Racereport 2003 / 06 Nürburgring

6th. Event FIA-GTC’65: 32nd. AvD-Oldtimer-Grand-Prix Nürburgring

In the 32nd. AvD-Oldtimer-Grand-Prix at the Nürburgring, both FIA-GTC’65 races ended with a double victory for Bill Shepherd (GB) in his AC Shelby Cobra Mk II (1963, Ex-Chequered Flag-Tommy Atkins). Shepherd dominated in the one hour Qualifying on the 4,5 km long Grand Prix Circuit (without the Mercedes Arena). In his best lap, he was 4,1 seconds faster than Peter Kroeber (D) in a Lotus Elan S1 (1964). The German, whose home is close to the Nürburgring was therefore the best Championship driver in the Qualifying and banished the leader and defending Champion Bo Warmenius to the second position in the class.

Jamie Boot (GB) who came in 3rd. in the Qualifying with his TVR Griffith (1965), profited from Peter Kroebers retirement in the 9th. round and became second. Uli Berberich-Martini (D) in a Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Coupé (1965) was the second guest starter who managed to secure a place on the winner’s podium. Bo Warmenius and Guy Francois (B) also in a Lotus Elan S1 (1963) fought an exciting duel for the fourth place and consequently the topmost position in the classes up to 1600 cubic capacity class. The Swede rushed over the finishing line with a 0,7 second lead. Jürg Schwendimann (CH) came in third in his class with his Lotus Elan behind Warmenius and Francois. He was followed by his countryman Christian Traber with the fastest Jaguar E-Type (1962).

Richard Styles (GB) in his Marcos 1800 GT won in the class up to 2500 cubic capacity class with his overall 8th. position. In the meantime, Dr. Zumtobel had to retire with his Porsche 911 (1965) due to a damaged wheel suspension. Laurence Bailey (GB) in his TVR Griffith (1965) and Bernard Peruch (F) in a AC Cobra (1964) made it within the Top Ten of an extremely large field of 59 vehicles.

But the classy FIA-GTC’65 was not only represented in large numbers. Rarely to be seen in a race, GT-cars like the AC Cobra Daytona Coupé (1964/Ex-Gurney and Phil Hill) which was driven by the American Bill Murray, also started. In the first race, Murray reached the eleventh overall position. Wolfgang Molitor (D) in a Abarth Simca 2000GT Corsa (1965) was unlucky because he had to retire five laps before the end. Also among the exotic cars were the ISO Rivolta 300 (1965) from Jan Christoph Waldrich (D), the Aston Martin DB4 GT (1960) of Urs Müller (CH) or the Renault Alpine A 106 of Franz-Josef Pilz (D) who kept company with the two Championship drivers Ad Vermeulen in a A108 and Theo van Bree (NL) in a A110.

The fastest team in the Period E for cars up to 1961 was the Gotcha Racing Team with Christian Graf zu Wedel/Franz Graf zu Ortenburg (both D) in a Austin Healey 3000 MkII (1961). The second was Hans Kleissl’s team with Timo Clauss in a Mercedes Benz 300 SL Roadster and third was Wulf Goetze (D) in a Big Healey (1960). Udo Voßhenrich (D) was fourth in the category with his Lotus Elite S2 (1962/61), thereby winning in his class again. The “entertainer” of the 2nd. FIA-GTC’65 Race had to start from the end of the field – Hans-Jürgen Malsbenden (D) was terribly out of luck with his Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Roadster (1963). During the first race, his car had a defect even in the first lap. A damage to the camshaft of the Chevy V8 was diagnosed in the paddock. At once the mechanics of the Total Performance Team in nearby Koblenz got to work to repair the engine. In a night shift, it was possible for them to make the 5,4 litre engine ready for the race again.

In the 30-minute race, the steel blue Corvette cut through the 50-cars strong field like a warm knife through butter and in the third round, achieved the fastest lap-time of a “Corvette Captain”. Malsbenden had already driven right into the Top Ten when the car went into a spin in the Bit-Curve and he had to let nearly the whole field pass by him before he could take up the chase again.

In the meantime Bill Shepherd was sending off fireworks up front, followed by Jamie Boot (GB) and Uli Berberich-Martini (D). With his fourth overall position, Bo Warmenius strengthened his top placement in the class before Peter Dunn (GB) who was the fastest Marcos-driver followed by Guy Francois (B) and Hendrik Lindberg (DK). Wolfgang Schachinger (A) in a Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Coupé (1963), Jürg Schwendimann (CH) and Bernard Peruch (F) completed the Top Ten. They were followed by René Weidig (L) and Hans-Jürgen Malsbenden – another two fast Corvette pilots. Although Malsbenden managed to reach the twelfth position after all with two hot pursuits within 30 minutes, he lost more ground in the FIA-GTC’65 classification table which he had led until the season’s half time to defending Champion Bo Warmenius. This was because Bo Warmenius secured maximum points during his stint in the 32nd. AvD-Oldtimer-Grand-Prix.

The best team in the period E was the Gotcha-Healey with Graf von Wedel and Graf zu Ortenburg before Timo Clauss and Wulf Goetze. Udo Voßhenrich secured the class win for the second time before Walter Antonacci (I) in a Alfa Romeo Giulietta TI Spider (1957).