(Schlegelmilch)
Jo Siffert and JW Automotive’s John Horsman with Jo’s Porsche 917K during the Brands Hatch 1000 km meeting on the 4 April 1971 weekend…
This is a bit of a signature Rainer Schlegelmilch shot- framed through the engine cover of another team car in the Brands pitlane- that of Pedro Rodriguez and Jackie Oliver to be precise.
It was always going to be tricky winning in the 917 at Brands- and so it was that more nimble 3 litre prototypes finished in front of the Siffert/Derek Bell machine.
Stommelen Alfa T33/3, Ickx #51 Ferrari 312PB, Pedro in the #7 JW 917 and the rest, gotta be the warm up lap (unattributed)
Future sportscar ace Henri Pescarolo in the winning Alfa T33/3- his first Le Mans win was in 1972 aboard a Matra with Hill G (unattributed)
Andrea De Adamich and Henri Pescarolo won the race in an Alfa T33/3 V8 from the flat-12 engined Ferrari 312PB of Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni.
The Alfas were pretty pacey that weekend, Rolf Stommelen popped the T33/3 he shared with Toine Hezemans on grid 2 in addition to the efforts of the winning car.
Ickx was on pole in the 312PB which had a limited campaign in 1971 as a dress rehearsal for the great pace the evolved 312PB had in 1972 when the cars won pretty much everything except Le Mans. They entered but did not appear such was the lack of confidence in the F1 derived engines ability to last 24 hours.
Regga aboard the 312PB whilst Ickx looks on from the rear.
I always thought it a huge shame that Scuderia Ferrari didn’t race the 512M as a factory entry in 1971- it would have been great to see the 5 litre cars with both ‘factory teams’ going at it for the final year of the championship under those Group 5 rules.
Ferrari certainly spent 1971 wisely developing their 312PB for 1972 however, dominant as they were in the first year of the 3 litre prototype formula.
Rodriguez, Stommelen and Siffert (unattributed)
Carlo Chiti and his merry band at Autodelta built a really nice bit of kit in the 1971 iteration of their long running series of Tipo 33 sportscars.
With an aluminium monocoque chassis, double wishbone/coil spring dampers at the front and single upper link, inverted lower wishbone/coil spring damper and twin radius rods at the rear the chunky looking design was an expression of sportscar orthodoxy of the time.
The 90 degree all aluminium 2998cc, quad cam, 4 valve, Lucas injected V8 gave around 420 bhp @ 9400- and with a decent roster of drivers the car won Targa (Vaccarella/Hezemans), Brands and the season ending Watkins Glen 6 Hour (De Adamich/Pescarolo) in a very good year in which the 5 litre monsters again took the bulk of the wins, and Porsche the manufacturers championship for the second year on the trot.
De Adamich, Alfa T33/3, Brands 1971 (unattributed)
Credits…
Rainer Schlegelmilch
Tailpiece: Derek Bell, Porsche 917K from the winning car in Henri Pescarolo’s hands- Alfa T33/3…
Finito…
primotipo... 