Group C Heaven Bow Strung Mike Cotton's piece on the 1982 Brands Hatch 1000 Kms stirred memories of my years as Rothmans Porsche press officer, one of the many bows I have strung during my career as a journalist and broadcaster. I too was there; that and the similarly wet 1970 BOAC 1000 Kms were two of the greatest races I have ever seen. In 1970 it was Pedro Rodriguez at the wheel of the Gulf Porsche 917K, who threw the 570bhp beast around the Kentish circuit as if it was dry. Not only that, but he elected to stay in the car for most of the race, partner Leo Kinnunen being offered the minimum of driving, and the Mexican finished five laps ahead of the second-placed Vic Elford/Denny Hulme 917K. Early Barth That dark, damp day, as much as anything, fired my enthusiasm for sportscar racing, and four years later I raced a Chevron B21 in the same event. I fought a first-hour battle with Porsche customer manager Jurgen Barth, who was at the wheel of the Joest 908, and we were later to become close friends. That was to be my last competitive drive, as the money had run out, and I was called by the BARC to be press officer at Thruxton. After eight years in Hampshire, I moved on to Silverstone to become press manager, and it was there in 1982 that I was in at the birth of Group C. Do you have a light, Mac? Rothmans had already been involved in motorsport in the '70s as race and Formula 5000 sponsors, but was now making a concerted effort to take its place on the world stage. It was backing John McDonald's March Formula 1 team, and at the same time talking to Porsche, which was pioneering fuel-economy in racing with its 956 Group C programme. Rothmans International's promotions boss Sean Roberts virtually took over Silverstone for the first Group C race, the Silverstone 6 Hours, which as Mike recalled saw the German factory hamstrung by the new FIA fuel formula, while Lancia's open prototypes could race unfettered. Come Le Mans in June, Sean asked me to look after the team's press operation, and I took a week's leave from Silverstone. The cars finished 1-2-3; I could get to like this. The result more than made up for the PR disaster that had been the Monaco Grand Prix two weeks earlier, when neither of the Avon-tyres Rothmans Marches qualified. Rothmans had taken 500 guests to the race, and presented each with a Provençal wall tile proudly commemorating John Mass's 100th grand prix. That had to wait a few more weeks... Tip at the Title Brands Hatch was almost as important to Rothmans as Le Mans, as it suddenly had a chance of both makes and driver titles in its first year of sponsorship. But first it had to beat Lancia and Sauber. The early rain played into Spa specialist Jacky Ickx's hands, as it wiped out any need to save fuel, and many - including Jacky himself - cite this as the finest drive of his career, ranking up with that of Rodriguez. As Mr. Cotton recounted, Porsche's Peter Falk came close to shooting himself in the foot when he failed to realise that the race was to be run as two parts after being red-flagged when the Ford C100s took each out. Sauber's Hans Stuck had won the first from Ickx. However, master tactician Ickx, already a five-times Le Mans winner, had worked that one out for himself, and after the Sauber's retirement, set off after Ricardo Patrese, who had a 68-second lead with 35 laps to go. Electric The Belgian threw caution to the wind over those magical laps on a drying track, and when the chequered flag flew soon after five-and-half-hours of racing, the Porsche had closed to within 4.7 seconds of the Lancia. That was enough to give Ickx the win on aggregate, and the drivers’ title too. The makes championship, contested against Rondeau as Lancia was not eligible, was not declared until the FIA controversially confirmed that the points scored by a Group B Porsche in the Nürburgring 1000 Kms could count towards Weissach's final score. How could Rothmans Porsche top that? With even more dominant victories in the Group C years to come, three further Le Mans wins and a string of titles for Ickx, Bell and Hans Stuck. It encouraged me to leave Silverstone early in 1983, to join Rothmans. Rainbow Warriors Even then the competition was growing fast as Porsche was selling 956s to customer teams such as Joest, Kremer, Richard Lloyd and John Fitzpatrick. It was always rumoured, but never confirmed, that Rothmans paid Reinhold Joest to run in Marlboro colours at the Monza opener to provide competition a different livery. The Marlboro car, piloted by Stefan Johansson and Klaus Ludwig, won... To my eyes, Group C cars are still the most dramatic race cars ever to hit the tracks, even if restricted by the unloved fuel formula. That, though, had its benefits, advancing road car technology through Bosch's work with Porsche, and composite material technology as others - Jaguar, Mercedes and Peugeot - finally ended Porsche's domination. Days of Future Past This week I am off to Daytona for the Rolex 24, like Le Mans one of my favourite events, and I again look forward to seeing what I consider to be the closest the sport has since got to Group C: Daytona Prototypes. Like anything new, they just take a while to get used to. I have also long been a great fans of 1000 Kms races, and so I welcome Stephane Ratel and the ACO's initiative in recreating four of the classics this year at the Nürburgring, Spa, Monza and Silverstone. Open prototypes have had their day, and as GTs grow more and more Group C-like, so who knows? Perhaps one day they'll be back. |
Mark Cole, |
