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1976 Vallelunga WMC 
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Mugello 6 Hours

Autodromo del Mugello, Italy

Date: 21/3/1976
Track length: 5.245 m
Attendance:
Entries accepted: 36
Starters: 24
Finishers: 13 (12 classified)

Pole position: Ickx in 1.55,28 = 163,793 kmh
Fastest lap: Ickx in 1.58,07 = 159,922 kmh

Distance: 6 hours
Average speed: 151,731 kmh
Weather: Warm and dry
Ruleset: Group 1-5/76
Car info: 1976 Cars

 

Hot! Battle of the Year! The headlines on the German magazine “Sport Auto” did not quite match reality. The first round of the new World Championship for Makes took place in Italy.
As expected, there was no works Ford; there was one works Porsche 935, as well as a private 935 built by the Kremer brothers. It was over two seconds slower than the works car in practice (both used qualifying tires), but is was ahead of the trio of works-supported BMW 3.5 CSL’s; cars which were too heavy and not powerful enough but at least BMW had taken the trouble. The cars were another three seconds off the Kremer car.
The last serious Group 5 car was “hot” in practice: the Lancia Stratos Turbo caught fire and did not race.
The rest of the field consisted of some new Porsche 934’s, some Carrera RSR’s, two Group 2 Camaro’s, a few Escort RS cars with big rear wings, and then further down the ladder of touring car racing where we met cars like an Alpine 1600, a BMW 2002 and even a Group 1 Commodore GS/E - which did not qualify.

Despite all this, scrutineering was difficult as usual; BMW received comments on the bodywork - and Porsche too; it took three hours before the flat nose was accepted.

As was expected, the works Porsche took the lead after the start, followed by the Kremer car and the green Schnitzer BMW - the latter soon running into troubles, first handling and then failing brakes. After some down force was added, the car continued and the Hermetite car took over. The third BMW (Faltz) too overtook the green Schnitzer car, but spun and damaged the tap of the fuel tank. It was repaired with chewing gum, but this had to be replaced often, so all the Faltz team were chewing - until finally the tank had to be replaced.
The leading Porsche had problems with the huge 19” rear tires - air escaped frequently, so tires had to be replaced very often. The Kremer car could take the lead, but it ran into troubles too with half shaft problems. One Gelo 934 retired (engine), the other had a damaged front hub - it had to be replaced, so the Evertz 934 took over third spot. The Hermetite BMW dropped back with a broken crank shaft damper, and five minutes before the end the Schnitzer car, in second place now, retired as well.
The final order: Porsche, Porsche-Kremer, Porsche 934 - the Hermetite car finished 8th and was the first non-Porsche...

Group 5
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out,
remarks
1 1 4 Martini Racing
Porsche 935		 Jochen Mass, D
Jacky Ickx, B
 2857 tc B6 Div. 3 174 laps, 6:00.53,3 1 1.55,28 1.58,07  
2 2 5 Porsche Kremer Racing
Porsche 935 Kremer		 Bob Wollek, F
Hans Heyer, D
 2857 tc B6 Div. 3 168 2 1.57,53    
3 3 7 Egon Evertz KG Solingen
Porsche 934		 Leo Kinnunen, SF
Egon Evertz, D
 2993 tc B6 Div. 3 GT 162 10 2.08,15    
4 1 23 Joest Racing
Porsche Carrera RSR		 Reinhold Jöst, D
Jürgen Barth, D
Willi Bartels, D
 2994 B6 Div. 2 161 9 2.07,85    
5 2 22  
Porsche Carrera RSR		 Kenneth Leim, S
Kurt Simonsen, S
 2994 B6 Div. 2 157 13 2.11,04    
6 4 18 Tebernum Racing Georg Loos KG
Porsche 934		 Tim Schenken, AUS
Rolf Stommelen, D
 2993 tc B6 Div. 3 GT 155 6 2.03,65    
7 5 9  
Porsche 934		 Angelino Lepri, I
Gabriele Gottifredi, I
Girolamo Capra, I
 2993 tc B6 Div. 3 GT 154 21 2.19,49    
8 6 2 Hermetite Products
BMW 3.5 CSL		 John Fitzpatrick, GB
Tom Walkinshaw, GB
 3498 L6 Div. 3 151 4 2.01,50    
9 1 34 Jolly Club
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Walter Dona, I
Martino Finotto, I
Giovanni Lise, I
(Umberto Grano, I)
 1975 L4 Div. 1 148 14 2.13,88    
10 7 3 Faltz-Alpina Essen
BMW 3.5 CSL		 Sam Posey, USA
Harald Grohs, D
(Hughes de Fierlant, B)
 3498 L6 Div. 3 147 5 2.02,43    
11 2 33 Scuderia Vesuvio
BMW 2002		 Ciro Nappi, I
Riccardo Ricci, I
 1990 L4 Div. 1 144 24 2.20,82    
12 3 31 Giada Auto
Alpine A 110		 Ferruccio Caliceti, I
Carlo Brunner, I
 1860 L4 Div. 1 139 23 2.20,74    
NC   37 Scuderia Città dei Mille
Alfa Romeo 1600 GT Junior		 Duilio Ghislotti, I
Romeo Camathias, I
 1570 L4 Div. 1 118 22 2.19,84    
DNF   1 Team Schnitzer
BMW 3.5 CSL		 Dieter Quester, A
Albrecht Krebs, D
Brian Redman, GB
 3498 L6 Div. 3 169 3 2.00,55   Engine
DNF   36  
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Mario Ruoso, I
Paolo de Leonibus, I
 1975 L4 Div. 1 86 18 2.18,18   Gearbox
DNF   24 Jolly Club
Lancia Stratos		 Carlo Facetti, I
Emilio Paleari, I
(Gianfranco Ricci, I)
 2418 V6 Div. 2 GT 81 11 2.09,17   Engine
DNF   42  
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Cosimo Turizio, I
Carlo Giorgio, I
(Ciro Nappi, I)
 1975 L4 Div. 1 62 12 2.11,02   Clutch
DNF   19 Tebernum Racing Georg Loos KG
Porsche 934		 Toine Hezemans, NL
Clemens Schickentanz, D
 2993 tc B6 Div. 3 GT 60 7 2.04,82   Fire
DNF   16 Zip-Up Racing
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Stuart Graham, GB
Reine Wisell, S
(Arturo Merzario, I)
   V8 Div. 3 53 17 2.15,58   Steering
DNF   15 Zip-Up Racing
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Arturo Merzario, I
Rune Tobiasson, S
(Stuart Graham, GB)
(Reine Wisell, S)
   V8 Div. 3 52 20 2.19,34   Accident
DNF   32 Jolly Club
Ford Escort II RS		 Martino Finotto, I
(Renzo Zorzi, I)
(Umberto Grano, I)
 1975 L4 Div. 1 33 16 2.15,13   Engine
DNF   38  
VW-Porsche 914/6		 Piercarlo Ghinzani, I
Giovanni Carminati, I
 1991 B6 Div. 1 GT 32 19 2.18,74   Engine
DNF   14 Jolly Club
Porsche 934		 Giorgio Schön, I
(Giuseppe Bianco, I)
(Giorgio Gargano, I)
 2993 tc B6 Div. 3 GT 7 8 2.06,93   Clutch
DNF   25  
Porsche Carrera RSR		 Lella Lombardi, I
Michele di Gioia, I
Vittorio Bernasconi, I
 2994 B6 Div. 2 5 15 2.15,06?   Engine
DNQ   29  
Opel Commodore GS/E		 Goffredo Larini, I
Giotto Bizzarrini, I
   L6 Div. 2 Group 1     2.26,41    
DNS   21 Lancia Squadra Corse
Lancia Stratos Turbo		 Carlo Facetti, I
Vittorio Brambilla, I
 2418 tc V6 Div. 3     no time   Fire