Following Eric's research into Tripoli does anyone have much info on the Angolan Grands Prix or the races in Leopoldville back in the late 50's/early 60's?
The Angolan GP was for sportscars and some really good machinery took part. It was a street race.
I have a report on an event (it's written in Portugese) which was won by Kurt Lincoln in a Cooper-Monaco. (I heard that Kurt was Jochen Rindt's father-in-law?).
Other top winners were David Piper (Ferrari) in the 60's.
I seem to remember Hans Stuck driving a BMW 635 there in a "more recent" event.
The Angolan Motor Club appears to have imported cars for its drivers to race such as Maserati 300S's. Their top driver was Alvaro Lopes.
Regards
Rob

Yes, he was the father of Nina. See Keimola thread and Georgano.

1965 to be precise...

Now, Rob, after these two totally minor things, let´s reverse your question, as you should tell us what is known about the Angolan Grand Prix! After all, you are the authority here

Or so I think...
Felix

And please don´t tell me that Mario Araujo de Cabral had anything to do with it, PLEASE!

This is a report on the 1960 race

Grand Prix of Angola, 29 November 1964
1 - Willy Mairesse, Ferrari 250LM
2 - Lucien Bianchi, Ferrari 250LM
3 - Gerhard Koch, Porsche 904 GTS
4 - Jo Schlesser, Porsche 904 GTS
5 - Antonio Peixinho, Ferrari 250 GTO
6 - Tony Maggs, Ferrari 250 GTO
7 - Hermann Muller, Porsche 904 GTS
8 - Gerard Langlois von Ophem, Ferrari 250 GTO
9 - 'Remordu', Porsche 904 GTS
10 - Hildebrand, Lotus 23B
11 - Bradshaw, Lotus 23B
R - David Piper, Ferrari 250LM


Grand Prix of Angola, 28 November 1965
1 - David Piper, Ferrari 365P2
2 - Herbert Muller, Ferrari 250LM
3 - Pierre Dumay, Ferrari 250LM
4 - Vic Wilson, Ferrari 250LM

In 1958, the ENB (L'Equipe Nationale Belge) decided to send two of his men in Congo to take part in the GP de Leopoldville (Paul Frère and Alain de Changy).

The second edition of this race - the first was won by Cabral in 1956 - was run on September 7 in the heart of the city. At the start: about twenty GT cars and one Ferrari Barchetta driven by the guest of honour, Paul Frère.

The Belgian aces didn't win the race. Alain de Changy, back into the pits, collided a stationary car and was forced to retire. Paul Frère had also brakes problems and despite a complete domination of the race retired in sight of the finishing line.

So Pierre Berchem and his Lotus inherited from the victory ahead of the local driver Bob Darville and his Triumph TR2.

Congo was then a Belgian Colony, and the race was included in the Belgian sports calendar.

The results, 7 September 1958, 2nd GP de Léopoldville.
1- Pierre Berchem (Lotus), 101.209 kph
2- Bob Darville (Triumph TR2)
3- Spinette (Triumph TR3)

FL- Paul Frère (Ferrari 250 TR), 115.967 kph.

In 1959, 6 Congolese races were included in the Belgian calendar. One of the race, Le GP de Léo, was also included in the official calendar of the CSI.

A report of the 1959 event will follow soon...

1959
For the second consecutive year, Equipe Nationale Belge was invited to enter the Léopoldville Grand Prix, in which André Pilette was to drive a Ferrari Testa Rossa.

Run on 6 September in the new circuit of Kalina, the third Léopoldville GP was becoming an international event. Entries included about twenty drivers from among other Sweden, South Africa, Mozambique or Belgium.

The Ferrari Testa Rossa of André Pilette set out from the grid in first position beside the Cooper Monaco of the Swedish driver Kurt Lincoln. The Scandinavian made the fastest lap but was then forced to retire, so Christian Goethaels and his Porsche RSK won the race. Local "star" Bob Darville confirmed his good form and his GT victory (the day before), scoring a good 7th position in his Porsche Carrera.

Two weeks later Kurt Lincoln took his revenge and won the Angolan GP while Goethaels, Pilette and Romain, with their same cars, retired all.

The results of the 3rd GP de Léopoldville (Kalina), sportscars
1- Christian Goethaels (Porsche RSK) 113.250 kph
2- Love (Jaguar D)
3- André Pilette (Ferrari Testa Rossa #10)
4- Bond (Aston Martin)
5- Lopes (Maserati)
6- Pfaff (Lotus)
7- Darville (Porsche Carrera)
8- Romain (Lotus)
9- Martin (Porsche)
10- de Joncquers (Triumph TR 3)
11- Albes (Jaguar XK)
12- Nunes (Triumph TR 3)

FL- Kurt Lincoln (Cooper Monaco CM/1/59 #1), 119.071 kph


From 1960 the political situation would change and the Léopoldville GP was definitely cancelled.


About the Belgian drivers and the Angolan GP:

2 December 1962:
1- Lucien Bianchi Ferrari GTO Ecurie Francorchamps
5- Georges Berger Ferrari 250 GTO

13 October 1963:
2- Lucien Bianchi Ferrari GTO
6- "Remordu" Ferrari 250 GT

15 November 1964:
1- Willy Mairesse Ferrari LM
2- Lucien Bianchi Ferrari LM #8
8- Gerard Langlois von Ophem Ferrari GTO
9- "Remordu" Porsche 904 GTS

Thanks gentlemen.
Felix, I am trying to accumulate information on these races.
They were not widely reported (or in some cases not at all)in the South African press.
Once I get enough information I will let you know more.
(I have heard that Oliver Genderbien worked in the Congo in the forestry department at one time.)
A man I know , George Phaff, drove from Rhodesia to Leopoldville towing his Lotus 11 to take part in a race there. It is an interesting tale - driving thru Africa with little or no roads at the time. I can't remember how long it took him, but I will check.
George later owned a DBR1300 (probably the car that Jack Fairman raced - see the article kindly reproduced by Roger)
George also helped John Love with the Lotus 49.Regards
Rob

George Pfaff’s Aston Martin was indeed the ex-Whitehead car which Fairman had raced in Angola (DBR1/5). I think Whitehead himself raced it in Rhodesia in 1961

Angola GP results:
1957
1. Correira de Oliveira (P) (Porsche)

1958
1. Jimmy de Villiers (Jaguar D-type)
2. Alain de Changy (Ferrari)

20/9/1959
1. Curt Lincoln (Cooper Monaco)
2. John Love (Jaguar D-type)
3. Mike Bond (Aston Martin)

More on the angolan GP 1962:
1 Lucien Bianchi (ENB Ferrari)
2 Hans Hermann (Porsche RS61) 1 lap behind
3 David Piper (Ferrari GTO)
4 Mario Araujo Cabral (Jaguar)
5 Georges Berger (Ferrari)

Thanks David.
Graham Whitehead was a special invite for the 1961 Rhodesian GP and he evidently put the DBR1 onto the front row of the grid alogside Ernie Pieterse's Heron-Alfa, Bruce Johnstone's Cooper T45 Alfa and Doug Serrurier's LDS Alfa.
However in the race the Aston was outclassed by the single seaters and Bond retired because of a burn to his right foot
apparently caused by the overheating accellerator pedal!
Sounds far fetched but I do not have any comphrehensive reports on this race.

As an aside "Hanuman" (see race car names)the 1.5 liter ERA R12B was also entered for that race but holed a piston in training and did not start!

I hope that I am not digressing too much but for the 1960 Rhodesian GP the organisers evidently invited Jo Schlesser, the later GP driver for Honda and the JS in Ligier grand prix models, to race his Ferrari. What's interesting is that Jo lived on the island of Madagascar, near Africa, and one wonders what he was doing with a sports racing Ferrari on the island. I have been unable to get any information from residents of Madagascar.

Regards
Rob

Sorry I had a "mental" lapse in previous message.
It should read "....Whitehead retired with burned foot..." not Bond.

1964. This appeared in Autosport 18 December. It doesn't quote a date for the race. This doesn't mean it couldn't have been 15 nov (Marcor) but 29 November (Sat) is more likely

Ray
I think by the time Schlesser was racing Ferraris he had returned to France. He used to win the big Madagascar races on a regular basis with a 300SL Mercedes around 1956/57

1. So there were races in Madagascar in the 1950's! First that I have heard of them. The country must have been quite "developed" in those days as I don't think they have anything like racing nowadays. I read somewhere that Jo Schlesser was a computer technician (I think it was the Small book)- considering the time it must have been "early" type computers or electronic accounting machines?

2. Interesting the Autosport report on Angola 1964. The Niemann mentioned was surely Brausch driving the Thompson Brothers Lotus 23 Alfa. Brausch Niemann was the man of the "Formula One" Lotus 7. It qualified for the Rand GP in 1963.

Regards
Rob Young

Welcome to the forum robert!!

Having downloaded Roger's article on the 1962 Angola GP I note that the Automovel e Touring Club de Angola bought a Lotus 30 for Alvaro Lopes to race especially for this event.
In earlier years Alvaro drove Maserati 300S's of which I believe the club bought 2 at one time.
Furthermore there could not have been much racing in that country, even in those days, so the cars must have layn idle a lot of the time.
My question is how did this arrangement work? Where did clubs like this get SO much money? Would the money come from members, some form of "sponsorship"/"patronage"?
I remember reading about the JOLLY CLUB from Italy which entered cars. Was this a similar arrangement?
Rob

Gentlemen,

I would like to thank you all for the wornderful, informative and educational threads you have posted here on the Angolan and Congolese GP. I have been a big fan of motor racing for more than 20 years now ( especially F1), but I was completly unaware that GT Endurance races had been held, not only in Africa, but in my native country, The Congo.

I am congolese and spent a great deal of my life in Zaire (now Congo). All the races you talked about in this BB occured prior to my birth and yet there were no historical mention of them when I was living in Congo. It is a shame that GP races were not longer organized in central africa, because I surely would have loved to attend them and perhaps even be a competitor in them (I am have described as a Kart Racing Ace...Given the proper financial backing, I could have gone on further to F2000 or even F3 in Europe and perhaps even be the first African F1 driver. But...In any event, my passion for F1 has not diminished one bit. I still follow it religiously.). Judging by the dates of the events you mentionned, they occured right before Congo acquired its independence in 1960 and when that happened , everything changed ( most for the better of congolese people, but as you can see some opportunities were , such as organizations of GP events in Central Africa, were lost).

I certainly would have wanted to see in my youth, Great drivers such as Lucien Bianchi stroll down the streets of Leopoldville and then zoom by a few minutes later...

Once again, GREAT job on the research aspect and for basically, educating a native congolese about event that occured in my country and that invovled the passion of my life: auto racing.


Merci a tous!!!

Sincerely,

Wembi

Wembi, is there no way you could get information from old newspapers or a library in the Congo on those old races?
Sometimes the librarian of the newspaper would also keep old photographs?
If we could find out more in this way it would be great.
Keep well
Rob

The information I have on the Angolan races is restricted to the McIntosh information as well as what I get from my more learned colleagues here on the Forum. I never cease to amazed at what we manage to come up with here. Personally, I find these journeys down the less-travelled roads very rewarding and proof that the original idea for this Forum is alive and well.[p][smallfont][Edited by Don Capps on 01-22-2001][/smallfont]

Yes it's unbelievable what the chaps come up with and good to see that top class drivers and their impressive cars travelled to distant shores all that time ago.
Do any of our Belgian members for instance know Jacques Swaters, the Le Mans driver, and ENB patron? He surely would be a source of good reliable information. Their cars raced both in Leopoldville and Angola.
Regards
Rob

I'm intrigued by your mention, Rob, of a Formula One Lutus 7. Of course, it was so easy those days to have a Formula One car... minimum weight, minimum an maximum engine size, four wheels and a rollover bar were pretty much the main things.
This means, of course, that the Rand GP had a Lotus 7 run in it later than the Australian GP, which saw its last in 1962. I think it was actually the first, too, but don't let that spoil things... it was also the last ever sports car to contest the AGP.

Ray,

You can find a website about the story of this Lotus 7. I only know it's from South-Africa and when I'll remember the adress I'll post it. But Rob surely knows the site !

Mike Lawrence in his book Grand Prix Cars 1945-1965 also mentionned this South African Special.

Brausch Niemann entered his Lotus 7 fitted with a 1.5-litre Ford 105E engine for the Rand and Natal GPs in 1962. It ran without front mudguards or light. He was last on the grid of the first race (but he was not the slowest as 13 - or 18 - other entries failed to qualify, including some Cooper F1) and finished 11th (10th according the website). In the second race, he qualified 20th of 32 entries and retired.

As promised, here's the adress of the site. In fact I just did a research on yahoo.com and asked for "Brausch Niemann". I immediately found it again

http://www.lotus7register.co.uk/springbk.htm

Just a quick correction, swedish driver Kurt Lincoln was in fact Finnish driver Curt Lincoln.

Mikko,

welcome to this ever interesting forum!

Does anyone know whether anything substantial got wrtten or put together on the Angolan races, and some of these other African events, but especially the Angolan series. I did the last race in '74 but have never found anything detailed on the series.

Ed McDonough

Not in book form to my knowledge. Some scattered infos are contained in this webpage under the tab "História":

http://sportscargt.com.sapo.pt/sumario.htm