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THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE DRM
By
Carlos de Paula
By
the late 60’s the German economy was in full recovery and local auto racing,
which was long a subdued affair, began to flourish. Surely Porsche’s
success in the World Championship of Makes revived German interest for auto
racing, for such a long time maintained by Mercedes Benz, which quit big
time racing after the 1955 Le Mans disaster. However, BMW’s rise to
prominence in saloon car racing, as well as F-2, also was a shot in the arm of a
moribund local scene. This, in turn, resulted in Ford Germany’s
involvement, primarily in the European Touring Car Championship. In fact,
the latter two marques waged huge battles all over Europe during the period 1971
to 1974, which brought to light the DRM, the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterchaft,
in 1972.
The
championship was divided into two divisions, Division I for cars above 2 liters,
and Division II for cars above 2 liters. This meant Division I was mostly
contested by Porsche 911 and Ford Capris, with an odd BMW, and Division II
spoils shared by Ford Escort, BMW 2002 and small engined Porsche 911s. The first
championship (1972) was won by Hans Stuck, who drove a Ford in 1972,
while Dieter Basche won Division II for BMW. The early days of the championship
also included the 1000 km of Nurburgring, the ETC Nurburgring round, the 500 km
of Nurburgring (all of which gave double score), as well as the Sauerland and
Freiburg hill climbs, but most rounds were specifically run for the
championship, at Nurburgring, Hockenheim, Mainz Finthen, Kassel Calden and
Diepholz.
Stuck’s
main challenger in this maiden championship was Klaus Fritzinger, but
several other prominent drivers featured in this championship: Jorg Obermoser,
Jurgen Barth, Hans Heyer, Jochen
Mass, Rolf Stommelen, Clemens
Schickentanz, Jurgen Neuhaus, Harald
Ertl, Albrecht Krebs, Reinhold Jost, Dieter Glemser, Erwin
Kremer, in addition foreign drivers who did not qualify for points, such as
Spaniard Alex Soler Roig, Australian Frank Gardner, who raced a
Camaro in a few rounds and Swiss Claude Haldi. The following cars raced
in this maiden championship, in Division I: Ford Capri, Opel Commodore, Porsche
911S, BMW 3.0 CS, BMW 2800 CS, Chevrolet Camaro. There was grater diversity in
Division II, with the following cars gracing the fields at least once: Ford
Escort, BMW 2002, Porsche 911, Opel GT, Alfa Romeo GTA, Alfa Romeo GTAm, Opel
Ascona, Opel Manta, NSU TT, Fiat Abarth, Renault Alpine, Opel Kadett, Porsche
914/6, Fiat 128.
As
the first edition was a success, for 1973 the BMW works joined the Ford Works
team, and Division I was hotly contested, as Porsche was by then fielding the
more powerful Carreras. BMW used several of its ETC drivers, such as Brian
Muir, Toine Hezemans, Niki Lauda, Harald Ertl (all of them non-German) in
addition to newly hired Hans Stuck, but in the end Harald Menzel and Dieter
Basche waged battle against Ford’s Hans Heyer, who raced in
Division I, and Dieter Glemser, who raced an Escort in Division II.
Several of the drivers who contested the European GT championship were then
racing in Division I, including Schickentanz, Paul Keller and Gunther
Stecknonnig. Helmut Koinigg, who ended up dying, beheaded at the
wheel of a Surtees in the 1974 US Grand prix, won the Division II race in
Diepholz. The longer “outside” events continued to count double towards the
championship, which only had a single hillclimb, and had added Norisring to the
schedule.
1974
was tough in motor racing in general, and the DRM schedule was reduced to eight
rounds, plus the 1000 km and the ETC round. The BMW works was nowhere to be seen
in Division I, except for Diepholz and Norisring, where Stuck raced and won,
although Ford continued to field cars for star drivers such as Rolf Stommelen,
Toine Hezemans and new star Klaus Ludwig. Although there were less races,
the fields were larger, thanks mostly to a large number of Porsche Carreras
fielded in division I, for the likes of Hans Heyer, Tim Schenken, Reinhard
Stenzel, Hartwig Bertrams, John Fitzpatrick, Herbert Muller and Claude
Haldi. The Grosser Preis von Europa meeting featured 32 cars in Division I,
including drivers from Italy, Switzerland, France, Austria, Great Britain,
Belgium, Sweden and American J. Rulon Muller.
Preis der Nationen featured 35 starters in Division II, including a host
of Swiss drivers. In the manufacturer front, the novelty was a Toyota Celica,
which ran in Klaus Fritzinger’s hands to no great effect. In the driving
front, Niki Lauda raced a Ford at the Norisring, a race that was also
contested by Derek Bell, in a BMW. Glemser carried the championship
again, followed by Obermoser, Ludwing, Stommelen and Heyer.
In
1975, a few BMW 3.5 CSL’s faced the Carrera’s in Division I, while Ford
continued mostly unchallenged in Division II. Hans Heyer won division II
and Klaus Ludwig won Division I driving factory Fords. Ludwig also raced
an Escort in Division II, at Mainz Finthen. Porsches were still being beaten in
the first division, but not for
long. Among the Stuttgart firm drivers debuted Bob Wollek, who, being a
Frenchman, would not score points, a similar predicament facing other Porsche
stalwarts such as Schenken, Hezemans and Fitzpatrick. These
drivers mostly hauled from the European
GT Championship, which was losing in importance to the DRM.
For
1976 the DRM became an international championship, which essentially meant the
death of the European GT Championship. Foreign drivers such as Bob Wollek,
Toine Hezemans and Tim Schenken, which had been contesting the
championship without earning points, could thereafter walk away with the ever
more prestigious crown. More important, the Porsche 934 Turbo was allowed to
race in Division I, meaning the temporary disappearance of Fords and BMWs from
the major division. In fact, Division I comprised exclusively of Porsches in
most rounds, while there was still some variety in Division II: Ford Escorts,
which won most races, BMW 2002, VW
Scirocco and Golf, NSU TT, Porsche 914, Opel Kadett and Ascona and evebn and
Audi 80 saw action during the course of the year. In fact, Wolfgang Wolf came in
2nd in the the Div II, at Kassel Calden, driving a VW Scirocco, thus breaking
some of the monotony. In the end, Heyer and Ludwig, both of whom raced Fords in
Division II, came out on top. Wollek won Div I, followed by Obermoser
(Div II), Schenken (Div I), Hezemans (Div I) and Helmut Kelleners (Div
I). Among prominent drivers who took part in the championship were Leo
Kinnunen, Walter Rohrl, Jurgen Neuhaus and Claude Haldi.
For
1977 there was further upgrade for the championship, which was to be run by
Group 5 cars, the FIA silhouette cars that were racing in the World Championship
of Makes. 1977 was unarguably the championship’s best year, with a down to the
wire battle for Div I honors between Rolf Stommelen, driving for Gelo, and Bob
Wollek, driving for Kremer, while BMW fielded its Junior team in Division
II, waging battle against the Ford,
and finally coming out on top. In addition to Rolf and Bob, Manfred Schurti,
Frank Konrad, Tim Schenken, John Fitzpatrick featured well in Division I,
with Jochen Mass racing a single time. In Division II a strong 3-car BMW
team contested the series, driven by Marc Surer,
Eddie Cheever and Manfred
Winkelhock, and occasionally Hans Stuck and Ronnie Peterson, while
other BMWs were driven by Harald Grohs, Peter Hennige, Albrecht Krebs.
Ford’s honors were upheld by Hans Heyer, Toine Hezemans and Armin Hahne.
Porsche also ran a small engined Porsche in Division I, in the German GP meeting
winning the race with Jacky Ickx, while Toyota attempted to bring variety
to Division I, with a Celica Turbo driven by Harald Ertl.
The car actually arrived fourth at the Nurburging. The year also marked
the internationalization of the series in terms of venues, with two rounds ran
at Zolder, in Belgium. It seems to me that the success of the DRM is what
essentially killed the Group 5 Makes Championship, as for teams such as Kremer,
Max Moritz and GELO, it was a no-brainer: contesting the widely promoted and
relatively inexpensive 40 minute DRM races, all close by to each other, against
expensive 1000 km Marathons, run as far away as North America, that got no
coverage at all. Not surprisingly, from 1978 on the World Championship of Makes
went into a steady decline, until Group Five was replaced by Group C in 1982,
and the DRM became the de facto most important sports car series in Europe. The
championship ended with Stommelen followed by Wollek, Winkelhock (first in Div
II), Heyer, Cheever, Surer, Schurti, Stuck, Schenken and Konrad.
In
1978 interest on the DRM continued, and an additional international race was
added in Zandvoort. However, fields were thin, not only in Division I, but also
Division 2. In fact, rarely there were more than 20 cars in each division, and
only 10 Div 1 cars raced at Avus. Notwithstanding, GELO fielded three cars most
of the year, for Hezemans, Fitzpatrick and Ludwig, while Wollek and
Volkert Merl defended Kremer’s camp. Reinhold Jost also appeared,
with Franz Konrad and Manfred Schurti playing good protagonist’s roles.
Stommelen was hired by Toyota, but not even the champ made the Celica
Silhouette go. The BMW Junior team was no longer around, but there were several
BMW privateers to wage battle against Hans Heyer’s Ford Capri and Armin
Hahne’s Escort. Harald Ertl ended up champion, and other BMW hot
shoes were Winkelhock, Hottinger, Grohs. Among some curiosities, a Ferrari raced
in the series for the first time, driven by Maurice Cantine (a 308 GTB),
while future Formula 1 team owner Walter Brun raced a BMW in Division II.
Hans Stuck did race a BMW 320 Turbo against the Porsches at Norisring,
without much success. The end
results were Ertl, Hezemans (winner Div I), Wollek, Hottinger/Fitzpatrick and
Ludwig (tied), Heyer, Schurti, Hahne and Winkelhock. At the end of the season,
it became clear that the series did not sustain the international momentum
gained in 1977, mostly due to the non participation of the BMW works team. While
it was in better shape than the Makes championship, it did not make progress in
1978.
Things got worse in 1979. Wollek had tried very hard to overcome the GELO team in the past two seasons, while driving for Kremer, and ended up jumping ship, going to the former enemy. Meanwhile, GELO’s Ludwig was hired by Kremer. It just turned out that Kremer had developed a super Porsche 935, the K3, which was vastly superior to anything GELO, Moritz or Jost could put together. Ludwig won 10 of the 11 races, and the best Wollek could do was winning the Eifelrennen. Former champ Stommelen, driving for Jost, was also not able to face up to the Super Kremer 935. Grids were a bit healthier both in Division I and II, but the only thing that saved interest on the championship was the fight between Heyer, with a Ford, and Winkelhock, in a BMW 320 Turbo. Some of the Division I races featured BMW M1s, and the Norisring round actually featured Niki Lauda, Hans Stuck and Clay Regazzoni driving the type. Jochen Mass also drove one in Diepholz, but the car was not sufficiently fast to beat the Porsches. There was some welcome variety in Division II, which featured, in addition to the common Ford and BMW, Audi 80, Opel Kadett, Renault Alpine, VW Scirocco, Lotus Espirit, Alfetta GTV and a Lotus Europa Turbo, driven by Mario Ketterer in the last round.
From this point on, the DRM lost some of its interest, and as Group 5 was being phased out, eventually it evolved into the DTM, while the Supercup and Interseries were run by Group C cars.
Curiously,
during this period (1972-1979) there was not a single Mercedes Benz car raced in
this series, while Opel and Audi never showed any interest contesting the series
in a works capacity. In latter years, of course, these same three marques have
been in the forefront of German racing, while BMW, Porsche and Ford have been
involved elsewhere, but not in top level German racing.