80 Laps at Kyalami

An anniversary race of uncommon compression

THR marks its founding date each year with an Anniversary Special Event, and the 80 Laps at Kyalami provided an appropriately long examination of both nerve and rhythm. This was no championship round, but a self-contained occasion with its own distinction, and the 26-car entry brought Lotus 49s, Eagle T1Gs, Ferrari 312s and a lone Brabham BT24 together for one class of racing.

Kyalami 1967, using the Kyalami 1967 layout, supplied the setting throughout the long evening. It was a circuit that kept the field closely involved rather than allowing the race to fragment at once, and the opening portion saw a remarkably broad company circulating in contention. The variety of machinery was reflected in that company, with the Lotus, Eagle and Ferrari all represented among the principal runners.

By lap 28 the race had acquired its defining shape. margar17 had moved ahead of Mark Zeidler, whose Eagle had been at the head of affairs, while Simone Porcu and pitman kept Lotus strength conspicuous near the front. Yet the contest was larger than a simple three-car duel. From laps 28 to 47, a great body of 22 drivers remained compressed in one sustained formation. Porcu, pitman, gilvil77, Davide Saiu, Mika Hakala, Rolf Biber, Stefano Bucci and Flashor were all present, as were the eventual winner, Zeidler, Andi Stangl, Greg Marrow, Benjamin Martin and others further down the order. For lap after lap, it was a race in which no one could regard his immediate neighbour as a settled matter.

The winner and his pursuer

At the centre of it stood margar17. Once in front after lap 28, the Lotus 49 driver maintained a notably even pace through the remainder and brought the car home after all 80 laps with no recorded incidents. It was a composed performance in an event where proximity never truly disappeared.

Porcu was the persistent threat. His Lotus 49 stayed close to margar17 through the closing phase, and the pair remained within two seconds of one another on 17 occasions in the final fifth of the race. At their last shared passage, only 0.007 seconds divided them. Porcu also set the fastest lap, a 1:16.490, only 0.057 seconds quicker than margar17's best. That slight advantage in ultimate lap speed was not enough to dislodge the leader, but it gave the finish its proper tension.

Porcu completed the full distance in second place, likewise without a recorded incident, while margar17 claimed a first recorded THR Special Event victory. Behind them, Zeidler preserved third in the Eagle T1G after 80 laps. The leading three offered a pleasingly representative result for the mixed field: two Lotus 49s surrounding an Eagle T1G, with the Ferrari 312s never far from the wider argument.

Battles within the long race

The pressure extended deep into the order. gilvil77's Ferrari 312 and Stefano Bucci's Lotus 49 remained closely matched for as many as 78 laps, their relative order changing on laps 4 and 14. gilvil77 finished fifth on 79 laps, with Bucci sixth on the same total, a durable contest carried almost from the beginning to the flag.

Davide Saiu, eighth in a Lotus 49, and Rolf Biber, ninth in an Eagle T1G, were another long-running pairing. They exchanged their order on laps 15 and 34 and stayed in close company for up to 77 laps. Between them in the final reckoning came Andi Stangl, whose Eagle T1G finished seventh, while Mika Hakala took tenth in a Ferrari 312.

Further back, the Lotus-Ferrari contest between Duderei and Greg Marrow endured for up to 76 laps. Their places changed repeatedly, on laps 10, 12, 44, 46 and 70, before Duderei was classified 13th and Marrow 12th, both among the 78-lap and 77-lap runners. Steve Hayward's Ferrari 312 and Benjamin Martin's Lotus 49 also traded positions through the race, their order changing on laps 14, 15, 18 and 53. Hayward finished 18th and Martin 17th after 76 laps.

pitman completed a quiet but effective fourth place in a Lotus 49, covering all 80 laps without a recorded incident. The top ten was rounded out by gilvil77, Bucci, Stangl, Saiu, Biber and Hakala, all of whom completed either 79 or 78 laps. It was an indication of the race's depth that a number of these battles continued while the leading pair were deciding the victory.

The classification takes shape

Vesa Tolonen finished 11th in another Lotus 49, followed by Marrow's Ferrari 312. Duderei led the 77-lap finishers from Jesse Skiles in a Ferrari 312 and Manu Castagneti in a Lotus 49. Stefan Roess, Martin and Hayward completed 76 laps, while Ian McIlroy and Pierre Montet were classified after 75.

Flashor's Lotus 49 reached 59 laps for 21st place. Willian's Brabham BT24, the only example of its type in the field, was classified 22nd after 47 laps. Simon Meisinger's Ferrari 312, franglais's Eagle T1G, Lale's Ferrari 312 and Jetonfire's Lotus 49 completed the classification.

Thus the Anniversary Special Event ended not with a lone car disappearing into the distance, but with margar17 carrying the advantage through a long, crowded and exacting Kyalami 1967 race. Porcu had set the fastest lap and remained almost alongside at the end; Zeidler had given the Eagle T1G a deserved place on the rostrum; and through the field, the 80 laps had produced contests which lasted nearly as long as the race itself.