Hockenheim Historic 2013 – Report and Photos

Report and photos by Marcel Hundscheid

The Bosch Hockenheim Historic – Jim Clark Revival was held April 20-21, 2013 at the Hockenheimring in Germany. A field of 500 drivers competing in eight different categories celebrated the 9th annual historic races, held in honor of the two-time world champion tragically killed in an accident at the Hockenheimring on April 7th, 1968.

As new FIA regulations were implemented by national associations several historic series were not present in Hockenheim. For example, the FIA Historic F1 Organisation has completely dissolved as the Historic F2 championship carries many races in the United Kingdom.

Rather cold and partly wet conditions made it tricky for drivers, as especially on the grandstands around 15,000 spectators had to keep themselves warm over the weekend. Nevertheless racing was exciting and some fierce battles were fought for victory. Starting on Saturday morning the historic cars from ‘Race History on Track’ opened the event with a thirty minute presentation session. Race History on Track (RHoT) is a representative association of historic formula cars, including F1, F2, F3 and F5000 cars. Goal is to keep the car pool attractive and interesting, currently consists over 20 Formula 1 and over 15 Formula 2 cars. The association and their drivers run cars such as a 1952 Ferrari F1 500, raced by Alberto Ascari as well as a 1961 F1 Cooper T53 raced by Sir John Surtees, just to name a few. Later on during the programme, in honor of Formula 1 world champion Jim Clark a historic F2 revival was held gathering several F2 cars from the Race History on Track association.

The Dutch NK HTHT, a national championship for both historic GTs and touring cars had their first race of the season in Hockenheim. Nearly 40 classic cars filled the grid featuring the Jaguar E-Type, Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang, Triumph TR4, Austin Healey etc. The true battle for the lead was fought between the Ford GT40 of Georg Stummeyer and the Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport of Dutchman Michiel Campagne. In the beginning Campagne could keep the lead but despite great driving skills Stummeyer’s Ford proved to be far too quick. On Sunday their second race proved to be a demonstration of the sheer power of the Corvette as Campagne raced a lonely race, as Stummeyer had to park his Ford after just three laps. No one had an answer as Campagne finished first creating a gap over 50 seconds in front of the Bizzarrini of Michael Ehrlich.

Next on track were the tiny cars from the ‘Battle of the Dwarfs’ (Kampf der Zwerge). Tiny touring cars from the 1960s and 1970s up to 1300 cc find their way to several European tracks competing in regularity tests. Partner associations are the ‘Abarth Coppa Mille’, ‘British Car Trophy’ and the ‘NSU TT Trophy’. A large field of 51 Mini’s, Fiat Abarth and NSU TT’s competed in two regularity tests on Saturday and Sunday. Next on the programme was the ADAC Graf Berghe von Trips Trophy, a series established in 1982 is open to historic Formula cars. Wolfgang Reichsgraf Berghe von Trips was a German racing driver, participated in 29 Formula 1 Grand Prix races. He was the first German ever to win a Formula 1 race. Von Trips tragically lost his life during the 1961 Italian Grand Prix at Monza after colliding with the Ferrari of Jim Clark. Von Trips crashed into a side barrier, throwing him from the car and killing fifteen spectators. Around 25 historic single-seaters found their way to the Hockenheim track such as the Brabham BT28, Lotus 69, Merlyn, Delta and Royale.

For the fans of cars from the modern era the German STT & HR Cup was present including a large field of high performance GTs. Cars like the Dodge Viper, different Porsches, BMW’s etc drove two 25 minute sprint races that saw some tough battles keeping spectators warm suffering from light rain, a strong wind and quite low spring temperatures. Classic sports cars from the seventies including three former Can-Am Big Banger V8s had an interesting race. Great to see that the smaller 2.0 litre sports cars like the Osella as well as the 3.0 litre Lola T292 could make a difference competing against cars like the huge 8.0 liter McLaren M8. By far out loudest and quickest cars of the weekend were the single seaters from the BOSS GP series. Big Open Single-Seaters series are open to former Formula 1, Indycars, Champcars, GP2 as well as Formula Renault 3.5 cars from the World Series of Renault.

Spectators were treated with some state of the art racing as four cars were separated only by a fraction from each other. Dutchmen, Marijn van Kalmthout fought an epic battle with Austrians Ingo Gerstl and Bernd Herndlhofer. In the end is was van Kalmthout taking victory with just 0.5 seconds advantage over Gerstl. On Sunday the battle between those two men was even tougher, as van Kalmthout claimed his second victory of the weekend, beating Gerstl by just 0.294 seconds!

The well-known FIA Lurani Trophy was the very first historic formula series to be revived in 1975. In 1995 is was the first FIA Championship to be permitted by its own group. Historic single-seaters such as the Lotus 22 and 27, Brabham BT2, Lola Mk.3, Lotus 18, Stanguellini and many, may more could be seen on the Hockenheim track, tributing the early days of single-seater racing in Europe. In race 1 on Saturday the close battle for victory was fought between Urs Eberhardt from Switzerland and John Fyda from Scotland. In race 2 the man to beat was once again Eberhardt, but now he had to fight against his fellow countryman Marc Amez-Droz. In the end he claimed his second consecutive victory of the weekend. The Youngtimer Trophy from the Netherlands gathered the largest field of GT and touring cars, from the powerful Porsche 935 and BMW M1 to the small Trabant 601RS. The mighty Porsche 935 K3 of German Daniel Schrey proved to be too much of anything for his opponents, taking victory in both race 1 and 2.

Like the earlier events the Bosch Hockenheim Historic proved, despite the weather conditions, to be a great event concentrating on the historic motorsports scene. We’re looking forward to the 10th edition of the Bosch Hockenheim Historic, to be held in 2014.

Hockenheim Historic 2013 – Photo Gallery (click image for larger picture and description

 

Hockenheim Historic 2013 – Race Results

 

NK HTGT race 1:
1 Georg Stummeyer Ford GT40 GER
2 Michiel Campagne Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport HOL + 14.642 sec
3 Rainer Vorköper Jaguar E-Type low drag GER + 1m47.992 sec

NK HTGT race 2:
1 Michiel Campagne Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport HOL
2 Michael Ehrlich Bizzarrini 5300GT CH + 51.473 sec
3 Dirk Waaijenberg Ford Shelby Mustang HOL + 57.864 sec

Battle of the Dwarfs Regularity Test 1:
1 Manfred Beckers Fiat Abarth 595 SS GER
2 Hubert Nagl Fiat Abarth 1000TC GER
3 Andre van Koeveringe Fiat Abarth 1000TC HOL

Battle of the Dwarfs Regularity Test 2:
1 Joop Schouten Fiat Abarth 1000TC HOL
2 Jan Schouten Fiat Abarth 1000TC HOL
3 Peter Walter Fiat Abarth 1000TC GER

ADAC Graf Berghe von Trips Bokal race 1:
1 Mats Andersson March 722/10 F2 SWE
2 Ian Foley Reynard SF79 FF2000 GB + 1m14.796 sec
3 Stuart Boyer Reynard SF79 FF2000 GB + 1m18.780 sec
ADAC Graf Berghe von Trips Bokal race 2:
1 Falk Künster GRD 374 F3 GER
2 Ian Foley Reynard SF79 FF2000 GB + 21.682 sec
3 Bruno Huber Argo JM1 F3 CH + 33.647 sec

ADAC Graf Berghe von Trips Trophy race1:
1 Mats Andersson March 722/10 F2 SWE
2 Ian Foley Reynard SF79 FF2000 UK + 1m14.796 sec
3 Stuart Boyer Reynard SF77 FF2000 UK + 1m18.780 sec

ADAC Graf Berghe von Trips Trophy race 2:
1 Falk Künster GRD 374 F3 GER
2 Ian Foley Reynard SF79 FF2000 GB + 21.682 sec
3 Bruno Huber Argo JM1 F3 CH + 33.647 sec

STT H&R Cup race 1:
1 Ulrich Becker Porsche 997 GT3 RS GER
2 Pertti Kuismanen Chrysler Viper GTS-R FIN + 1.379 sec
3 Rene Aeberhardt BMW Z4 GT3 CH + 7.964 sec

STT H&R Cup race 2:
1 Edy Kamm Audi DTM CH
2 Pertti Kuismanen Chrysler Viper GTS-R FIN + 12.865 sec
3 Daniel Schrey Dodge Viper GTS-R GER + 24.589 sec

SuperSports race 1:
1 Silvio Kalb Osella GER
2 Werner Frenz Osella GER + 1 lap
3 Dr. Alexander Lienau McLaren M6b GER + 1 lap

Supersports race 2:
1 Peter Hoffmann McLaren M8F GER
2 Michiel Campagne McLaren M8F HOL + 52.250 sec
3 Werner Frenz Osella GER + 1m07.695 sec

BOSS GP Series race 1:
1 Marijn van Kalmthout Benetton B197 F1 HOL
2 Ingo Gerstl Dallara GP2 AU + 0.560 sec
3 Bernd Herndlhofer Dallara GP2 AU + 0.801 sec

BOSS GP Series race 2:
1 Marijn van Kalmthout Benetton B197 F1 HOL
2 Ingo Gerstl Dallara GP2 AU + 0.294 sec
3 Gary Hauser Dallara GP2 LUX + 10.903 sec

FIA Lurani Trophy race 1:
1 Urs Eberhardt Lotus 27 CH
2 John Fyda Lotus 22 UK + 0.311 sec
3 Tommaso Gelmini Branca I + 2.127 sec

FIA Lurani Trophy race 2:
1 Urs Eberhardt Lotus 27 CH
2 Marc Amez-Droz Brabham BT6 CH + 0.314 sec
3 Tommaso Gelmini Branca I + 2.547 sec

Youngtimer Touringcar Challenge race 1:
1 Daniel Schrey Porsche 935 K3 GER
2 Jan Bot BMW-March M1 IMSA HOL + 23.702 sec
3 Marc Louail Ford Falcon F + 1 lap

Youngtimer Touringcar Challenge race 2:
1 Daniel Schrey Porsche 935 K3 GER
2 Frank Metzger Cesca GRAC F + 50.178 sec
3 Gotthard Mayer BMW M1 Procar GER + 1m49.908 sec

[Source: Marcel Hundscheid]