On May 28, 1983, during practice for the 1000-kilometre race, Bellof lapped the Nordschleife, which had been shortened to 20.835 kilometers at the time due to construction work, in an incredible 6:11.13 minutes. This corresponded to an average speed of over 200 km/h. The six-cylinder boxer engine of the 956 C with a displacement of 2649 cubic centimeters produced over 620 hp. Bellof was driving chassis number 007 at the time and had an accident while leading the race in the Pflanzgarten section, but was uninjured. A year later, in 1984, he won the 1000-kilometer race at the Nürburgring together with Derek Bell (GB), also in a Rothmans Porsche 956 C.
Stuck on board almost from the start
Bellof also shared the 956 cockpit with Hans-Joachim Stuck (DE) on the way to the 1984 World Endurance Drivers' Championship. Despite Stuck crashing out and then having to take a break for repairs, the pair won the 1000-kilometer race in Imola. "That race in Italy was particularly important for me," recalls Stuck, who is now 67 years old. "The 956 was new to me, and Stefan taught me how to drive this downforce car properly. I learned a lot from him in Imola. When I joined Porsche back then, I realized why these cars were unbeatable. There were no gearbox problems, the brakes were great, and with this incredible downforce you could carry a lot of speed into the corners. The car literally stuck to the asphalt. For me, it's world class to be able to drive the 956 around the Nordschleife again. That's hard to beat emotionally."
Stuck's long list of successes includes two overall Le Mans victories in the 956 successor 962 C (1986 and 1987) and three overall victories in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring with BMW.
Legendary sports prototype
The 956 C built by Stuck at the Nürburgring bears chassis number 005 and is the car in which Jacky Ickx (BE) and Jochen Mass (DE) contested the entire World Sportscar Championship in 1984. For advertising reasons, the name of the tobacco manufacturer often had to give way to the word Racing in the design of sponsor Rothmans. This was the case with Bellof's record lap with chassis 007 and is also the case with the 956 C now driven by Stuck.
The modern descendant
The Evo version of the 919 Hybrid makes its first public appearance on the Nordschleife. On April 9, 2018, Porsche set a new track record on the Grand Prix circuit in Spa-Francorchamps (BE) with this further development, which was freed from some of the constraints of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) regulations: Porsche works driver Neel Jani (CH) managed a lap of the 7.004-kilometer track in 1:41.770 minutes. Jani beat the previous record, last year's pole position time set by Lewis Hamilton (GB) in the Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid, by 0.783 seconds. There is no need for stopwatches on the lap of the Nordschleife, the second stop on the '919 Tribute Tour': The two race cars are led by a safety car and skip the start and finish area because that is where the field for the 24 hours is forming up.
Like the 956, the Porsche 919 Hybrid was also the most innovative racing car of its time. The Class 1 Le Mans prototype, which competed successfully in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) from 2014 to 2017 inclusive, is powered by a compact two-liter V4 turbocharged petrol engine in combination with two different energy recovery systems. Firstly, braking energy from the front axle is converted into electrical energy. Secondly, the exhaust gas stream drives a 130,000 rpm turbine and thus generates further electrical energy. This is temporarily stored in a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery. While the combustion engine drives the rear axle, the battery power feeds an electric motor on the front axle. This means that the 919 has all-wheel drive when accelerating - and is already collecting energy again in the exhaust tract.
The basis for the preparation of the record-breaking 919 Evo was the victorious 2017 racing car. The entire hardware of the drivetrain remained untouched. In addition, there were developments that had already taken place for the 2018 WEC, but were abandoned after the withdrawal from the endurance world championship at the end of 2017, as well as specific aerodynamic modifications.
An emotional affair
Porsche as well as Timo Bernhard, Hans-Joachim Stuck and both racing cars have great stories associated with the Nürburgring and the Nordschleife.
Bernhard (37, Bruchmühlbach-Miesau) is the reigning World Endurance Champion with the 919 Hybrid. On his way to the 2017 world championship title, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the innovative hybrid racing car and took his third overall victory in a row at the six-hour race at the Nürburgring after 2015 and 2016. Bernhard also achieved overall victory five times in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring with Porsche. In 2018, the record winner will be in charge of a 911 GT3 R from his own team, Team75 Bernhard.
"The Nordschleife is home for me," says the Porsche works driver, who is competing in both the GT Masters and Le Mans in the GTE class this year. "Even as a child, I was allowed to accompany my father to the Eifel. The complexity of this track, which is over 20 kilometers long, is incomparable to anything else." Timo Bernhard is a passionate admirer of Stefan Bellof, who crashed at Spa in 1985. "It wasn't just Stefan Bellof's great performances that always impressed me. He must have been a great guy. No matter who I spoke to, they all revered him. His Nordschleife record from 1983, which remains unbroken to this day, is gigantic. It is a great honor to be able to accompany a Porsche 956 C from back then in the 919 Evo."
