It looks like the new management at the Nurburgring is to name the chicane at pflantzgarten 2 to be called the “Steffan Bellof S” as a tribute to the lap record of 6:11.13 that was set 30 years ago on 28th of May 1983 by Stefan Bellof in a Group C Porsche 956 in training for the 1,000 km of Nurburgring 1983.
On the 10th of August 2013 former colleagues and friends of Stefan Bellof will officially unveil the newly named section of track.
The incredible speed these Group C racing cars was able to achieve remains clear to this very day through a spectacular record set up by Porsche racing driver Stefan Bellof: Practising for the 1,000 Kilometre Race in 1983, Bellof reached an average speed on the Nordschleife of more than 200 km/h in a Porsche 956. And just one year later he brought home victory in the same race, together with Derek Bell who, in turn, repeated the same achievement with Hans-Joachim Stuck in 1985 at the wheel of a Porsche 962 C.
Born in Germany in 1957, Stefan Bellof began his racing career with karting in 1973, placing fourth in the Automobil club von Deutchsland’s Federal Junior Cup. It was only a few years later that Stefan took the championship in the 1976 International Karting Championship of Luxembourg.
Stefan entered the Junior Formula as a member of Walter Lechner’s Racing School, where he quickly achieved champion status. During this time, he also moved into the German Formula Three Championship on Bertram Schafer’s team. While he suffered poor point performance thanks to missing the first two opening races, Bellof made the claim that racing officials had “better watch my career because I’ll be back here next year and I’ll win my first Formula 2 race.”
He went on to fulfil that promise by signing up with Formula Two Championship team with a limited amount of BMW backing. Bellof won 21 seconds ahead of the second place driver, securing a firm victory. He quickly moved into a high-performing Formula One career, though his reputation was tested by numerous challenges, such as being disqualified from the 1984 season and missing numerous races.
He also set the record for the official fastest lap time of 6 minutes and 25.91 seconds, which remains a record to this day.
Sadly, Stefan perished before he could achieve his destiny as a Formula One World Champion. During the 1,000km of Spa World Sportscar Championship, Bellof struck bumpers with Jacky Ickx’s works Porsche 962C and went straight through a barrier, crashing.
His Porsche caught fire, and safety workers struggled for over 10 minutes to extricate him through the fire and smoke. Bellof died of massive internal injuries, ending his illustrious career.
Source:- Stefan Bellof
