Lotus Cortina Information Mk 2 Lotus Cortina Definitions and Library

European Touring Car Championship Results

1964 – 1968

These write-ups and results are taken from Autosport, Motor Sport and Motoring News magazines and papers of the time. These have been cross-referenced with photographs of the cars racing to identify, where possible, the registration number associated with the racing number..

Whilst the results, car race number and driver have been completed, no record exists of the registration number relating to a particular race number….YOUR HELP IS NEEDED!!

If you have any information, (probably a photo showing the car with race number and registration number) please let me know via the ‘Contact’ page.

Introduction

The ETCC was established to allow competitive racing for production cars in Group 2 (essentially mildly tuned standard production cars).

In 1964, the classes were slightly altered, with one overall champion:

Class 1: Up to 700 cc    Class 4: 1001-1300 cc    Class 7: 2001-3000 cc

Class 2: 701-850 cc       Class 5: 1301-1600 cc    Class 8: 3001-4000 cc

Class 3: 851-1000 cc     Class 6: 1601-2000 cc    Class 9: over 4000 cc

In 1965, racing was rationalised to 3 classes, with separate champions:
Class 1  up to 850 cc, 851-1000 cc
Class 2: 1001-1300 cc, 1301-1600 cc, 1601-2000 cc
Class 3: over 2000 cc

In 1966 class 3 was changed to over 1601 cc.

Lotus Cortinas started racing in ETCC in 1964.

1964

 

Coupe Terlaemen

Zolder, Belgium

Date: 9/5/1964 to: 10/5/1964

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
BTW 297B	320	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1
BTW 298B		Alan   Mann Racing	Henry   Taylor, GB		2
		Private	C.   De Moffarts, B		4
		Private	Christine   Beckers B		5
		Private	Jacky   Ickx, B	DNF

Motor National 3 hours

Mallory Park, Great   Britain

Date: 16/5/1964

No information.

Brands Hatch 6 hours

Brands Hatch International Circuit, Kent, Great-Britain

Date: 6/6/1964

Alan Mann’s cars were in a class of their own at the 6 hour race: they finished 1-2, two laps in front of the works Mercedes team – their days seemed to be over now. The giant Galaxie of Baillie did take the lead after 29 laps, but rain showers made things pretty difficult for the heavy American beast; in the end, they finished 6th overall and took the class win, still a creditable performance.
The leading Cortinas had to pit a few times to fix the rear axle and were overheating towards the end of the race – Whitmore said after the race that the cars wouldn’t have lasted another 15 minutes…
Behind the Mercedes in fifth was the Lancia Flavia of Cella and Crosina, but where were the Mini’s? They ran into lots of trouble. Slotemaker/Rhodes had to have their radiator repaired twice, Hopkirk/Vernaeve (5th after practice!) retired early, the Broadspeed Mini of Broad/Handley finally winning the class

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
BTW 297B	19	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB Peter Procter, GB	1	1
BTW 298C	20	Alan   Mann Racing	Henry   Taylor, GB Peter Harper, GB	2	2
1 JON	21	Farnborough   Racing Enterprises	John   Nicholson, GB Jon Derisley, GB Alan Deacon, GB	20	6
MAC 1	37	A.   McKechnie	Trevor   Fowler, GB Alan Deacon, GB	DNF

 

 

Mont Ventoux

Mont Ventoux, France

Date: 14/6/1964

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
BTW 298B		Alan   Mann Racing	Henry   Taylor, GB	1	1
		Private	Martin,   F	8	2
BTW 297B		Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	DNF

 

Grosser Preis der Tourenwagen

Nürburgring Nordschleife, BRD

Date: 21/6/1964

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
BTW 297B		Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB Tony Hegbourne, GB	2	1
BTW 298B		Alan   Mann Racing	Henry   Taylor, GB Peter Harper, GB	3	2

24 h Spa-Francorchamps

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium

Date: 25/7/1964 to: 26/7/1964
(Non- Championship)

After eleven years, 24h racing returned to Spa once again. But this time for touring cars instead of sports cars. In 1953, the coupes du Roi was won by a team of Fiat 1100 touring cars, so these cars were by no means new to Spa. Touring car racing became increasingly popular in Belgium, with races at Zolder and Brussels. When Paul Frère and Lucien Bianchi came a close second in the touring car class of the Nürburgring 12 hours 1963, this was the start of the idea to get a big touring car race in Belgium. With help from Hubert de Harlez, the 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps was revived – for touring cars.

Despite the fact that the Spa race was no part of the young European Touring Car Championship, the entry was pretty good. Cars were allowed from 850 cc to 3000 cc, ruling out Jaguar or American cars, but including cars from Mercedes, BMW, Lancia, Citroën (rally cars!), Alfa Romeo and Ford. The Whitmore Lotus Cortina was fastest in practice, but since the car was not expected to last 24 hours (and certainly not with that pace) nobody was too worried – and the grid was determined by capacity rather than practice times.

The Lotus Cortina pitted after 2.5 hours with a broken clutch. Now the lead was taken by the Böhringer/Glemser Mercedes, followed by team-mates Crevits/Gosselin but the pair was split soon afterwards by the BMW of Hahne/Aaltonen. The remaining Lancia’s, the Alfa 2.6 and the other Cortinas were never far behind either. At 10 PM disaster struck, when Piero Frescobaldi left the road at Malmedy, loosing his life.
The last remaining Lancia was withdrawn as a sign of respect. Sunday morning, the Linge/Lang Mercedes retired with a broken gearbox. The standard Lotus Cortina of Ickx/Pilette lost a wheel but could continue after a long stop.

The second place BMW now had brake troubles and lost three laps in the pits; and less than an hour before the end, the leaders Böhringer/Glemser came in with brake troubles too. They had to borrow a disc from the retired #101 car, but since that car was not in the pit area the swap was illegal and the leading car was disqualified.

New leaders Crevits/Gosselin had their share of troubles too; the famous ZF 5-speed gearbox was reduced to a 2-speed box – but despite the efforts of the BMW, Crevits/Gosselin stayed in front and won. The “Coupe du Roi” team prize, for the team which got the car closest together at the finish, was won by Glas which pipped the VW team close to the end. In general the first touring car 24 hour race was a success – for which Frescobaldi paid with his life. It was the sort of tension that the Spa race would have during most of its life.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
	305	Longbacon Engineering	Paul Kelly, GB* Ted Lund, GB Bill Allen, GB	9	3
	304	Ford Belgium	Jacky Ickx, B Teddy Pilette, B	14	4
	303	Ford Belgium	Gilbert Stapelaere, B Meuwissen, B
EHK 488B	302	Alan Mann Racing (GT)	Tony Hegbourne, GB Roy Pierpoint, GB	DNF
EHK 489B	300	Alan Mann Racing	Henry Taylor, GB Peter Harper, GB	DNF
EHK 490B	301	Alan Mann Racing	John Whitmore, GB Frank Gardner, AUS	DNF

• * Note that although Paul Kelly is recorded as being one of the drivers of 305, it was in fact driven by Nigel Moors. Nigel was the heir to the Littlewoods Pools fortune and wasn’t supposed to be racing, so drove under Pauls name. Paul was the mechanic for the car.

X Kanonloppet

Gelleråsen, Karlskoga, Sweden

Date: 9/8/1964

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
BTW 297B	61	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1
BTW 298B	60	Alan   Mann Racing	Henry   Taylor, GB	2	2
	63	Private	Erik   Berger, S	4	3
	64	Private	Bo   Ljungfeldt, S	DNF
	65	Private	Lars   Backman, S	DNF

 

St. Ursanne-Les Rangiérs

St. Ursanne, Switzerland

Date: 23/8/1964

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
BTW 297B	162	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1
		Private	Arthur   Blank, CH	2	2
		Private	Werner   Wyss, CH	7	3

 

Zandvoort Trophy

Zandvoort, Netherlands

Date: 30/8/1964

After one minute of silence for Nürburgring victim Godin de Beaufort the first race, up to 850 cc, took the start. Practice had resulted in a first row of Rothstein-Koster-Karlsson, followed by Grähser and Swart.
The works Saabs took the lead but Swart challenged after Koster had to pit with ignition troubles, soon followed by Dudok van Heel and Grähser with the same problems. The Saabs used team tactics, like last year, to prevent Swart from taking the lead. But a misunderstanding gave Swart the opportunity to pass Karlsson and to gain on Rothstein. Rothstein managed just to hold off Swart and to win by a narrow margin.

The front row of the second race (850-1300 cc) consisted of the Mini Coopers of Slotemaker (Downton), Banks (Tyrrell) and Broad (Broadspeed), followed by Handley and Lundenberger. The last one crashed in practice, and an all-nighter saw the car on the grid in showroom condition. Alas, mechanical gremlins meant a DNS.
Slotemaker took the lead but was quickly passed by Broad and Handley. But Rob fought back, taking he lead at Tarzan corner. Ed Swart became involved in the fight with the Tyrrell cars, only to run out of fuel.
Handley succeeded in passing Slotemaker once again, but Rob fought back for the second time and took the lead at the Hunzerug. Broad fell back to third and had to retire with a broken front suspension. The Handley/Slotemaker pair passed and repassed, but in the end Slotemaker was handicapped by an unwilling spark plug so Handley won.

After the Formula 3 intermezzo, the big classes (over 1300 cc), took the start. The front row consisted of Whitmore, Francorchamps hero Hahne and Ickx. Bailies mighty Galaxie could not start because of a broken valve in the American V8.
Whitmore took the lead, followed by Hahne and Ickx. Hahne’s oversteering BMW entertained the crowd, Ickx could not pass and Crosina came nearer and nearer. When Whitmore’s engine started playing up, Hahne took the lead, Ickx slowed down behind his team leader and Crosina could pass both Cortinas and became second overall.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
BTW 297B	121	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	3	1
BTW 298B	122	Alan   Mann Racing	Jacky   Ickx, B	4	2
	124	Peter   Lindner Racing	Tilo   Schadrack, D
1 JON	123	Farnborough   Racing Enterprises	John   Nicholson, GB	DNF

Timmelsjoch

Timmelsjoch, Austria

Date: 13/9/1964

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
BTW 297B	54	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1
BTW 298B	37	Alan   Mann Racing	Jacky   Ickx, B		2
		Private	Gert   Greil, A		3

Budapest

Városliget, Budapest, Hungary

Date: 20/9/1964

 

Despite the long journey, all favourites and works teams were present at the street track of Budapest; and even some drivers on holiday took part, like Hans Koster and Ed Swart – Ed driving the tired BMW 700 for the first time in his life. Their class was combined with the 850 cc cars (not unusual for Swart) and they even managed second in class behind a works Saab.
Hahne won overall in fine style with Whitmore second – the shape of things to come.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
BTW 297B	22	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	2	1
BTW 298B	23	Alan   Mann Racing	Jacky   Ickx, B		3

1 Coppa Europa

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Italy

Date: 25/10/1964

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
BTW 297B		Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	23	5
		Private	Rolf   Vorrsjö, S	27	6
BTW 298B		Alan   Mann Racing	Henry   Taylor, GB	28	7

 

1965

In the European Touring Car Challenge, Sir John Whitmore was outstandingly successful, his Alan Mann Lotus Ford Cortina proving to be both fast and reliable. The popular racing baronet often won his races outright as well as the class, and shattered course and circuit records everywhere he went.”
But, as we know now, this was not to last: Alfa Romeo was going to enter the ETCC in full force in 1966, after some attemps in this year. The Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA was going to be formidable opposition.
For the first time, the championship was divided into three divisions. Division 1 champ was Ed Swart (Abarth), Division 2 and overall champion was Whitmore, and in division 3 the young Belgian Ickx collected most of the points, but since only two races counted towards the championship there was no official title for him.

Coppa Europa

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Italy

Date: 19/3/1965

The first race of the year the Monza 4 hours, run on the double circuit at Monza. The 1000 cc cars had a separate race, and the Abarths had a field day since BMC had withdrawn its works teams. Demetz won ahead of “Pal Joe”/Acquati.

The other race was dominated by the Alfa Romeo Giulia TI Supers, a car with good power and even better aerodynamics, which was most handy at this fast track. Initially Galimberti with one of the Alfa 2600 Sprints had been in the lead, but when it retired de Adamich/Arcioni took over in the Giulia. The competition, in the form of Hahne in his BMW and Whitmore and Taylor in their ‘64 Cortinas all retired. Both Lotus Cortinas retired with blown engines.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
BTW 297B		Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	19	14/5
BTW 298B		Alan   Mann Racing	Henry   Taylor, GB	20	15/6

Mont Ventoux

Mont Ventoux, France

Date: 6/6/1965

After over 2 months it was time for round 2, the Mont Ventoux hillclimb. The Alan Mann team had an improved car now, but the track had to be learned; nearly 22 km and 200 corners. It was between Greder’s Mustang, Hahne’s BMW and the Cortinas of Procter and Whitmore, and the latter clocked the fastest time

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
BTW 297B	125	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1/1
BTW 298B		Alan   Mann Racing	Peter   Procter, GB	3	2/2
		Private	Gabrielle   Renault, F	12	8/4
		Private	Jean   Sage, F	21	14/5

Grosser Preis der Tourenwagen

Nürburgring Nordschleife, BRD

Date: 13/6/1965

Less than 5 seconds covered the fastest four cars, with Whitmore on pole in the Cortina, followed by Hahne (BMW), Pierpoint (Mustang) and Schiek (Mercedes). When the flag dropped, the Mercedes was in the lead with Whitmore second, but the latter let the German past so he could study German’s driving style: sideways for much of the lap.

Unsurprisingly Hahne broke a rim, the wheel not up to the forces of modern touring car racing. Whitmore now closed the gap to the Mercedes, but this car too fell by the wayside with clutch troubles. Now Whitmore, with a huge lead and the lap record under his belt, slowed down until he was relieved by Sears, who had a boring stint to do. Nothing spectacular happened, and when Whitmore took over again he slowed down further to stage a dead heat with the Neerpasch/Pierpoint Mustang, which was lying second. Thus happened, but the win went to Whitmore with 0,1 seconds. Handley and Terry (Broadspeed Cooper) finished third; first division 1 car was the Abarth of Steinmetz and Ahrens.
The second Mann Cortina played no role with fuel starvation problems; after the race, a lot of torn paper came out of the petrol tank.

Note that the leaf spring cars were now homologated for Gp2, and the KPU cars took over from the ‘A’ Frame BTW cars.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 392C	30	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB Jack Sears, GB	1	1
	31	Alan   Mann Racing	Henry   Taylor, GB Peter Procter, GB	8	3

Coupe Terlaemen

Zolder, Belgium

Date: 26/6/1965

Few spectators but nice weather at the Zolder round for the ETCC.

Division 1
Fastest in practice had been Herrmann, sharing the front row with Cella and Bianchi. The latter’s engine died at the start so Herrmann took the lead, while Cella also had a bad start and regained second position after lap two, hunting for Herrmann and shattering the class record on the way. Behind the Abarths there was a battle between Mantzel, Brel, Andreason and Swart with Deprez soon joining in. He was the quickest of the bunch, passing them one at a time. Lap four, and the order was Herrmann, Cella, Deprez, Swart, Mantzel and Andreason. After 14 laps, Cella was the sole leader as Herrmann had retired. He was followed by Deprez and Bianchi, who had climbed back to third. Swart gave up fourth since he was after the class victory, so Andreason finished fourth.

Division 2
This race was dominated by the Cortinas of Whitmore and Procter, but behind them there was a real fight going on between Ickx (Cortina) and Hahne (BMW) – and they were followed by an equal battle between Bussinello and Bianchi. Wim Loos could not impress with the RTH BMW while countryman Koster did not even make the start – in the qualifying race, his wheel hub broke.

Division 3
The last race had spectacular cars but otherwise was not very exciting. Ickx won ahead of Bianchi and Pierpoint, all in Mustangs.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 392C	19	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1
	18	Alan   Mann Racing	Peter   Procter, GB	2	2
	20	Ford   Belgium	Jacky   Ickx, B	4	3
	16	Equipe   Nationale Belge	Georges   Hacquin, B	7	5

 

ASC Olympia Berg-Rennen

Axamer Lizum, Austria

Date: 1/8/1965

Whitmore and Procter scored a 1-2 in the Touring car results of the Olympia hillclimb – and Whitmore was fourth overall.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 392C	75	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1/1
		Alan   Mann Racing	Henry   Taylor, GB	3	3/2
		Private	Gert   Greil, A		7/4

XI. Kanonloppet

Gelleråsen, Karlskoga, Sweden

Date: 7/8/1965 to: 8/8/1965

Middle aged but fast Bo Ljungfeldt won the Saloon Car race in Alan Mann’s Mustang. It was a tedious race with Whitmore second, winning Division 2 and Josephson in another Cortina third. De Adamich in the new Alfa GTA had bent his suspension on a marker trying to beat the Fords in the first corner (the car had been fastest qualifier of division 2), Jackie Stewart (who drove in F2 as well) broke his rear suspension with the wheel coming off. BMW decided to skip the event, as well as the Broadspeed team. Division 1 was won by Ed Swart in his Abarth, with Giunti second, while the fight between the Saabs, van Osch and Källström ended when the Saabs retired.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 392C		Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	2	1/1
		Private	Anders   Josephson, S	3	2/2
		Alan   Mann Racing	Jackie   Stewart, GB	DNF
		Private	Erik   Berger, S	DNS

Snetterton 500 km

Snetterton, Great   Britain

Date: 15/8/1965

The new Alfa had shown its pace in practice at Karlskoga and now three Jolly Club GTAs were entered here. Whitmore needed a win to clinch the division 2 championship, but the Alfas were faster than the Cortinas in practice but the quickest of them, De Adamich, wouldn’t start since he rolled his car in practice.
Bussinello’s Alfa led the race, followed by Whitmore and Procter. The Cortina of Whitmore closed to 2 seconds to Bussinello, but then had a puncture and had to pit, and since Bussinello had a fuel stop it was Procter who led now. The Alfa pitwork was slow, so he dropped back behind Whitmore who opened a lead, passing Procter as well.

Proctor soon pitted with battery trouble and then the leading Cortina developed a slipping clutch. Whitmore slowed as much as he dared, and was relieved of the Italian when the latter was blackflagged for having no rear lights; he still finished second, ahead of the BMWs of Hahne and Glemser. The rear lights were necessary, since the race started at 18:00 and ended a little before 22:00, a full hour in the dark.
Thus Whitmore took his title, while division 1 was won by Anstead and Pike after Swart had an accident in practice with a very slow Volvo. 13th overall was the division 3 winner, the Galaxie of Bond-Smith.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 392C	41	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1/1
	40	Alan   Mann Racing	Peter   Procter, GB	6	6/4

St. Ursanne-Les Rangiérs

St. Ursanne, Switzerland

Date: 22/8/1965

 

Whitmore in the Cortina still participated though the championship had been decided. He was fastest in Group 2, and was more sideways than usual under the wet conditions. Arthur Blank beat Taylor for second, while Bussinello could not split the Cortinas. Zünd in the Filipinetti Mustang was faster than the Alan Mann cars, but only finished second in Group 2 behind Whitmore.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 392C	218	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1/1
	220	Ford   Motor Co. Zürich	Arthur   Blank, CH	4	3/2
		Alan   Mann Racing	Henry   Taylor, GB	5	4/3
	217	Private	Jacques   Hussy, CH		/5

 

 

Zandvoort Trophy

Zandvoort, Netherlands

Date: 29/8/1965

 

Hahne and Ickx had a monumental battle for… sixth overall. The cars went sideways at every possible location, bumped into each other and seemed to have a lot of fun together; although the black flag was shown in standby position, it was never used, fortunately! The battle ended when Ickx lost a wheel of his Cortina.

Division 3 had started 30 seconds ahead of the division 2 cars, so Ljungfeldt had a lonely race since the other two cars in the class retired or finished at the tail of the field. Behind him, the Cortinas of Whitmore and Procter circulated together, behind them the still new Alfa Romeo GTA’s of Bussinello and Slotemaker, the latter beating the Italian.

In the first race, newly crowned European champion Swart won the race outright in fine style, the only one not being lapped the 850 cc class winner Ahrens. Behind them, the Dutch cars of Jonker and van Osch had a fight until Jonker retired.

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 392C	105	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	2	1/1
	106	Alan   Mann Racing	Peter   Procter, GB	3	2/2
	107	Ford   Belgium	Jacky   Ickx, B	DNF

 

 

1966

 

1966 marked the beginning of the end for the Lotus Cortina. Autodelta entered the Challenge in full force in 1966 with its GTA. Whitmore tried hard, but the opposition was too strong. Division 1 was an Abarth whitewash like 1965, in division 3 BMW took the honours with Hahne.

 

 

4 Ore di Jolly Club

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Italy

Date: 19/3/1966 to: 20/3/1966

 

In Division 1, Ed Swart lost a victory since he pitted shortly after the start, complaining of a strange noise. Nothing was found, and after one minute Swart left the pits, fought back in great style but was unable to catch winner Baghetti.

Division 2 was for Alfa Romeo, GTA’s filling the first seven places. Eight was for division 3 winner Maglioli, who was followed by Koster (BMW).

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
		Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	DNF

Preis von Wien – Curd Barry Gedenkrennen

Flugplatz Aspern, Vienna, Austria

Date: 17/4/1966

 

In divisions 2 and 3, Whitmore won the race after an enormous battle with the Alfa Romeo’s of de Adamich and Bussinello.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 390C	68	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1/1
	67	Ford   (Austria)KG im OASC	Gert   Greil, A	5	4/4
	70	Frami   Racing Maastricht	Frans   Lubin, NL	16	10/8
KPU 397C	69	Alan   Mann Racing	Hubert   Hahne, D	DNF
	71	Ford   Swiss Scuderia Filipinetti	Arthur   Blank, CH	DNF
	69	Alan   Mann Racing	Peter   Procter, GB	DNS

Grote Prijs van Limburg

Zolder, Belgium

Date: 8/5/1966

Division 1 saw the usual bunch of Fiat Abarths with the occasional Mini Cooper. In practice, Ortner was quickest, followed by Hopkirk, Swart and Hezemans, the last one in only his second car race ever – and his first in an Abarth 1000…

Swart was fastest away but had to let Ortner go, Hezemans was fourth behind Hopkirk. Steinmetz was mangled in the first corner and had to stop to check his front suspension. Swart had engine troubles (finally sending him into retirement), so while Ortner led, he was now followed by Hezemans who had passed Hopkirk. Hezemans tried to pass Ortner, but did not succeed. Jonker, handicapped by pretty useless gear ratios for this circuit, still won the 850 class.

Division 2
After one victory each, the Cortina-Alfa war went on at Zolder. Gardner was away first, but Rindt took over in the first corner. Whitmore had a bad start and was fourth initially, behind Ickx but in front of Trosch and Slotemaker. Ickx benefited of an error by Rindt, taking the lead in the fifth lap, closely followed by Whitmore and Gardner.
A few laps later, Whitmore took the lead, while Rindt passed Gardner for fourth. Later, Rindt passed Ickx, and he now tried to attack Whitmore, but to no avail. Two laps before the end, Rindt pitted for fuel, and lost second to Ickx. Therefore the finishing order became Whitmore-Ickx-Rindt, while Vernaeve won the 1300 cc class despite a pit stop for fuel.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 390C	47	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1
	44	Team   Lotus	Jacky   Ickx, B	2	2
		Private	Frans   Lubin, NL	10
		Alan   Mann Racing	Frank   Gardner, AUS	DNF

Mont Ventoux

Mont Ventoux, France

Date: 26/6/1966

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 390C		Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1/1
KPU 391C		Alan   Mann Racing	Lucien   Bianchi, B	4	4/4
		Private	Minier,   F	16	10/6

 

Grosser Preis der Tourenwagen

Nürburgring Nordschleife, BRD

Date: 3/7/1966

 

Even before the start, the six-hour race looked like a formality; the Alfa Romeo team should win, they had been testing for days and could lap around 9.55 minutes, while the Cortinas and the BMW would not be able to get under 10 minutes. After their temporary withdrawal from racing, the time to prepare the car was limited for the new 2000 TI. Alfa Romeo set pole in practice, but lost two cars in practice after big accidents.
After the start Hahne took the lead, followed by Whitmore, de Adamich and a little further back young Ickx in the second Cortina, Glemser in the second BMW and surprisingly Koster in the RTH 1800 TISA.
After this battle, Hahne took care of his tires and let de Adamich and Whitmore pass. Bussinello retired with a broken engine, and both Alan Mann Cortinas retired with broken wheel bearings.

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
		Alan   Mann Racing	Jacky   Ickx, B Paul Hawkins, AUS	DNF
KPU 390C	37	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB Frank Gardner, AUS	DNF
		Private	Frans   Lubin, NL “Heinrich Lenz”, D	DNF

 

24 h Spa-Francorchamps

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium

Date: 23/7/1966 to: 24/7/1966

 

For the first time, the Spa 24 hours were part of the European Touring Car Challenge. This meant no longer an upper limit was in force – quite the contrary. Only division 3 cars (over 1600 cc) were eligible for points; however, smaller cars were welcome to fill the field.
Hahne/Ickx were fastest in practice with the BMW 2000 TI; the Mustang of Gautot/Tuerlinx was second, Bianchi/Baghetti with Alfa Romeo GTA were third fastest.

The Le Mans start saw the BMW in front, but soon the Mustang took over the lead. After some troubles and a lengthy pit stop of almost an hour, surprisingly the car ran like clockwork, finishing fourth in the end.

Nine o’clock in the evening, BMW #17 (Hahne/Ickx) was in the lead, the Alfa of Pinto/Demoulin one lap down. Another Alfa (De Keyn/Damseaux) and another BMW (Mairesse/Glemser) followed.

The first one to drop out was the second BMW, overheating like last year. A blown head gasket ended the race of De Keyn/Damseaux. Ickx and Hahne ran into radiator troubles too four hours until the end, but it was replaced in only 5 minutes, and the BMW could continue claiming another victory. The handicapped Alfa Romeo was unable to take advantage, but finished second, followed by another Alfa in third. Renault-Gordini claimed the King’s cup.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
	21	Longbacon   Engineering	Bill   Allen, GB Nigel Moores John Ralph, GB	10	5/4

Snetterton 500 km

Snetterton, Great   Britain

Date: 30/7/1966

 

Alfa fought back after the defeat to BMW at Spa with a convincing victory for de Adamich. BMW came second and third.

British entries had little to do with the outcome of the race: many cars were ineligible since they were prepared as group 5 cars, but the remaining cars looked strong enough: Whitmore and Stewart with Lotus-Cortinas and a number of Mini Coopers.
The Cortinas started well, Whitmore taking the lead but he had to pit in the first lap – Stewart took over, followed by Hahne (BMW), and the Alfas of Rindt, de Adamich and Zeccoli. Pierpoint (Mustang) was sixth, but climbed to second but then his engine failed.
After an hour, Stewart was still in the lead, 45 seconds ahead of de Adamich, and a lap on Hahne, Bussinello, Damseaux, Glemser and Trosch. The rain flooded the track and many cars spun – like Bussinello, who hit a wall – his car caught fire but he left his car in time.
Soon after, Stewart had to pit with carburation troubles twice, and this handed the lead to de Adamich, who kept it to the finish.

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 391C	36	Alan   Mann Racing	Jackie   Stewart, GB (Frank Gardner, AUS)	4	2/2
BTW 297B	37	Frami   Racing Maastricht	Frans   Lubin, NL Paul Hughes, GB	DNF
KPU 390C	35	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	DNF

 

 

Note : Frami Racing using the old AMR ‘A’ Frame car, converted to leaf spring.

 

Zandvoort Trophy

Zandvoort, Netherlands

Date: 4/9/1966

 
In division 2, equal fastest in practice had been Whitmore and Bussinello; but on race day it rained and while Whitmore managed to take the lead after the start, with Slotemaker second. After two laps the order was Whitmore, Galli, Gardner, de Adamich and Slotemaker – but then de Adamich discovered that the best line was on the outside of a wet track. He passed Whitmore easily and finished first. Galli managed to get ahead of the Alan Mann duo and finished second.

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 391C	50	Alan   Mann Racing	Frank   Gardner, AUS	3	3
KPU 390C	49	Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	4	4
	51	Private	Jacky   Ickx, B	5	5

 

Budapest

Nepligét Park, Budapest, Hungary

Date: 18/9/1966

The new track consisted of fast left-handers and sharp hairpins and was attractive to the viewers as well to the drivers. Andrea de Adamich kept the lead until the last lap, only to hit a kerbstone – he had to retire. But others had problems too: a Trabant rolled and lost its roof, the rest of the bodywork collapsed – the car was a write-off.
There were too few competitors for points to be awarded.

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
		Private	Wolfgang   Stumpf, A	6	4/4

 

 

Bergrennen Eigental

Eigental, Hergiswald, Switzerland

Date: 25/9/1966

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
KPU 390C		Alan   Mann Racing	John   Whitmore, GB	1	1
		Private	Bo   Ljungfeldt, S	2	2

1967

The dominance of the Alfa Romeos in 1966 continued into 1967, and the 911 was homologated as a saloon car. With the Alan Mann team not competing, there were only a few privateers waving the Lotus Cortina flag!

Monza 4 hours

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Italy

Date: 19/3/1967

 

No Lotus Cortinas entered

Preis von Wien

Flugplatz Aspern, Vienna, Austria

Date: 2/4/1967

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
		Private	Berndt   Brodner, A	6	4/4

 

Belgrade Grand Prix

Belgrade, Yugoslavia

Date: 30/4/1967

 

No Lotus Cortinas entered.

Grote Prijs van Limburg

Zolder, Belgium

Date: 21/5/1967

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
	39	Private	Freddy   Semoulin (“Alain Dex”), B	4	4
	37	Private	Gustaaf   “Taf” Witvrouw, B	7	6
	49	Private	Tom   Sol, B	14/DNF	7
	38	Private	Frans   Lubin, NL	16/DNF	11
	39	Private	Jacky   Ickx, B	DNS

 

Tourist Trophy

Oulton Park, Great   Britain

Date: 29/5/1967

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
		Private	Keith   Wright	14	9/4
		Private	Ken   Coffey, GB	15	10/5

 

Budapest

Nepligét Park, Budapest, Hungary

Date: 11/6/1967

No Lotus Cortinas entered

Grosser Preis der Tourenwagen

Nürburgring Nordschleife, BRD

Date: 2/7/1967

 

No Lotus Cortinas entered

24 h Spa-Francorchamps

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium

Date: 22/7/1967 to: 23/7/1967

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
	50	Goodwin   Engineering Racing Division	Nathalie   Goodwin, GB Cyril Williams, GB	NC
	52	Private	Tom   Sol, B Nicole Sol, B	DNF
	49	Goodwin   Engineering Racing Division	Ken   Coffey, GB T. Gorst, GB	DNF

 

St. Ursanne-Les Rangiérs

St. Ursanne, Switzerland

Date: 20/8/1967

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
		Private	Michael   Franz, D	8	5/5
		Private	Georges   Typaldos, CH	20	12/6

 

Zandvoort Trophy

Zandvoort, Netherlands

Date: 27/8/1967

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
	64	Private	Frans   Lubin, NL	13	12/8
	65	Private	Wim   Beers, NL	DNF

 

Snetterton 500 km, Archie Scott-Brown Trophy race meeting

Snetterton, Great   Britain

Date: 17/9/1967

 

Division 1 race only; no Lotus Cortinas

1968

The championship this year had a few changes.

Group 5 cars were allowed, but Great Britain and Europe used different rules. The British cars running in the BTCC had the full Formula 2 engines (Cosworth FVA)  in Cortinas and Escorts, whilst the continent did not allow the change of engines to 4-valve heads.

Cars over 5000 cc were allowed now for the first time. Furthermore, the Budapest round was exchanged for the fast and dangerous race at Brno, a future classic.

4 Ore di Monza

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Italy

Date: 24/3/1968

 

No Lotus Cortinas entered

 

Preis von Wien

Flugplatz Aspern, Vienna, Austria

Date: 7/4/1968

 

This time, division 1 and 2 were combined. Abarth dominated division 1 as expected, division 2 was equally dominated by Australian Frank Gardner and his Lotus Cortina.

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
	48	Private	Frank   Gardner, AUS	1	1/1

 

Guards 500 Km

Snetterton, Great   Britain

Date: 12/4/1968

No  Autodelta cars were entered due to an accident with the transport. The favourites were Gardner (Cortina), Quester (2002), Elford and Dorner (both Porsche), but the big Mustang of Ewer/Fox won the race, with Kremer (Porsche) second. The BMWs were quick but retired with breakdowns, and the FVA in Gardner’s car blew a head gasket.

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
		G.O.C.   Heating	Willy   Kay, GB Willie Green, GB	17	5/3
		Alan   Mann Racing	Frank   Gardner, AUS	DNF

 

 

Belgrade Grand Prix

Belgrade, Yugoslavia

Date: 21/4/1968

Belgrade was the venue for the 4th round of the European Touring Car Challenge. The circumstances were far from safe; spectators were sitting next to the track on straw bales or kerbstones and kept crossing the track from start to finish. No wonder a Mini injured a spectator, who tried to cross the track despite having a plastered leg.

Practice saw the BMWs of Quester and Steinmetz (the last one, team manager, replacing the injured Hahne) up front, some Porsches being the only opposition since the works Alfa Romeo’s had not entered at all and Gardner’s Cortina had problems.. After an engine fire, BMW even lent Gardner a private BMW so he could finish practice. It did not help in the end; in an extra practice the Cortina fell victim to a fuel feed problem, the race ended early with a blown head gasket.

The BMW pair had a comfortable lead after the flying start, but after 4 laps Steinmetz’ car had an ignition failure. He pushed the car over 3 kilometres to the pits, in 30º heat, but his heroic deed was in vain and the car was retired.

Meanwhile, Quester kept 10 to 15 seconds lead over the Kremer Porsche, until this had to pit late in the race for some extra fuel.
In third finished Peter Peter with another Porsche, followed by “Pam” in the little Abarth 1000.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
		Alan   Mann Racing	Frank   Gardner, AUS	DNF

Grote Prijs van Limburg

Zolder, Belgium

Date: 5/5/1968

 

This race marked the end of the competitive Lotus Cortina, but the start of the take-over by the Escort Twincam, which was homologated 4 days earlier on May 1.

Although the Escort made a good showing in this race, it still wasn’t competitive under the European Gp 5 rules, unlike in the UK in the BTCC series, where this date marked the beginning of the Escort domination.

Gardner took pole in the Escort and won the race, in front of his team-mate Attwood in the old Lotus Cortina. The Escort was on carburettors (160 HP); the fuel-injected engine (180 HP) was not yet reliable – and not needed anyway…

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
	56	Alan   Mann Racing Ford Escort TC	Frank   Gardner, AUS	1	1
	55	Alan   Mann Racing Mk 2 Lotus Cortina	Richard   Attwood, GB	2	2
	58	Willy   Kay	Willie   Green, GB	4	4
		Private	Freddy   Semoulin (“Alain Dex”), B
	43	Team   Broadspeed Ford Escort 1300 GT	Yvette   Fontaine, B	DNF

 

Grosser Preis der Tourenwagen

Nürburgring Nordschleife, BRD

Date: 7/7/1968

 

A new works Abarth was brought for Goedemans and Hezemans – but it did not handle well, even after the springs of Goedemans’ own car were used. Finally, they would start in the SRT car, which had been a cool 20 seconds faster.

Swart had his troubles too: the Jolly Club truck, in which Swart’s works car was brought to Germany, was too high for the viaduct – and unfortunately, Ed’s car was on the first stock, at the front… the roof was peeled off like a sardine tin, so Sally Swart’s dry comment was: “Oh well, just drive it like that, the wetter is fine anyway…”. After repairs, the handling was not very good, and the engine was down on power. So the engine was replaced, and since the track was already closed Ed and mechanic Karel drove out on the countryside of the Eiffel, 8500 rpm in fourth – until they met a flock of sheep, blocking the road. Luckily, the car stopped in time.

BMW entered two cars, Alan Mann brought two Escort TCs, and a flock of Porsches and Alfa Romeos rounded of the entry.

Fastest in practice was Pon, in the black and yellow Chiquita-banana sponsored Porsche 911 nicknamed “The Banana Boat”.

He led the first lap, with Kelleners in his orange Porsche on his tail. Surprisingly, both works BMWs were close as well, and after Kelleners had taken the lead, Hahne passed Pon too. The handling of the banana boat had deteriorated obviously, but no-one knew why. They kept going, and since the leading Porsche retired they were still heading for third, behind the two BMWs – but Fröhlich could not keep up with the pace of the Swedish Porsche of Gunnarson/Rothstein.

The leading BMW dropped back to enable a photo-finish, with Porsche third and fourth. The fragile Alfa Romeo GTA/SA finished 5th in the hands of Casoni/Vaccarella, the Broadspeed Escort GT won the 1300 cc class, Henne/Basche won the 1600 cc class, after the Escort TCs both retired.

Goedemans and Hezemans won the 1000 cc class, but not without drama. Goedemans tried to keep ahead of the Broadspeed 1300 GT, but he went off and damaged the car. It was repaired, and Hezemans took over, nearly a lap down on “Pam”. But the Abarth “Pam” did not start after a pit stop and was wheeled away, leaving the class victory to the Dutch duo. The 850 class finally was won by Swart and Zanetti.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
	60	Team   Broadspeed/Bristol Street Group Ford Escort 1300 GT	Chris   Craft, GB Roger Clark, GB	9	1/1
	59	Team   Broadspeed Ford Escort 1300 GT	John   Fitzpatrick, GB Trevor Taylor, GB	10	2/2
	34	Ford Lotus Cortina	Johnny   Lundberger, S Ulf Dahl, S	CL	/5
	37	Alan   Mann Racing? Ford Cortina Mk 2 Lotus	Frans   Lubin, NL Han Akersloot, NL	DNF
	36	Alan   Mann Racing Ford Escort TC	Frank   Gardner, AUS Dieter Glemser, D	DNF
	35	Alan   Mann Racing Ford Escort TC	Peter   Arundell, GB Brian Muir, AUS	DNF

24 h Spa-Francorchamps

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium

Date: 20/7/1968 to: 21/7/1968

 

The fifth Spa touring car 24h race was the first in which the Group 5 cars, eligible for points from this year, took part. Despite the bad weather, public interest was higher than ever before. The first four cars were Porsches but split by a supercharged Alfa Romeo. Fifth was the Dutch Mustang. The Renault Gordini of a certain Jean Todt crashed heavily, later the hastily rebuilt car was refused to start by the Belgian Officials.

Minutes before the start it started raining, leaving few time to change tires. The rain enabled the Alfas to take the lead, when the supercharged version faded the VDS car of Slotemaker/Pilette took over, and kept the lead for seven hours. When they hit trouble, and had to settle for sixth in the end, the Eldé/Deprez Mustang took over, until finally round midnight Gaban’s Porsche put things right for Stuttgart. Though Gaban had to give up with differential trouble, the Porsche victory was sealed by Kremer/Kelleners/Kauhsen, a formidable trio. Vernaeve and Baker had an impressive race too and were as high as sixth overall, only to drop back when they lost a wheel.

Porsche took a second Spa victory and clinched the King’s cup as well. The Eldé/Deprez Mustang finished a creditable second. Ford and Opel had a good finishing record as well.

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
	63	Longbacon   Engineering Ford Escort TC	Ken   Coffey, GB Nigel Moores, GB	30	9/4
	60	Ford Lotus Cortina	Aloyse   Kridel, L Raymond Schweich, L	DNF

 

 

Brno 4 hours

Masaryk-Ring, Brno, Czechoslovakia

Date: 18/8/1968

 

No Lotus Cortinas / Twincam Escorts entered

Zandvoort Trophy

Zandvoort, Netherlands

Date: 25/8/1968

 

Fastest in division 2 was Gardner, who led the race until his retirement with gearbox trouble. Chiotakis (Alfa Romeo GTA) took over, closely followed by Lubin in the Cortina, who even took the lead once in a while. A little further down the order the works Minis of Rhodes and Neal were leading the 1300 class, followed by the SRT Minis of Dudok van Heel and Oskamp. But then the first problems arose. Lubin pitted with engine troubles, Gardner retired with a broken gearbox and Oskamp retired just before the end. Chiotakis modified his bodywork when he left the track but could continue. Dudok van Heel had a nice battle with Jacquemin (Alfa Romeo 1300 GTJ) but he too had to retire. In the end, Rhodes won the race.

Uneventful was the race in division 3: Hezemans was too fast for the others, Pon retired in lap 2 already and BMW could not keep up.

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
	75	Frami   Racing Holland	Frans   Lubin, NL	10	4
	62	Alan   Mann Racing Ford Escort TC	Frank   Gardner, AUS	DNF

 

Bergrennen Eigental

Eigental, Hergiswald, Switzerland

Date: 21/9/1968 to: 22/9/1968

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
	217	Ford Escort TC	Frank   Gardner, AUS	6	1/1
	219	Ford Escort TC	Ruedi   Helbling, CH		6/6

 

 

3 Oras de Jarama

Jarama, Madrid, Spain

Date: 29/9/1968

 

 

Registration No.	Race No.	Team	Driver	Pos’n Overall	Pos’n Class
	17	Ford   Escort TC	Frank   Gardner, AUS	11	4/2