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Vive la France - or how the botched Renault 5 Cup premiere turned into a success story

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Created on November 4, 2016

Text:

Rainer Braun

Photos:

Hallo Fahrerlager / Archiv Rainer Braun

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Hallo Fahrerlager / Archiv Rainer Braun

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Renault 5-D train at the premiere race at the Hockenheimring in 1974

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Renault R 5 LS (1975) - Renault 5 Eleven Cup as a guest at the Eifelrennen in 1975 - 88 R5s with 84 hp competed against each other on the Nordschleife

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At the premiere race at the Hockenheimring, Harald Grohs (front left) terrified the competition in the 1974 Renault 5 Cup

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Renault board member Hommmen's horror is clear to see

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Renault R 5 LS (1975) - Renault 5 Eleven Cup in Zandvoort - identical vehicles for favorable motorsport

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Accident with Danner and Oberndorfer on the Avus in 1978

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Accident with Danner and Oberndorfer on the Avus in 1978

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No more fun - after the mass carnage, Christian Danner has lost his laughter

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Stupidly done - Sinner Oberndorfer looks at the disaster he has caused

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Oberndorfer and Danner in 1978

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Lünsmann take-off at the Nürburgring in 1983 in three phases

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Expensive start - a quadruple rollover at the start of the 1977 season puts Renault 5 Cup driver Bürger in serious financial difficulties

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Cup with the Renault Clio III RS in 2006

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Beim Premierenrennen auf dem Hockenheimring versetzt Harald Grohs (vorne links) die Konkurrenz im Renault-5-Cup 1974 in Angst und Schrecken

Das Entsetzen ist Renault-Vorstand Hommmen deutlich anzusehen

Renault R 5 LS (1975) - Renault 5 Elf Pokal in Zandvoort - identische Fahrzeuge für günstigen Motorsport

Unfall mit Danner und Oberndorfer auf der Avus im Jahr 1978

Unfall mit Danner und Oberndorfer auf der Avus im Jahr 1978

Schluss mit lustig - nach der Massenkaramoblage ist Christian Danner das Lachen vergangen

Summary

The idea was great, but the new racing series with identical Renault 5s was almost stopped after just one race in 1974. After all, the "rollover orgy" could have caused a lot of negative press, and this was exactly the opposite of what Renault wanted. But with minor improvements, the R5 Cup became a decades-long success story that produced many great racing drivers. And who better to tell the story than Rainer Braun, who followed some of the races from the cockpit and in many cases commented on them on the microphone? And then there are the pictures ...

This article contains the following chapters

Crisis meeting with the board
The slicks are to blame
Unique success story
Scandal in Berlin
Flying day at Post 44
The handshake from the "Bitzer Hof"

Estimated reading time: 13min

Preview (beginning of the article)

This report comes from the first volume of the popular book series "Hallo Fahrerlager" by Rainer Braun from 2007. Hockenheim, April 7, 1974, "Jim Clark Memorial Race" on the 6.7 km long Grand Prix circuit. The Motodrom is sold out, 80,000 spectators want to see the Formula 2 European Championship race with crowd favorite and top favorite Hans Stuck. This is preceded by the premiere of the Renault 5 Cup over ten laps. 40 starters have qualified, all of them in Renault 5 TL, 56 hp, almost 1000 cc, sliding gear shift in the dashboard. Fixed price ready to race: 9,950 marks. Head of Sport Rolf Schmidt and PR Director Georg Heinz Hommen look proudly at the starting field as the "speeding shoeboxes" (in the words of track reporter Jochen Luck) set off on the formation lap.

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Images of this article

Beim Premierenrennen auf dem Hockenheimring versetzt Harald Grohs (vorne links) die Konkurrenz im Renault-5-Cup 1974 in Angst und Schrecken

Das Entsetzen ist Renault-Vorstand Hommmen deutlich anzusehen

Renault R 5 LS (1975) - Renault 5 Elf Pokal in Zandvoort - identische Fahrzeuge für günstigen Motorsport

Unfall mit Danner und Oberndorfer auf der Avus im Jahr 1978

Unfall mit Danner und Oberndorfer auf der Avus im Jahr 1978

Schluss mit lustig - nach der Massenkaramoblage ist Christian Danner das Lachen vergangen

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