Stefan Bellof

[Just Do It!]

Its hard to believe that it is 19 years today since Stefan Bellof was taken from us at Eau Rouge, Spa Francorchamps, Belgium.

To the best of my recollection, he was racing a Group C Porsche 956 or 962 that weekend, in between Grand Prix races for Tyrrell in Formula One.

Stefan was one of the natural talents of motorsport and seemed to always have a wee bit of extra ability up his sleeve - something that made his passing all that much more difficult to accept. One has to wonder at what he might have achieved if he was still here today.

Knowing someone who was with Tyrrell during that era, and hearing stories about Stefan and his demeanour makes it even more obvious that the passing of Stefan was a loss of consequence that would never have occurred in the modern racing era - how F1 driver contracts have changed.

I hope for the sake of the memory of Stefan Bellof that I have got the facts right - after all, I was a mere 7 years old at the time.

Stefan Bellof, gone but never forgotten

[Tick Tock Man]

I was there that day over the top of the pits. Stefan Bellof was racing a private Porsche and was dicing with Jacky Ickx in a works Porsche. I remember them going down the straight towards Eau Rouge side by side and then I heard a gasp. I turned round just in time to see the end of the accident.

The race was stopped early and there was then an announcment as to why there would be no podium presentation. It is an image that I shall never forget.

There is no doubt that Stefan Bellof would have gone onto much greater things. A great loss.

[BootsOntheSide]

Stefan would've been a major star in years to come, perhaps he'd've been the first German world champion before you-know-who. Doing a sportscar race as a one-off on an off-weekend from F1 is something that simply wouldn't happen nowadays, which is a shame.

[Slippy Diff]

Doesn't he still hold the lap record at the Nordschleife? 6 minutes and a few seconds or something.

[xen]

Yes, he's holding the record with a lap in 6:11.3

[Fiorentina 1]

Bellof was the man at the old Nurburgring in the 962. The guy was lapping some 10 seconds a lap faster then Mass. In the race (1983) he flipped the car after setting 2 or 3 blistering laps during the race. This was the last time Group C raced at the Nordschleife.

I think in all of racing history, there might have been maybe 10 drivers as brave as Bellof, none in the last 20 years....

World Champion, I don't know, it would have depended on being in the right car at the right time. At the end of the day he was still at Tyrrell in 85, while Senna went to Lotus. Who knows what would have happened in 86.

[xen]

That wasn't the 962, but the 956

[rbs]

Try and remember his drive at Monaco. He was catching Senna
quicker than Senna was catching Prost.

[Gaz170]

I remember reading at the time that the only reason he was still racing the 956 was to pay off the debts when he had to buy his early F1 drives.

I believe he would have been a world champion had he lived long enough.