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Monza 4 hours

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Italy

Date: 25/3/1973
Track length: 5.774 m
Attendance: 40.000
Entries accepted: unknown
Starters: 36?
Finishers: 9, 11 classified

Pole position: Stewart, 1.38,2
Fastest lap: Mass and Brambilla, 1.38,5 = 210,152 kmh

Distance: 4 hours
Average speed: 202,862 kmh
Weather: Sunny but cool
Ruleset: Group 2/70
Car info: 1973 Cars

 

The debut race for a classic season. BMW had a works team for the first time in many years. But the 1300 cc class had been axed.
The entry list showed some really big names. Fastest in practice was Brambilla in the Schnitzer CSL, with a shocking 1.37,7 in free practice. It was could be explained by Brambillas local knowledge, the single set of Firestone qualifiers or an illegal oversized engine - the crankshaft which would make it possible to have 3500 cc would not be homologated until July 1.

Official practice put things right a little, Brambilla sticking in second place with 1.38,4, a tick slower than Stewart/Glemser in the fastest Capri, Goodyear-shod. They were followed by Capri 2 of Mass/Scheckter, BMW 1 of Stuck/Amon, Capri 3 of Birrell/Fitzpatrick, BMW 2 of Hezemans/Quester and the white Alpina CSL of Lauda/Muir.
Ford had difficulty getting a good set-up, and in the end 50 mm was cut off from the front spoiler, despite the testing and wind tunnel work in the winter. BMW had troubles with sticking throttle slides on the Hezemans car, and here the set-up was difficult too. Alpina had the same problem; and they used a 3-litre engine opposite to the 3,3 engines of the works and (hopefully) by Schnitzer. The two litre class was less spectacular: a single works Escort (Bourgoignie/Brodie) competing against 16 valve BMW 2002’s of Schnitzer and GS.

24 cars took the start, Brambilla in the lead after a very early start. Soon he was sandwiched between Capri 1 and Capri 2, followed by Stuck who slowed after lap 13. Already, Capri 3 had retired with a blown head gasket and the GS-16 valve 2002 lost its water. The second works BMW was a frequent pit visitor, Hezemans complaining of the feeling that he would loose a wheel soon. It was retired.

While the Ford duo and Brambilla led the race, Lauda overtook Stuck’s BMW - Stuck retired soon afterwards with a blown head gasket. More BMW drama, the car of Brun/E. Brambilla retiring as well as the early leader Vittorio Brambilla - and as the icing on the cake the Schnitzer 2002 broke its engine.
Now the Capri duo and the Alpina car were left over, followed by a horde of elder Capris. And this was only after one hour of racing.
After three hours and no changes, alarm at the Ford pits. Mass’ water pump belt had broken, it had to be replaced just at the moment Stewart came in for fuel. It could not be reached by the fuel hose since Mass stood in the way. After a lengthy stop, Stewart went out again, still leading, Mass soon afterwards but he had been passed by Lauda.

When Stewart rolled out at Lesmo with an engine failure, Lauda had the lead and even Mass at full speed was unable to catch up. The Alpina car, none withstanding its small engine, turned out to be in far better shape than the works cars had been all day. A well deserved victory indeed.

Division 1 and 2
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
1 1 6 Alpina
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Niki Lauda, A
Brian Muir, AUS
 3003 L6 Div. 2 142 laps, 4:01.29,6 7 1.40,4    
2 2 12 Ford Köln
Ford Capri RS 2600 LW		 Jochen Mass, D
Jody Scheckter, ZA
 2983 V6 Div. 2 142 laps, 4:01.51,0 3 1.38,8 1.38,5  
3 3 19  
Ford Capri RS 2600		 Alberto Ruiz Gimenez, E
Jaime Mesia, E
 2940 V6 Div. 2 135 laps, 4:02.53,6 12 1.45,8    
4 4 14 Ford Gerstmann Racing Team
Ford Capri RS 2600		 Albrecht Krebs, D
Hartmut Kautz, D
 2940 V6 Div. 2 134 laps, 4:02.50,8 8 1.42,2    
5 5    
Ford Capri RS 2600		 Klaus Fritzinger, D
Waltraud Odenthal, D
 2940 V6 Div. 2 132 laps, 4:01.47,0 11 1.45,8    
6 6   Team Schnitzer Motul
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Urs Knecht, CH
Moritz Gerny, CH
 3003? L6 Div. 2 128? laps, 4:02.01,4 17 1.49,0    
7 1 26 Balduzzi
Alfa Romeo 2000 GTAm		 Drago Regvart, YU
R(obert?) Lang, YU
 1999 L4 Div. 1 126 laps, 4:03.17,0 20 1.50,8    
8 2   Team Broadspeed
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Rafael Barrios, E
Umberto Grano, I
 1996 L4 Div. 1 125 laps, 4:02.10,6 14 1.47,8    
9 3    
BMW 2002		 René Herzog, CH
Angelo Pallavicini, CH
 1990 L4 Div. 1 122 laps, 4:02.00,8 26 1.57,0    
10 7 10 Ford Köln
Ford Capri RS 2600 LW		 Dieter Glemser, D
Jackie Stewart, GB
 2983 V6 Div. 2 116 laps, 3:15.09,2 1 1.38,2   Water pump belt
11 4    
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Aldo Valtellina ("Alval"), I
Gianfranco Palazzoli ("Pal Joe"), I
 1996 L4 Div. 1 109 18 1.49,7    
      Team Schnitzer Motul
BMW 2002		 Wolfgang May, D
Sepp Manhalter, A
 1990 L4 Div. 1 26? 19 1.50,5   Engine
    34 Norman Reeves Ltd.
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Claude Bourgoignie, B
Dave Brodie, GB
 1996 L4 Div. 1   10 1.45,4   Ignition
       
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Alberto Roselli, I
Paolo? Russo, I
 1996 L4 Div. 1   15 1.48,4    
       
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Goran Strok, YU
Kulundzic, YU
 1996 L4 Div. 1   16 1.49,0    
       
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Luigi Colzani, I
Martino Finotto, I
 1996 L4 Div. 1   23 1.53,8    
DNF     Team Broadspeed
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Jose de Uriarte, E
Hervé Le Guellec, F
 1996 L4 Div. 1   24 1.53,8   Engine
DNF      
Ford Capri RS 2600		 "Esap", I
Tatog, E
 ca. 2900 V6 Div. 2   21 1.51,7   Injection
DNF      
Alfa Romeo 2000 GTAm		 Ademaro Massa, I
Checco D'Angelo, I
 1999 L4 Div. 1   25 1.54,7    
DNF   5 Team Schnitzer Motul
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Vittorio Brambilla, I
Bob Wollek, F
 3303 L6 Div. 2 ca. 35 2 1.38,4 1.38,5 Blown engine
DNF   1 BMW Motorsport
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Hans-Joachim Stuck, D
Chris Amon, NZ
 3331 L6 Div. 2 31 4 1.39,4   Piston
DNF   11 Ford Köln
Ford Capri RS 2600 LW		 John Fitzpatrick, GB
Gerry Birrell, GB
 2983 V6 Div. 2   5 1.39,6   Head gasket
DNF   4 Team Schnitzer Motul
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Ernesto Brambilla, I
Walter Brun, CH
 3003 L6 Div. 2   9 1.42,9   Clutch
DNF     GS tuning
BMW 2002		 Dieter Basche, D
Manfred Mohr, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1 3? 13 1.47,0   Engine
DNF   2 BMW Motorsport
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Toine Hezemans, NL
Dieter Quester, A
 3331 L6 Div. 2   6 1.39,9   Wheel bearing
DNS      
Chevrolet Camaro		 Urs (Robert) Eberhard, D
 7000 V8 Div. 2   22 1.53,0    
DNQ      
Opel Manta 19 SR		 Franz Heine, D
Gerrit de Vries, NL
 1897 L4 Div. 1          
DNQ      
Renault R 12 Gordini		 Unknown
 1565 L4 Div. 1