Belgian Grand Prix

BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

HEINZ SCHNEIDER

ALTHOUGH RACING IS LIMITED to four events only at the Belgian Grand Prix, the 8.76-mile high speed circuit of Spa in the Ardennes mountains seems to guarantee thrilling competition, and often is good for a surprise or two. This year Jim Redman on his Honda six well and truly pulled away from the Yamaha Equipe of Read and Duff, winning the 250 race from Phil by four-tenths of a second. Fritz Scheidegger cemented his title claim, winning his third sidecar race of this season’s six championship events. He thus settled the title argument.

50cc RACE

Suzuki had added a new Japanese boy, Fujii Toshio, to their 50cc stable; otherwise entries were the same as at last week’s Dutch. Racing however was much closer, and both title contenders seemed to be evenly matched on speed. With overcast skies and light wind Ralph Bryans had left his rivals on the grid, followed by Taveri, both on Hondas. After the first lap of five he led Suzuki’s Ernst Degner, Hugh Anderson and Mitsuo Itoh. Toshio had lost six seconds to his teammates, and Luigi Taveri, making good for time lost in the early stages of the race, had just pipped the Suzuki rider when they braked for La Source hairpin, which leads to the finish straight and is

the only slow corner on this flat-out road circuit. Suzuki’s fifth man, Inchino, coasted to the pits and retired.

From out on the circuit Degner was reported in the lead, and he led Bryans out of the hairpin, but on the downgrade the Honda howled past the Suzuki, only to be repassed on the long climb which begins some 200 yards from the start. Taveri came up well, passed Itoh and began to slipstream Hugh Anderson. With 94.5 mph Degner set a new lap record, finishing the third circuit ahead of Bryans, Anderson and Taveri, Itoh having dropped back. Luigi pushed through to second at Malmedy, and at Stavelot, just over half way around the circuit, led Ernst’s Suzuki. Anderson emerged best out of the hairpin where riders come into sight; Degner, Bryans and Taveri, side by side, dashed after him into the last lap. Toshio rolled to his pit, blipping his throttle, but was motioned to try one more lap.

Bryans and Taveri led Anderson and Ernst into the Burnenville curve, and at Malmedy Degner was ahead of Luigi, Anderson and Ralph. Hugh led a few laps later with the Hondas in third and fourth, both four-stroke engines having lost their edge during the second half of the last lap. Out of the hairpin Ernst showed up first and Hugh slowly coasted in, making the best of the 300 yards of down-

hill section. Accelerating out of La Source his chain had snapped off. A few yards ahead of Luigi he took the flag. Mitsuo Itoh got a fourth when Bryans’ Honda finally packed up and barely took him over the line. Two minutes back Cees van Dongen got one point on his private Kreidler. Hugh seems to have made sure of the 50cc world title again.

250cc RACE

With some 30 yards over the Yamahas, Jim Redman shot off the line for the nine-lap 250 race. He led over Read and Mike Duff after one lap with MZ’s Derek Woodman in fourth place, chased by Suzuki’s Y. Katayama and Frank Perris. Bruce Beale on a Honda twin held off Jack Ahearn (Suzuki four) and Gunther Beer on his Honda twin. Breaking the lap record with a 121.8 mph tour, Read forced ahead in the second lap. Duff had fallen back and Derek Woodman was closing rapidly. Redman led out of the third tour, out of the fourth as well, and four laps from the end Phil grabbed the lead again, expected to pull away. No one was willing to lay a bet on either of these two flyers, when Jim showed up first at the end of six laps. He stayed ahead to win the race with just four-tenths of a second from Phil.

Jim still has his hand in the title game,

but must win five races of the remaining six to have a chance. Phil needs two more wins and he is a safe champion for the second time.

Engine trouble slowed Derek Woodman and finally put him out, as it did the other MZ riders. The cause was not traced, but the engines had tightened up before stopping and the MZ people thought oil-gas mixture was to blame.

After a pit stop Jack Ahearn retired, but Perris and Katayama finished on the Suzuki fours ahead of Bruce Beale. Mike Duff, the very modest and unspectacular second man in Yamaha’s stable, scored a third with his usual safe and reliable riding. Having been fourth early in lap one and then falling back to the end of the field, Guyla Marsovsky slowly pushed up to tenth place behind Beer (Honda), his Bultaco teammates Ginger Molloy and Cees van Dongen.

500cc RACE

Leading his teammate Agostini and the rest of the five-hundreds from the word go, Mike Hailwood did not even bother to break his own lap record, set in 1963 when there was competition from Geoff Duke’s Gilera stable. In fact, his fastest lap was slower that the race record of 1963. With both leaders far enough ahead to be forgotten, spectators could concentrate on the tremendous private riders’ battle for third place. Seven big singles thundered down to the hairpin, and John Cooper, holding a few-inches lead, dropped the Norton, which made the Moon-eyes man retire.

Ian Burne, always good on a fast cir-

cuit, led Chris Conn, Derek Minter, Paddy Driver, Fred Stevens and Gyula Marsovsky over the line. Lonely, as he was during all the race, Jack Ahearn rattled through on his Norton with an old engine. Sid Mizen, Stuart Graham, Jack Findlay and Dan Shorey formed another group, fighting tooth and nail for tenth place.

Everyone holding the lead at least once except Chris Conn, the group of six stayed closely packed for eleven of the 15 laps until Derek Minter and Paddy Driver slowly pulled away. Slipstreaming each other, Stevens, Marsovsky, Conn and Burns shuffled positions until the last moment and finished in that order. After Sid Mizen had retired from the other group, Dan Shorey closely beat Stuart Graham and Findlay (who was not so happy with his engine). Jack Ahearn, in ninth place, just missed being lapped. SIDECAR RACE

Three hours before the sidecars were due to start for their final championship heat this season, Max Deubel appeared in the paddock. Having finished second to Otto Kolle in a German championship event at Nürnberg the same morning, he had jumped into a private airplane and dashed to the Belgian scene.

Camathias, who was fastest in practice, led into lap one, followed by Deubel, Scheidegger and Harris. Max had to win to get the championship. At a left-hander on top of the hill Florian was reported still leading from Fritz. Georg Auerbacher on his home-built short-stroke BMW was third ahead of Deubel and Harris. At Stavelot, Scheidegger led.

Deubel and Auerbacher constantly swapped places, and Camathias slid through the hairpin in first position, leading Fritz, Auerbacher, Deubel and Harris. Camathias led through the second lap, Deubel having passed the ScheideggerAuerbacher block. Chris Vincent held sixth position ahead of Colin Seeley and Heinz Luthringshauser.

During lap three Scheidegger repassed his rival Max and then took the lead from Camathias, who was soon passed by Deubel as well. Out of La Source Fritz led, and Deubel again was second, with Harris in fourth position behind Flori. Fritz’s friend Auerbacher was forced to retire with a strong vibration in the engine and suspected broken crankshaft.

Luthringhauser finally got the better of Colin Seeley and both closed up on Vincent, whose BMW did not seem to be running properly. Three laps from the end they passed Chris, Luthringshauser pulling away from Colin. Scheidegger led the last five laps of eight, Deubel and Camathias scrapping for second until Flori’s engine started spitting in lap six. From then on Pip Harris attacked Deubel, passing him at the half-lap stage of the final tour. Fritz had some four seconds in hand, and Camathias slowed constantly.

In a last minute effort Max repassed Pip and closed up to Fritz, but he could gain only one second during the final miles. So Fritz scored a tremendously acclaimed win and his first championship, after trying for six years. And Heinz Luthringshauser, a former sand track racer, crowned his best season so far with another fourth place snatched from Camathias.