A classic battle

Spa-Francorchamps 1970. This 1000 km race, held on May 17, 1970, counting for the world Championship of Makes, was one of the best examples of the great sports-car battles of the 1970’s.

Many of the top drivers in the world (Ickx, Rodriguez, Surtees, Redman, Siffert…), all of them also racing in Formula One, were fighting it out at the most fearsomely fast circuit in Europe, and the cars were awesome.

Circuit: The original, fast 14.1 km Spa-Francorchamps road circuit, which featured only one slow corner (the La Source hairpin), was feared and loved by the drivers, who appreciated the challenge of controlling their cars at very high speeds.

Ferrari had brought its 512S, while Porsche came up with its mighty 917, and these cars raced this very fast track at fantastic speeds. For example, Pedro Rodriguez (Porsche 917K) lapped Spa at 1.16.5, averaging 160.513 mph (258.322 km/h).

Three weeks later, the Formula One cars were at Spa, and the fastest cars were 12 seconds a lap slower (!) than these mighty sports-prototypes.

At the end, the Siffert-Redman Gulf Porsche 917K won, and the Ickx-Surtees Ferrari 512S finished second, in the same lap, with the Belgian extracting the maximum from his red car. In third position came the Salzburg Porsche 917K of Vic Elford and Kurt Ahrens, one lap behind.