# 1970 1000km of Brands Hatch

The 1970 BOAC 1000 km was an endurance race held at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, England, United Kingdom on April 12, 1970. The race was the 3rd round of the 1970 World Sportscar Championship season.

## Pre-race

The challenging, bumpy and undulating Brands Hatch circuit near London saw New Zealander Chris Amon return temporarily to Ferrari to drive one of their 512's, and he qualified his car on pole position. Amon's fellow countryman Denny Hulme drove a works Porsche 917K with factory driver Vic Elford. This race was only for prototypes; no GT cars were allowed to enter.

## Race

On the day of the race, the conditions were made awful by heavy rain, wind and cold air- a common occurrence during spring in England. The race started with Elford, Jacky Ickx in another works Ferrari, Jo Siffert in works/John Wyer Porsche 917K all getting past Amon around the outside of Paddock Hill, and Amon was followed by Piers Courage in a works Alfa Romeo, Pedro Rodríguez in the other John Wyer Porsche and the rest of the field followed.
At the end of the first lap, Barrie Smith in a privately entered Lola crashed heavily on the pit straight, and yellow flags were shown at the site of the accident. Rodriguez, who passed cars while yellow flags were being shown (oblivious to the fact), was shown the black flag and went into the pits while an astonishing 2nd, was reprimanded. Ickx, like Rodriguez- was a wet-weather specialist, had passed Elford and was leading the race. But he soon went into the pits with rain-wiper motor failure.
Elford was back in the lead, but the flying Rodriguez, who had come up from coming out of the pits in 12th to 2nd by lap 15 (only about 25 minutes into the race), passed Elford and led the race. This was a lead he kept until the end; he and Elford drove their cars for 5 1/2 of the 6 1/2 hours of the race in the dreadful conditions, and Rodriguez won the race by 5 laps. Porsches romped home 1-2-3-4; the first 3 being 917K's. Rodriguez' performance was such that the race is sometimes known as "the day they forgot to tell Pedro it was raining".
The running of the race was changed from a 6 hour time limit to a 1000 kilometer overall distance.

## Official results

| Pos | Class | No | Team | Drivers | Chassis | Engine | Laps |
| 1 | S 5.0 | 10 | John Wyer Automotive Engineering | Pedro Rodríguez Leo Kinnunen | Porsche 917K | Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 | 235 |
| 2 | S 5.0 | 11 | Porsche Salzburg | Vic Elford Denny Hulme | Porsche 917K | Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 | 230 |
| 3 | S 5.0 | 12 | Porsche Salzburg | Richard Attwood Hans Herrmann | Porsche 917K | Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 | 227 |
| 4 | P 3.0 | 57 | Racing Team AAW | Hans Laine Gijs van Lennep | Porsche 908/02 | Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 | 227 |
| 5 | S 5.0 | 2 | SpA Ferrari SEFAC | Chris Amon Arturo Merzario | Ferrari 512S | Ferrari 5.0L V12 | 225 |
| 6 | P 3.0 | 56 | Martini International | Gérard Larrousse Gerhard Koch | Porsche 908/02 | Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 | 217 |
| 7 | S 5.0 | 5 | Ecurie Bonnier | Jo Bonnier Reine Wisell | Lola T70 Mk.3B | Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | 217 |
| 8 | S 5.0 | 1 | SpA Ferrari SEFAC | Jacky Ickx Jackie Oliver | Ferrari 512S | Ferrari 5.0L V12 | 213 |
| 9 | P 3.0 | 28 | John L'Amie | John L'Amie Tommy Reid | Porsche 910 | Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 | 211 |
| 10 | S 2.0 | 25 | Central Garage (Mirfield) | John Lepp George Silverwood | Chevron B8 | BMW 1.8L I4 | 211 |
| 11 | P 3.0 | 28 | Nick Gold | Mike Beuttler Nick Gold | Porsche 910 | Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 | 201 |
| 12 | P 3.0 | 51 | Equipe Matra-Simca | Jack Brabham Jean-Pierre Beltoise | Matra-Simca MS650 | Matra 3.0L V12 | 201 |
| 13 | S 5.0 | 3 | Scuderia Filipinetti | Herbert Müller Mike Parkes | Ferrari 512S | Ferrari 5.0L V12 | 197 |
| 14 | S 2.0 | 25 | Intertech Steering Wheels | John Lepp Angus Clydesdale | Chevron B8 | BMW 1.8L I4 | 195 |
| 15 | P 2.0 | 81 | A. M. Graphic Racing Organisation | Gerry Birrell Andrew Mylius | Gropa CMC | Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 | 195 |
| 16 | P 2.0 | 79 | Roger Nathan Racing | Roger Nathan Mike Beckwith | Astra RNR2 | Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 | 193 |
| 17 | P 2.0 | 74 | Chevron Racing Team | John Bridges Peter Lawson | Chevron B16 | Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 | 189 |

### Did not finish

| Class | No | Team | Drivers | Chassis | Engine | Laps |
| P 2.0 | 72 | Mark Konig | Tony Lanfranchi Mark Konig | Nomad Mk.2 | BRM 2.0L V8 | 185 |
| P 3.0 | 58 | Ecurie Evergreen | Alain de Cadenet Jorge Omar del Rio | Porsche 908/02 | Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 | 179 |
| S 5.0 | 9 | John Wyer Automotive Engineering | Jo Siffert Brian Redman | Porsche 917K | Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 | 176 |
| P 3.0 | 52 | Equipe Matra-Simca | Henri Pescarolo Johnny Servoz-Gavin | Matra-Simca MS650 | Matra 3.0L V12 | 161 |
| S 2.0 | 21 | Worcestershire Racing Association | John Bamford Peter Creasey James Tangye | Chevron B8 | BMW 1.8L I4 | 112 |
| P 2.0 | 77 | Worcestershire Racing Association | Mike Walker John Burton | Chevron B16 | Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 | 101 |
| S 2.0 | 24 | Lec Refrigeration | David Purley Chris Skeaping | Chevron B8 | BMW 1.8L I4 | 88 |
| S 2.0 | 22 | Paul Watson Race Organisation | Trevor Twaites Peter Smith | Chevron B8 | BMW 1.8L I4 | 73 |
| S 2.0 | 26 | Road & Racing Accessories (Holborn) Ltd. | Paul Vestey Roy Pike | Porsche 910 | Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 | 73 |
| P 2.0 | 76 | Digby Martland | Charles Lucas Digby Martland | Chevron B16 | Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 | 69 |
| S 2.0 | 71 | Hans-Dieter Blatzheim | Hans-Dieter Blatzheim Ernst Kraus | Porsche 907 | Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 | 56 |
| P 3.0 | 60 | Autodelta SpA | Piers Courage Andrea de Adamich | Alfa Romeo T33/3 | Alfa Romeo 3.0L V8 | 54 |
| S 5.0 | 7 | Grand Bahama Racing Team | Mike De Udy Frank Gardner | Lola T70 Mk.3B | Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | 26 |
| P 3.0 | 59 | Ecurie Evergreen | Chris Craft Trevor Taylor | McLaren M8C | Ford-Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8 | 25 |
| S 5.0 | 82 | Daren Cars Ltd. | Jeremy Richardson Peter Brown | Daren Mk.2 | Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 | 12 |
| P 2.0 | 75 | Chevron Racing Team | John Hine Ian Skailes | Chevron B16 | Ford-Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 | 9 |
| S 5.0 | 7 | Grand Bahama Racing Team | Barrie Smith Howden Ganley | Lola T70 Mk.3B | Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | 0 |

## Statistics

* Pole position: #2 SpA Ferrari SEFAC Ferrari 512S Spyder (Chris Amon/Arturo Merzario)- 1:28.6 (107.723 mph/174.081 km/h)
* Time taken for winning car to cover distance: 6 hours 45 minutes 29.6 seconds
* Average Speed: 148.296 km/h (91.540 mph)
* Weather conditions: Heavy rain, windy, cold