HISTORY |
1970 Season (Part IV)
NINTH RACE - 6 HS. OF WATKINS GLEN
SPORTS SYNTHESIS
Note published in the Parabrisas Corsa Magazine Nº221 on July 14th, 1970 - Page 12
The
impressive "Blitzkrieg" Porsche also devastated at the 6
Hours of Watkins Glen.
Commanded
by the pair of Gulf’s celestial nine-seventeen’s, directed by John
Wyer, the complex teams of Germans cars, divided in teams of greater or
smaller potential, won practically the final standings, except for a heroic pair
of Ferraris who did not lower their arms even though everything was lost.
At
the end of the 6 hours, both of Wyer cars arrived first and second with a
three lap advantage on the third place Ferrari of Andretti-Giunti,
but in spite of the great mechanical superiority demonstrated by the products of
Stuttgart, the race could have been won by the third place, because of
the dangerous rivalry that has settled between the pairs the Rodriguez-Kinnunen
and Siffert-Redman, who almost give the race to Ferrari just two
hours after the race had begun.
Evidently
the Porsche surpasses the Ferrari but Mario Andretti is a
decisive factor to shorten the differences of the Italian cars with the Germans.
The guy of Pennsylvania works like the thousand wonders, and returned to be the
axis of the spectacle when he managed to qualify between both of Wyer´s
cars, integrating the front row, right next to Siffert and delaying Rodriguez
to the second row.
At
the start of the race, he took the lead with decision – for the enthusiasm of
the 75,000 spectators who cheered for the Italic-American- and only after
several laps; the great candidates, with evident power advantage, overtook him.
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Close
Company!The start of the 1970 Watkins Glen 6 Hours. |
Despite a corning together at the start, with the teammates Jo Siffert and Brian Redman, Pedro Rodriguez Leo Kinnunen posted an easy victory in the 1970 Watkins Glen six-hour enduro. Note the small rear wing added between the fenders to improve downforce. This solution was not employed by the rival Salzburg operation. Bill Oursler. |
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Photos by Autotrend.com
(http://www.autotrend.com) THE INTERNET'S MOST VISITED CAR POSTER SUPER STORE! |
The winners Rodríguez / Kinnunen |
From
there, Andretti and Giunti who was revealing to be an ascending
promise, could not fight more for the lead, but they were not either bothered in
their comfortable third position for the rest of the race, and hoping for any
unexpected to charge forward. This could have happened after the first two hours
of the race. Rodriguez tried unsuccessfully from the start to surpass the
racing line of Siffert and the battle was continued between Redman
(leader) and Kinnunen, in spite of the restrictions of John Wyer
and David Yorke (Team Gulf bosses).
Then,
once again with Siffert and Rodriguez driving the twin 917´s,
Rodríguez began to burningly harass Seppi, and when they reached
the Big Bend, dangerous right-hander curve, that ends to the entrance of boxes,
he tried to pass Siffert through the kerb, hooking the front wheel of Siffert´s
car. A disaster by a true miracle did not take place, and in spite of the
contact, both cars could continue without losing his positions, although Seppi
had to enter boxes to change the wheel at issue, that had been destroyed.
With
the impatient Mexican leading, and Siffert closely escorting him,
followed by a remote Andretti, the race followed its development with
some spectacular “off tracks" but without desertions of much importance,
abundant health in the motors – worthy faults did not take place- and a
singsong calm in the positions, that did not vary until the end.
Larrousse,
Van Lennep - little and nothing affected by the death of its partner Laine
- and Jacky Ickx contributed the showy racing that characterizes them.
This last one took the Ferrari to the grass, in an explosion that
extended about two hundred meters, returning to asphalt when it already seemed
impossible to avoid the base of the Dunlop bridge.
At
the end, the Rodriguez-Kinnunen duo won four out of eight races
monopolized until this date by Porsche in the World Championship of
Makes and although they did not reach the numbers of Siffert-Redman
achieved in the ' 69, they were devoted definitively like the pair of the year
in Sports Prototypes. Pity the harshness that they had to resort to this time;
had it came out wrong, the lion would have eaten them, or better put, the Ferrari.
See the race statistics
PORSCHE IN WATKINS GLEN 200 miles - CAN AM Series
July 12th,1970
Al día
siguiente de el sábado en que se disputaron las 6 hs. de Watkins Glen 1970, en
la que los Porsche 917 barrieron otra vez a las rojas Ferrari 512, se
concretaron las 200 Millas de Watkins Glen pero de la categoría Can Am. Porsche
que miraba con mucha simpatía a ésta categoría, aprovechó la oportunidad de
medirse con los monstruos del Grupo 7 y presentó varios 917.
El final de ésta
carrera encontró a cinco Porsche 917 entre los siete primeros clasificados.
In
the next pics, (sent by
Philippe Moriniere), we can see the 917
#1 of Siffert and #32 of Attwood in action.
The pics show an interesting detail: There's a vertical panel behind the rear
wheels, obligatory according to the Can Am rules of the time, which were not use
in World Championship of Makers
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TENTH RACE - 1000 KM. OF ZELTWEG
SPORTS
SYNTHESIS
A
new version of the Ferrari 512S was entered. Siffert-Redman won
the race, followed by Andrea De Adamich-Henri Pescarolo with an Alfa
Romeo.
See the race statistics
FINAL STANDINGS OF THE WORLD MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP 1970
Marque | Race | Total
Total |
Accountable
Total |
||||||||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ||||
Porsche | 9 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 87 | 63 | |
Ferrari | 4 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 4 | . | 42 | 37 | |
Alfa Romeo | . | 4 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 6 | 10 | 10 | |
Matra | . | 2 | . | 2 | . | . | . | . | . | . | 4 | 4 | |
Chevrolet | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | 2 | 2 |
References:
1.Daytona - 2.Sebring - 3.Brands Hatch - 4.Monza - 5.Targa Florio - 6.Spa - 7.Nürburgring - 8.Le Mans - 9.Watkins Glen - 10.Zeltweg
In
blue font, the selected competitions. (Only the seven best scores of the year
were computed)
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