Stefan Bellof (20 November 1957 – 1 September 1985) was a German
racing driver
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...
. Bellof was the winner of the Drivers' Championship in the
1984 FIA World Endurance Championship, driving for the factory
Rothmans Porsche
Rothmans International plc was a British tobacco manufacturer. Its brands included Rothmans, Player's and Dunhill. Its international headquarters were in Hill Street, London and its international operations were run from Denham Place in Denham ...
team. His lap record on the Nordschleife configuration at the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
, set while qualifying for the 1000 km race in 1983, stood for 35 years, when it was beaten by
Timo Bernhard
Timo Bernhard (born 24 February 1981) is a former driver from Germany. He was a sports car driver from Porsche, but was seconded to Audi for selected events in 2009 and 2010. He is a winner of the Triple Crown in endurance racing. On 29 June 20 ...
in 2018. He also competed with the
Tyrrell Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
team during and . Bellof was killed in an accident during the
1985 1000 km of Spa, a round of the
World Endurance Championship World Endurance Championship may refer to:
* FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series held since 2012
* World Sportscar Championship, an auto racing series which used the title World Endurance Championship from 1981 to 1985
* Endura ...
.
Career
Karting
Born in
Gießen
Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...
, West Germany, and following in his brother Georg's footsteps, Stefan Bellof made his karting début in 1973, competing in the
Automobilclub von Deutschland
The German Motor Sport Federation (german: Deutscher Motor Sport Bund or ''DMSB'', formerly known as or ''ONS'') is Germany's motor racing governing body. It represents Germany at FIA and FIM.
The , founded in 1972 by Herbert Linge as , is con ...
's Federal Junior Cup, in which he ended up in fourth position. Several other top-five championship placings occurred during the next few years before Bellof claimed his first karting title, by winning the International Karting Championship of Luxembourg in 1976. In the same season, Bellof also finished thirteenth in the
Karting World Championship
The Karting World Championship is a kart racing competition organised by the CIK-FIA. It is held annually since 1964, and is karting's flagship event. The FIA (International Automobile Federation) created the CIK (International Karting Commissi ...
in
Hagen
Hagen () is the Largest cities in Germany, 41st-largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany. The municipality is located in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the R ...
, Germany. Georg won the
German Karting Championship
The German Kart Championship is a kart racing series based in Germany, event ruled and organized by the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund.
The series is held annually on the most modern and largest outdoor karting tracks in Germany
Germany,, ...
in 1978, while Stefan finished in eighth position in the same race, improving to third in 1979 and becoming German champion in 1980, while dovetailing a campaign in Formula Ford.
Junior formulae
Bellof moved into
Formula Ford
Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...
at the tail end of the 1979 season, as a member of Walter Lechner's Racing School setup, making his bow at
Hockenheim
Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...
in November 1979, where he finished in second place. A full season in the 1600cc class beckoned in 1980, and Bellof became champion taking eight victories and nine podium placings from twelve races. He continued in the series in 1981, but was not as successful as his championship-winning season, taking five wins and also made a foray into the more powerful 2000cc class, but retired from both his starts in the Lion Trophy at
Zolder
The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium.
History
Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, a ...
and the 300 km meeting at the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
. Bellof also contested three VW Castrol Europa Pokal races, of which he won one.
As well as those outings, Bellof moved into the
German Formula Three Championship, making his début for
Bertram Schäfer's team at
Wunstorf
Wunstorf () is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 22 km west of Hanover. The following localities belong to the town of Wunstorf: Blumenau (with Liethe), Bokeloh, Großenheidorn, Idensen ...
. Despite missing the opening two races of the season, Bellof led the championship by seven points going into the final round at the Nürburgring, having taken a top four finish in each of his first eight races. Luck eluded Bellof however, as he finished the race in thirteenth position, while title rivals
Frank Jelinski
Frank Jelinski (born 23 May 1958 in Bad Münder am Deister) is a retired German racing driver.
Career
After karting, Jelinski moved to the German Formula Three Championship in 1978 and European Formula Super Vee in 1979 finishing 4th. In 1980 he w ...
and
Franz Konrad finished in first and second places to overhaul Bellof's points total. Eleven points separated Bellof from Jelinski, who claimed his second successive German Formula Three championship. At the conclusion of the season, Bellof contested the
Formula Ford Festival
The Formula Ford Festival is an annual meeting of Ford-powered single-seat racing cars which is held at the end of the British racing season, at the Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in the county of Kent, in Southern England. The events are hel ...
at
Brands Hatch
Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...
, but was excluded from the meeting after finishing sixth in his quarter-final heat, for excessive contact. Bellof made a promise to the meeting's clerk of the course, saying that the official had "better watch my career, because I'll be back here next year and I'll win my first Formula 2 race."
Formula Two
Bellof joined
Mike Thackwell
Michael Thackwell (born 30 March 1961) is a former racing driver from New Zealand, who participated in a number of prominent racing categories, including Formula 1. The fifth youngest driver ever to qualify for a Grand Prix, he participated in f ...
and
Alain Ferté
Alain Ferté (born 8 October 1955 in Falaise, Calvados) is a professional racing driver. He is the elder brother of Michel Ferté, who is also a professional racing driver.
Alain Ferté competed five seasons in Formula 3000 1985–1989. He won t ...
at a test session with
Maurer Motorsport
Maurer Motorsport is a Swiss auto racing team based in Roggwil. For over ten years the team has been a regular competitor in the ADAC Procar Series. They won the drivers title in 2005 with Mathias Schläppi in a former BTCC works MG ZS with a ...
at
Circuit Paul Ricard
The Circuit Paul Ricard () is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, Var, near Marseille, with finance from pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a racetrack. The circuit has ho ...
in France at the end of the 1981 season.
Eje Elgh
Eje Elgh (born 15 June 1953) is a Swedish racing driver and television reporter. He currently works as an expert commentator for Formula One in Sweden together with Janne Blomqvist. The two have worked together as Formula One commentators for a ...
, who finished third with Maurer in the
1981 European Formula Two Championship was present at the test and was impressed by Bellof, and recommended him to team boss Willy Maurer to sign him for the
1982 season. After acquiring a limited amount of
BMW backing, Bellof assumed a place in the team, with Maurer eventually becoming his manager, having signed an eight-year management deal with Bellof.
The first race of the season was the
BRDC International Trophy
The International Trophy is a prize awarded annually by the British Racing Drivers' Club to the winner of a motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit, England. For many years it formed the premier non-championship Formula One event in Britain, al ...
at
Silverstone
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...
, where Bellof qualified ninth on the grid. Sticking to his promise that he made at the 1981 Formula Ford Festival, Bellof drove through the field in showery conditions to win by 21 seconds ahead of
Satoru Nakajima
is a Japanese former racing driver. He is a five-time Japanese Top Formula champion, and was the first full-time Japanese Formula One driver. Accordingly, he is responsible for several firsts for Japanese drivers in Formula One, including bei ...
and became the first driver to win outright,
and second driver to win a race on his European Formula Two début after
Dave Morgan won on aggregate at Silverstone in . He followed this win up with a second successive triumph at the Jim Clark Gedächtnisrennen at Hockenheim, having started from pole position and achieved the fastest lap during the race.
Two points from the next six races ruled him out of the championship hunt, as he fell to an eventual fourth place classification, scoring 33 points.
By comparison to his 1982 season, Bellof's 1983 season was much less successful. He made only one trip to the podium with second at
Jarama
Jarama () is a river in central Spain. It flows north to south, and passes east of Madrid where the El Atazar Dam is built on a tributary, the Lozoya River. It flows into the river Tagus in Aranjuez. The Manzanares is a tributary of the Jaram ...
while he lost another podium when he was disqualified from third place at the
Pau Grand Prix
The Pau Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Pau) is a motor race held in Pau, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of southwestern France. The French Grand Prix was held at Pau in 1930, leading to the annual Pau Grand Prix being inaugurat ...
, after his and teammate Ferté's cars were found to be underweight at the race's conclusion. Bellof's only other points-scoring finish was fourth at Silverstone, as he finished the season in ninth position on nine points.
Sportscar racing
While competing in Formula Two in 1982, Bellof made a one-off appearance in the
World Endurance Championship World Endurance Championship may refer to:
* FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series held since 2012
* World Sportscar Championship, an auto racing series which used the title World Endurance Championship from 1981 to 1985
* Endura ...
at the 1000 km of Spa, partnering
Rolf Stommelen
Rolf Johann Stommelen (11 July 1943 – 24 April 1983) was a racing driver from Siegen, Germany. He participated in 63 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, achieving one podium, and scored a total of 14 championship points. He also partici ...
at the wheel of a
. The pairing retired from the race on lap 51, due to a problem with the starter motor. The previous weekend, Bellof had joined Kremer to compete in the Hessen Cup at
Hockenheim
Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...
as part of the
Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft
Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (translated as ''German Racing Championship'') or simply DRM as it was known, was a touring car and Sportscar racing series. It is regarded as a predecessor of the current DTM as Germany's top national series.
His ...
, but retired with transmission failure.
![Porsche 956 Rothmans](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Porsche_956_Rothmans.jpg)
In 1983 Bellof joined the Rothmans-backed
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
factory team for the
World Endurance Championship World Endurance Championship may refer to:
* FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series held since 2012
* World Sportscar Championship, an auto racing series which used the title World Endurance Championship from 1981 to 1985
* Endura ...
driving a
Porsche 956
The Porsche 956 was a Group C sports-prototype racing car designed by Norbert Singer and built by Porsche in 1982 for the FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was later upgraded to the 956B in 1984. In 1983, driven by Stefan Bellof, this car est ...
alongside
Derek Bell. Bellof and Bell won first time at the
1000 km Silverstone, beating
Bob Wollek
Bob Wollek (4 November 1943 – 16 March 2001), nicknamed "Brilliant Bob", was a race car driver from Strasbourg, France. He was killed on 16 March 2001 at age 57 in a road accident in Florida while riding a bicycle back to his accommodation afte ...
and
Stefan Johansson
Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish racing driver who drove in Formula One for both Ferrari and McLaren, among other teams. Since leaving Formula One he has won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced in a number o ...
by almost a minute,
having taken the lead at half-distance, completing the race's duration at an average speed of .
Bellof's pole time for the race – 1 minute, 13.15 seconds
– would have put him twelfth on the grid for the later in the year.
The next race on the calendar was the
1000 km Nürburgring
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
in which Bellof rewrote several records at the Nordschleife. His pole time for that race of 6 minutes, 11.13 seconds is unofficially the fastest lap ever driven on the
Nürburgring Nordschleife
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
in its current configuration, taking pole position by five seconds,
at an average speed of . Bellof also set the fastest lap during the race, with a lap time of 6 minutes, 25.91 seconds, which remains the official
Nordschleife lap record for all cars. Two laps after setting the race record, on lap 20, Bellof's 956 – chassis 956-007 – flipped out of the race at the Pflanzgarten.
Bellof added two more wins later in the season at
Kyalami
Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit (from ''Khaya lami'', ''My home'' in Zulu) is a motor racing circuit located in Midrand, Gauteng, South Africa, just north of Johannesburg. The circuit has been used for Grand Prix and Formula One races and has ho ...
and at
Fuji Fuji may refer to:
Places China
* Fuji, Xiangcheng City (付集镇), town in Xiangcheng City, Henan
Japan
* Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan
* Fuji River
* Fuji, Saga, town in Saga Prefecture
* Fuji, Shizuoka, city in Shizuoka Prefectur ...
, as he ended the season in fourth position. He also added a win in the non-championship
Norisring Trophäe race.
Bellof was the dominant force in the
1984 championship driving alongside Bell, with
John Watson also joining the team. Bellof also contested races with
Brun Motorsport {{Unsourced, date=December 2016
Brun Motorsport GmbH was a Swiss auto racing team founded by driver Walter Brun in 1983. They competed as a Porsche privateer team in sports car racing for their entire existence, running in a multitude of interna ...
with whom he won at
Imola
Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...
partnering
Hans-Joachim Stuck. Bell and Bellof won the opening round of the season at
Monza
Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...
, but only after the pairing were reinstated to the results. After crossing the line first, their 956 was promptly disqualified in scrutineering with the car found to be under the weight limit, which would also apply to the third-placed
Martini Racing
Martini Racing is the name under which various motor racing teams race when sponsored by the Italian company Martini & Rossi, a distillery that produces Martini vermouth in Turin. Martini's sponsorship program began in 1958 as Martini Internati ...
Lancia LC2
The Lancia LC2 (sometimes referred to as the Lancia-Ferrari) was a series of racing cars built by Italian automobile manufacturer Lancia and powered by engines built by their sister company Ferrari. They were part of Lancia's official factory-bac ...
. Appeals from both teams were lodged, with the outcome being successful.
Other victories at the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
, Spa,
Mosport
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi-track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. The facility features a , 10-turn road course; a adva ...
and
Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake in between. Together ...
helped Bellof claim the World Sportscar title by eight points from
Jochen Mass
Jochen Richard Mass (born 30 September 1946) is a German former racing driver.
Life and career
Born in Dorfen, Bavaria 50 km (31 mi) from Munich, Mass participated in 114 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 14 Jul ...
,
and also helped Porsche secure the manufacturer's title for the year; the make taking all but one victory in the season.
He was also champion in the German DRM series. Bellof only contested six sportscar races in 1985, taking one win at the
Norisring
The Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as a motorcycle racing venue in 1947 and named in a 1950 competition to win a light motorcycle, the track became known as a sports car racing venue in the ...
alongside
Thierry Boutsen
Thierry Marc Boutsen (born 13 July 1957) is a Belgian former racing driver who raced for the Arrows, Benetton, Williams, Ligier and Jordan teams in Formula One. He competed in 164 World Championship Grands Prix (163 starts), winning three rac ...
again in DRM.
Formula One
Bellof first tested a
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
car towards the end of 1983, when he joined the top two drivers from that season's
British Formula 3 Championship
The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single seat ...
–
Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One List of Formula One World Drivers' Champions, World Drivers' Championship in , , and . Senna is one of three Formula One drivers fro ...
and
Martin Brundle
Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver, best known as a Formula One driver and as a commentator for ITV Sport from 1997 to 2008, the BBC from 2009 to 2011, and Sky Sports since 2012.
Brundle contested the 19 ...
– in testing for
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
at
Silverstone
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...
, where Bellof damaged the gearbox before Brundle's opportunity behind the wheel. Bellof did move into the championship ahead of the season, joining
Tyrrell Racing Organisation, to partner Brundle in naturally aspirated,
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
-engined machinery, which were giving away in excess of to their turbo rivals.
Bellof failed to finish in his first two races in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, before scoring his first two championship points in successive races at
Zolder
The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium.
History
Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, a ...
and Imola. A retirement followed at
Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920.
The earlies ...
, before Bellof achieved a podium finish in the rain-shortened . Despite starting down in 20th and last place, Bellof remained away from the barriers that caught out many of his rivals, and was catching the race-leading pairing of
Alain Prost
Alain Marie Pascal Prost (; born 24 February 1955) is a French retired racing driver and Formula One team owner. A four-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, from 1987 until 2001 he held the record for most Grand Prix victories until Mich ...
and Senna when the race was curtailed after 31 laps due to inclement weather conditions. At the end of the race, Bellof had been 21 seconds in arrears of Prost and 13.7 behind Senna. Retirements followed in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
, where Brundle claimed the team's best result of the season with second position as Bellof stuck his Tyrrell in the pit wall.
However, Bellof, Brundle and the team were stripped of all their championship points, after their cars were disqualified from the 1984 season after a dispute over
lead ballast in their fuel tanks found after the .
FISA
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and the collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign pow ...
charged the team on four separate counts, but the team appealed for injunctions to allow them to continue competing in the championship. Ultimately, the
FIA Court of Appeal rejected their final appeal and kicked the team out of the remainder of the season. Despite this, Bellof missed his
home race to compete in a World Sportscar race on the same weekend at
Mosport Park
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi-Race track, track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. The facility features a , 10-turn road cou ...
, where he and Derek Bell finished fourth overall and third in class.
Bellof remained with the team into the season, but did miss the opening round of the season – the – as Tyrrell had Brundle and Stefan Johansson in their two cars in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
. Bellof returned at the at
Estoril
Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has host ...
where the weather conditions were similar to that of Monaco 1984 in which Bellof had slithered his way up to the on-the-road positioning of third place. He once again started way down the order in 21st place, but by the race's conclusion, he had managed to make it into the top six, and claiming a point for the team, which would be Bellof's first as all of his 1984 results were expunged.
He failed to qualify in
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
, the only time Bellof failed to qualify in his short Formula One career, along with his exclusion at the
1984 Austrian Grand Prix. He made amends for his error of 1984 in Detroit, by finishing fourth in the 1985 race, which would ultimately be his final three points in Formula One. His final race was the , where his
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...
turbocharged engine blew on lap 40. Tyrrell had only changed to such engines from the onwards meaning that Bellof never truly had the opportunity to show his talent at the wheel of a Formula One car.
Death
Regarded as a likely future Formula One World Champion, Bellof was racing at the
1000 km of Spa World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.
The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and No ...
race at the
Spa-Francorchamps
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has he ...
circuit in Belgium on 1 September 1985,
the seventh race of
that season's championship. Bellof was making his fourth appearance of 1985 in the series, despite there not being any clashes with his Tyrrell campaign in Formula One. Partnering
Thierry Boutsen
Thierry Marc Boutsen (born 13 July 1957) is a Belgian former racing driver who raced for the Arrows, Benetton, Williams, Ligier and Jordan teams in Formula One. He competed in 164 World Championship Grands Prix (163 starts), winning three rac ...
as he had done in his other appearances during the season, their
Brun- Porsche 956B-116 would start the race from third on the grid, 0.86 seconds adrift of the pole position-winning
Lancia LC2
The Lancia LC2 (sometimes referred to as the Lancia-Ferrari) was a series of racing cars built by Italian automobile manufacturer Lancia and powered by engines built by their sister company Ferrari. They were part of Lancia's official factory-bac ...
.
On lap 78, Bellof was racing
Jacky Ickx
Jacques Bernard "Jacky" Ickx (; born 1 January 1945) is a Belgian former racing driver who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times (second-highest of all time) and achieved eight wins and 25 podium finishes in Formula One. He greatly contributed ...
's works
Porsche 962C
The Porsche 962 (also known as the 962C in its Group C form) is a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the Euro ...
from the La Source hairpin on the run to Eau Rouge corner. Both drivers had just commenced their stints in their respective cars after Boutsen and
Jochen Mass
Jochen Richard Mass (born 30 September 1946) is a German former racing driver.
Life and career
Born in Dorfen, Bavaria 50 km (31 mi) from Munich, Mass participated in 114 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 14 Jul ...
started them. Entering the left kink of Eau Rouge, Bellof moved to the left of Ickx in an attempt to set up a pass for the immediate right-hand Raidillon corner up the hill. Bellof's right front came into contact with Ickx's left rear, and both drivers spun into the barriers. Ickx's car hit the wall on the right rear side, while Bellof's car went straight into the barriers, breaking through and hitting a secondary wall. The Brun Porsche caught fire moments after the wreck, while Ickx – able to climb unaided from his car – attempted to help safety workers in extricating Bellof. During the caution period, members of the Brun team also arrived to aid in the rescue. With smoke pouring from the wreckage, the emergency medical team struggled for over 10 minutes before extricating him. Bellof was pronounced dead of massive internal injuries after he had reached the track hospital.
Out of respect for Bellof, the race organisers chose to end the event some 150 km earlier than planned. The entire incident was recorded on an in-car camera that Ickx's 962C was carrying. Even after the accident, the camera continued to work, and was pointed in the direction of Bellof's wreckage. The accident involving Bellof was the second in the space of three weeks in which a driver was killed at the wheel of a Porsche. At the
previous World Sportscar race at
Mosport Park
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi-Race track, track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. The facility features a , 10-turn road cou ...
in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, fellow
West German
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
and F1 driver
Manfred Winkelhock
Manfred Winkelhock (6 October 1951 – 12 August 1985) was a German racing driver. He participated in 56 Formula One Grands Prix (with 47 starts) between 1980 and 1985, driving for Arrows, ATS, Brabham and RAM Racing, with a best finish of fi ...
died of severe head trauma after crashing into a concrete wall while at the wheel of a
Kremer Racing
Kremer Racing is a motorsports team based in Cologne, Germany, founded by racing driver Erwin Kremer and his brother Manfred. They have competed internationally with Porsches for nearly all of their existence, and were even one of the factory-bac ...
-run Porsche 962C. Many of the customer teams had concerns with using the 956 for the remainder of the season, and the 956 was eventually withdrawn from the series by the end of the
1986 season, taking victory on its final start at the
1000 km of Fuji.
Effect and legacy
After Bellof's death at Spa,
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
teams became unwilling to allow their expensive drivers to compete in other races that were not part of the championship. Fellow Formula One driver
Jonathan Palmer
Jonathan Charles Palmer (born 7 November 1956) is a British businessman and former Formula One racing driver. Before opting for a career in motor racing, Palmer trained as a physician at London's Guys Hospital. He also worked as a junior phys ...
was injured in an unrelated accident during a free practice session at the same meeting, with the result being that many teams would have drivers' contracts tightened to prohibit them from competing outside their respective championships. Bellof's talent had been noted by many of the rival teams that he had been competing against in Formula One, including an offer from
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
for the season, with a meeting scheduled with
Enzo Ferrari
Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; 20 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italians, Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari ...
before his death.
Bellof is often mentioned as
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...
's childhood racing idol.
During an interview for the January 2007 issue of the ''911 and Porsche World'' magazine, teammate Derek Bell felt Bellof's death was caused by lack of discipline in his driving style, and that the blame for his death lay with those around Bellof, including team personnel, who should have allowed him to mature.
In 2010 Bellof's family donated his racing mementos to the local Sammler und Hobbywelt museum for public display. The donated items included his go-kart from his early racing days, his racing overalls and helmets from his works Porsche and Tyrrell days and trophies. There is a karting circuit named in his honour known as
Motorsportarena Stefan Bellof, located in Oppenrod.
In 2009, a poll of 217
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
drivers chose Bellof as their 35th greatest Formula One driver, in a survey conducted by British magazine ''
Autosport
''Autosport'' is a global motorsport publishing brand headquartered based in Richmond, London. It was established in 1950 at the same time as the origins of the Formula One World Championship.
Autosport began life as a weekly magazine in 1950 ...
''.
In August 2013, Bellof was honoured after management of the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
renamed the section of the Nordschleife previously known as Pflanzgarten III as the Stefan-Bellof-S.
In the
2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, German driver
Timo Bernhard
Timo Bernhard (born 24 February 1981) is a former driver from Germany. He was a sports car driver from Porsche, but was seconded to Audi for selected events in 2009 and 2010. He is a winner of the Triple Crown in endurance racing. On 29 June 20 ...
wore a helmet with Bellof's helmet livery to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Bellof's death.
Racing record
Career summary
Complete European Formula Two Championship results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Complete Formula One results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
)
– Tyrrell was stripped of all championship points for 1984 in a dispute over lead ballast in their fuel tanks at the .
Complete World Sportscar Championship results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
References
External links
*
Motorsportarena Stefan Bellof official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellof, Stefan
1957 births
1985 deaths
Sportspeople from Giessen
Racing drivers from Hesse
German racing drivers
German Formula One drivers
Tyrrell Formula One drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
Racing drivers who died while racing
European Formula Two Championship drivers
Sport deaths in Belgium
Formula Ford drivers
German Formula Three Championship drivers
World Sportscar Championship drivers
Filmed deaths in motorsport
Japanese Sportscar Championship drivers
Porsche Motorsports drivers