South Africa
DAVID Piper and Richard Attwood, driving Piper's.Ferrari 365 P2/3 won the 9th Rand Daily Mail Nine-Hour Endurance Race at Johannesburg's Kyalami Circuit on Saturday, at a walk. This is Piper's fifth consecutive victory of this event. Second was Peter Clark's Ferrari 275 LM shared with Viscouct Rollo Feilding.
Mechanical troubles, bad weather, and two spectacular crashes eliminated the overseas entries, excepting those who held the first two positions.
This overseas entry of 11 cars, including Peter Sutcliffe's Ford P40, the Bernard White Racing Team Ford GT40, Roy Pierpoint's Lola T70-Ford, and a pair of Porsches, as. well as Ecurie Francorchamps Ferrari P2/3 and 275 LM, challenged Piper's domination of this event.
John Love, who co-drove with Peter Sutcliffe in the Ford P40, had a frightening experience when the Ford's right front suspension appeared to collapse while taking the 80 m.p.h. Crowthorne Bend which ends the main straight. The car spun off, hit a retaining bank, and flipped end-to-end. Soon, after, Mike de Udy ended a spectacular drive in the Porsche Carrera 6 at the Jukskei Bend when the car spun on a wet surface and rolled. He was leading the Index of Performance by a considerable margin, and was lying third overall at the time. It is estimated that 80 per cent of the car will have to be written off. Only the engine and rear suspension are said to be recoverable.
The Lola T70 Ford of Roy Pierpoint and Doug Serrurier suffered a setback while in the lead, when one of the rocker arms broke. Serrurier resumed driving, even on seven cylinders the Lola still managed to circulate in under 1 min 40sec (about 92 m.p.h.). Lack of oil pressure, however, ended the Lola's race - at 5p.m. The Ford GT40, from the Bernard White Racing Team, driven by David Hobbs and Mike Spence, was lying second at about 7.15 p.m: when the gearbox failed. The Ted Nelson Colin Crabbe, Ford GT40 had similar trouble, although they were not in as favourable a position.
The Ecurie Francorchamps Ferraris were both troubled with overheating throughout the day and the first to suffer was the 275 LM driven by Jackie Ickx, which was retired at about 6 o'clock with a broken head gasket. The P2/3, driven by Willie Mairesse was retired later after the radiator. had been drained several times in an attempt to rid it of its over heating problems. Bearings seemed to be the trouble, as a lot of smoke came from the carburettors and the engine smelt very hot.
The Ben Pon and Gijs van Lennep Porsche Carrera 6, which impressed the crowds vastly at the Friday night practice by lapping only a second slower than the Imin: 35.8sec set by Doug Serrurier in the Lola T70 Ford broke a camshaft during practice. A replacement was not available and the car never started. Also a non-starter was the Bernard White-Bob Anderson-Mike Hailwood Ferrari 275 LM, which broke a con-rod during practice. A replacement could not be obtained.
RESULTS
Overall Results:
1, Ferrari (D. Piper and R. Attwood); 2, Ferrari
(P. Clarke and R. Feilding); 3, Lotus Elan (J. Holme and B. Wheble): 4. Porsche (C. van Buuren and S. Mellet); 5, Renault Gordini (S. Porter and E. Adler); 6, Renault R1O (C. Burford and P. Porter).
Index Results;
I, Volvo (F. Wingels and D. Marais); 2. Renault (C. Burford and P. Porter); 3. Renault Gordini (S. Porter and E. Adler); 4. Ferrari (D. Piper and R. Attwood); 5, Morris Cooper S
(1. Houlisson and P. Sissons); 6, Lotus Elan (J. Holme and.B. Wheble).
Author: ArchitectPage
