1970: My First Race in the Glas 1300 GT by Franz-Adolf Kremer

Again, I drove home to buy a new one. The Glas dealer said that the compression of the engine probably would have been too high, so he gave me two new head gaskets. I should do one on top of the other.

Back in Zolder I did what he told me. It was evening already, and it was too dark to work outside on the car. I had rented a bungalow with one room for the weekend. We - my class pals and I - moved the furniture outside, removed the doors and pushed my Glas 1300 GT inside. There we worked together on the engine. We did one head gasket on top of the other. That reduced compression and the head gasket didn't blow again after that, but the engine had less power of course.

After the work we pushed the car out of the bungalow and I had a party with my mates who had helped me.
The bungalow was very dirty on the next day. On the carpet was a oil and the furniture wasn't in the same place as before. And our party had left some traces as well...
Then came the race on Easter Sunday. Of course, I hadn't had any qualifying so I was lucky to be allowed to drive at all - because two opponents had left.
I started from the last place on the grid and finished sixth in class.

After the incident with the bungalow I had to sleep in a tent when I drove at Zolder, because when I tried to rent a bungalow again they did not allow it. But I think that's fair really.
After that race I built a new engine for my Glas 1300 GT which had not such a high compression as the original one...

Motor racing is an exciting sport full of glitter and glamour. Shiny cars, beautiful women, expensive motorhomes. But at the other side of the spectrum it was not like this - and certainly not in 1970. Franz-Adolf Kremer tells his son Stefan about these good old days. He drove a Glas 1300 GT group 3 in various races in and around Germany - the picture is from Zandvoort.

It was in Zolder, Belgium in the year 1970 at the Easter weekend. It was my very first race.
Good Friday we had free practice - we could drive the whole day if we wanted. But after two laps the head gasket blew.