C.E.R. - Castellet
(Dix Mille Tours)

Scottish magic

After the fine races of Silverstone and Estoril, the Classic Endurance Racing returned for the third time in a month for the final championship round, organized on Paul Ricard circuit during the Dix Mille Tours of Castellet. For the second time in the year, the four categories have been divided into two groups, the former reserved for the cars P1 and GT1 (CER1) and the latter for the cars P2 and GT2 (CER2), even with the 79 cars appeared on the track with many innovations, in some cases expected for almost a year. This was the case of the Ferrari 512M winner of 9 hours of Kyalami in 1970, taken to track by Knapfied after a revision of four years, while as unexpected as welcome were the Toj SC204 driven by Belleteste and the Ford Gran Torino that in 1976 took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

C.E.R. 1 – Paul Ricard

For once the CER1 were the leaders of categories, partly for prestigious new entries, partly because this group was scheduled in the noblest hours. In addition to the presence of the two cars Ferrari 512M, the second one former Filippetti team, driven by the tandem Ried-Franklin, the leaders of the qualifying sessions have been the Lola T70 with Thuner, author of Pole Position and the Lola T70 Spyder, the winner of past edition with Ferrer, this time with Mahe like other driver, admitted by invitation only but out of the classification. While the Lola cars have gained first row in the first session, the two Ferrari’s managed to the third and fourth times on the second session, before the Chevron drive by Watson-O’Connell and the Lola of Rahal, penalized by the less power of his FVC’s engine.

On Sunday afternoon, CER1 opened the racing competitions of the afternoon. At the start Knapfield with a perfect sprint defeated the opponents, passing as the first on the “s” of Verrerie, before Ferrer, Thuner and France. The English driver ran wild with a rhythm of 2-3 seconds faster than his direct rivals, taking in a few laps a remarkable lead that will increase till 50 seconds. While behind him, Ferrer and Thuner were studying each other at a short distance, with the French driver who seemed to be able to control the rival easily. There was also the interesting fight for the fourth place that saw France and Rahal contrasting each other, with the American getting the better of the rival on Signes and who worked hard to hold the contact with the two drivers before him. On lap11, the spectators’ attention was drawn to the bend of Verrerie, where the cars Ford GT40 driven by Ball and Nahun and the Chevron driven by Cazalieres were involved in a bad crash, Ball only survived almost unharmed; but unintentionally, causing a pileup from which the other cars suffered many damages, however this cost him black flag from the race direction. Meanwhile, Watson after gaining the seventh position opened the dances of pit-stops, giving the drive of his car to a very fast O’Connell who, coming out from the pits started a wild run-up behind the first drivers. On the contrary, just in the few last available minutes Knapfield took the risk of going back to the pit when by that time the lane was closed. Behind him, there was a fierce fight for the second place with Thuner who overtook Mahe at Verrerie bend, passing easily enough, while also Rahal was behind the French’s tyres. The struggle between the two drivers continued for the last ten minutes, the same minutes needed for O’Connell to gain a good 18 seconds over him and fight for a step on podium just on the last lap. The last minutes were for a film library, with Knapfield who was sadly forced to return to pits for engine problems and O’Connell who unbelievably managed to overtake and lap the two rivals near Bousset bend and gaining the second step on podium with Watson. Rahal arrived third in getting the better of Mahe, who was even fifth because of a problem which obliged him to run the last kilometre at much reduced speed. Among GT cars the win was gained by the Corvette driven by Gaudard, after a splendid duel with Orjuela and Moreau, second and third respectively at the wheel of two Porsche 911 RSR.

C.E.R. Qualifying 1

C.E.R. Race 1

C.E.R. 2 – Paul Ricard

For once the P2 and GT2 cars had to be content with playing a secondary role, obliged to begin on Sunday with a competition raced at nine a.m., when the circuit was almost deserted. In the qualifying sessions the fastest driver was Busst, who set 2.02:579 in the first session, time that later on nobody was able to improve, first among all Quiniou and Lafargue. However, what was more surprising has been the highly competitive performance of the drivers who entered the track with the first fourteen ones no less than four seconds.

Such a highly competitive performance wasn’t a case, in fact the phenomenon was repeated during the race, that at the end we incredibly counted four different leaders. When red light went off Busst seemed to start better than his rivals but less horsepower of his Hart allowed Quiniou to take the lead of the race and Catlow to get the second position on Mistral straight. Unluckily for the English driver as the Toj turned out less reliable than had been at Estoril, by running largely slower and forcing the driver to retire. Behind the first two, the fight became pressing among Luco. Deman, Lafargue and Guenat, the last ones fighting for the championship, but there was also an unbelievable Foveny entered the fray in a Porsche 935, thanks to his turbocharged engine that let him reach 300 km/h. Watson was more in difficulty while Da Rocha ended with a spin on the bed du Pont in the attempt of re-enter the group of the first drivers. After four laps Guenat took the second position and started a fierce struggle with Quiniou giving life to the race till when the pit-stops and a couple of spins didn’t give free way to less powerful but more handy 2-litre cars. Off-side Luco and Deman with the gearbox of his Osella that was spitting out the gears, Busst and Lafargue seemed destined to gain the first two places, but nobody has taken into account O’Connell who taken the wheel of the Chevron, returned by quickly recovering the fifteen seconds behind the first ones. The Scottish driver ran very fast and on reaching the rivals he passed both on the Mistral by gaining a deserved win just before Busst and Lafargue: this result allowed O’Connell to win the championship equal to Lafargue. More behind there was a funny event: it was assigned Drive Through to Quiniou because he didn’t respect the stop areas in the pit lane, but by the end of the race the marshals changed their judgement, leaving the position to the driver who was moreover unable to respect the decision due to the few laps available before the checkered flag.

On the contrary, among GT cars the win was gained by Sean McInerney ahead of Mr John of B and the crew of Foveny-Rosemeyer, relegated back due to a little more cautious behaviour of the latter.

C.E.R. Qualifying 2

C.E.R. Race 2

Marco Zanello
Photos taken by Giacomo and Marco Zanello

Galleria immagini

C.E.R. Race 1

C.E.R. Race 2