1970 1000km of Brands Hatch explained

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.

Pre-race

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

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

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

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

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

Notes and References

Web site: Results . 2012-08-04 . 2004-03-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20040320084728/http://wspr-racing.com/wspr/results/wscc/ms1970.html#3 . dead .