, driving for Gelo, and Bob Wollek, driving for Kremer, while BMW fielded its Junior team in Division II, waging battle against the Ford, and finally coming out on top. In addition to Rolf and Bob, Manfred Schurti, Frank Konrad, Tim Schenken, John Fitzpatrick featured well in Division I, with Jochen Mass racing a single time. In Division II a strong 3-car BMW team contested the series, driven by Marc Surer, Eddie Cheever and Manfred Winkelhock, and occasionally Hans Stuck and Ronnie Peterson, while other BMWs were driven by Harald Grohs, Peter Hennige, Albrecht Krebs. Ford’s honors were upheld by Hans Heyer, Toine Hezemans and Armin Hahne. Porsche also ran a small engined Porsche in Division I, in the German GP meeting winning the race with Jacky Ickx, while Toyota attempted to bring variety to Division I, with a Celica Turbo driven by Harald Ertl. The car actually arrived fourth at the Nurburging. The year also marked the internationalization of the series in terms of venues, with two rounds ran at Zolder, in Belgium. It seems to me that the success of the DRM is what essentially killed the Group 5 Makes Championship, as for teams such as Kremer, Max Moritz and GELO, it was a no-brainer: contesting the widely promoted and relatively inexpensive 40 minute DRM races, all close by to each other, against expensive 1000 km Marathons, run as far away as North America, that got no coverage at all. Not surprisingly, from 1978 on the World Championship of Makes went into a steady decline, until Group Five was replaced by Group C in 1982, and the DRM became the de facto most important sports car series in Europe. The championship ended with Stommelen followed by Wollek, Winkelhock (first in Div II), Heyer, Cheever, Surer, Schurti, Stuck, Schenken and Konrad.

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In 1978 interest on the DRM continued, and an additional international race was added in Zandvoort. However, fields were thin, not only in Division I, but also Division 2. In fact, rarely there were more than 20 cars in each division, and only 10 Div 1 cars raced at Avus. Notwithstanding, GELO fielded three cars most of the year, for Hezemans, Fitzpatrick and Ludwig, while Wollek and Volkert Merl defended Kremer’s camp. Reinhold Jost also appeared, with Franz Konrad and Manfred Schurti playing good protagonist’s roles. Stommelen was hired by Toyota, but not even the champ made the Celica Silhouette go. The BMW Junior team was no longer around, but there were several BMW privateers to wage battle against Hans Heyer’s Ford Capri and Armin Hahne’s Escort. Harald Ertl ended up champion, and other BMW hot shoes were Winkelhock, Hottinger, Grohs. Among some curiosities, a Ferrari raced in the series for the first time, driven by Maurice Cantine (a 308 GTB), while future Formula 1 team owner Walter Brun raced a BMW in Division II. Hans Stuck did race a BMW 320 Turbo against the Porsches at Norisring, without much success. The end results were Ertl, Hezemans (winner Div I), Wollek, Hottinger/Fitzpatrick and Ludwig (tied), Heyer, Schurti, Hahne and Winkelhock. At the end of the season, it became clear that the series did not sustain the international momentum gained in 1977, mostly due to the non participation of the BMW works team. While it was in better shape than the Makes championship, it did not make progress in 1978.

Things got worse in 1979. Wollek had tried very hard to overcome the GELO team in the past two seasons, while driving for Kremer, and ended up jumping ship, going to the former enemy. Meanwhile, GELO’s Ludwig was hired by Kremer. It just turned out that Kremer had developed a super Porsche 935, the K3, which was vastly superior to anything GELO, Moritz or Jost could put together. Ludwig won 10 of the 11 races, and the best Wollek could do was winning the Eifelrennen. Former champ Stommelen, driving for Jost, was also not able to face up to the Super Kremer 935. Grids were a bit healthier both in Division I and II, but the only thing that saved interest on the championship was the fight between Heyer, with a Ford, and Winkelhock, in a BMW 320 Turbo. Some of the Division I races featured BMW M1s, and the Norisring round actually featured Niki Lauda, Hans Stuck and Clay Regazzoni driving the type. Jochen Mass also drove one in Diepholz, but the car was not sufficiently fast to beat the Porsches. There was some welcome variety in Division II, which featured, in addition to the common Ford and BMW, Audi 80, Opel Kadett, Renault Alpine, VW Scirocco, Lotus Espirit, Alfetta GTV and a Lotus Europa Turbo, driven by Mario Ketterer in the last round.

From this point on, the DRM lost some of its interest, and as Group 5 was being phased out, eventually it evolved into the DTM, while the Supercup and Interseries were run by Group C cars.

Curiously, during this period (1972-1979) there was not a single Mercedes Benz car raced in this series, while Opel and Audi never showed any interest contesting the series in a works capacity. In latter years, of course, these same three marques have been in the forefront of German racing, while BMW, Porsche and Ford have been involved elsewhere, but not in top level German racing.