Stefan Bellof: The Nordschleife Record Setter Who Died at Spa

Stefan Bellof was a German racing driver who won the 1984 world sports car title for the Rothmans Porsche factory team. He also raced in Formula One for Tyrrell in 1984 and 1985, and his Nordschleife lap record at the Nurburgring stood for 35 years. He was killed in a crash during the 1985 1000 km of Spa.

How did Bellof begin his racing career?

Bellof was born in Giessen, West Germany, in 1957. He followed his brother Georg into karting, making his debut in 1973 in the Federal Junior Cup, where he finished fourth. He won the International Karting Championship of Luxembourg in 1976 and became German karting champion in 1980.

He moved into Formula Ford at the tail end of 1979, and in 1980 he won the 1600cc championship with eight wins from twelve races. In 1981 he moved into German Formula Three with Bertram Schafer's team. Despite missing the first two races, he led the championship by seven points going into the final round.

Bad luck cost him the title. He finished the last race in thirteenth place while his rivals finished ahead of him, and Frank Jelinski won the championship by eleven points. The same year, at the Formula Ford Festival, he was excluded after excessive contact in his heat, and he promised the clerk of the course that he would be back to win a Formula Two race.

A driver whose Nordschleife lap stood for 35 years and whose career ended in a fire at Spa, leaving a legacy that still shapes racing fans' memories.

What did Bellof do in Formula Two?

In 1982 he joined Maurer Motorsport in Formula Two, and he kept his promise at the BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone. He drove through the field in showery conditions to win by 21 seconds from Satoru Nakajima, becoming the first driver to win outright on his European Formula Two debut.

He followed that victory with a win at the Jim Clark memorial race at Hockenheim, where he took pole and set the fastest lap. Two points from the next six races ruled him out of the title fight, and he finished fourth in the championship with 33 points.

His 1983 season was much less successful. He took second at Jarama, but lost another podium when he was disqualified from third at Pau after his car and his teammate's were found to be underweight. He finished the season ninth on nine points.

How good was Bellof in sports cars?

Very good. In 1983 he joined the Rothmans Porsche factory team with Derek Bell, and the pair won at the 1000 km Silverstone, beating Bob Wollek and Stefan Johansson by almost a minute. In 1984 he and the team dominated the World Sportscar Championship, and he took the drivers' title by eight points from Jochen Mass.

The Nurburgring 1000 km in 1983 produced the most famous result of his career. His qualifying lap of 6 minutes, 11.13 seconds was unofficially the fastest ever driven on the Nordschleife in its configuration at the time, and he also set the race's fastest lap of 6 minutes, 25.91 seconds. That race time remains the official Nordschleife lap record for all cars.

That pole time from 1983 lasted until Timo Bernhard beat it in 2018. Two laps after setting the fastest race lap, his car, chassis 956-007, flipped out of the race at the Pflanzgarten on lap 20. The retirement was a bitter end to a weekend that had shown the full extent of his speed.

He also added wins at Kyalami and Fuji later in 1983, and he claimed the Norisring Trophe in a non-championship race. He won the German DRM series title in 1984 as well, which underlined a year in which Porsche took all but one victory in the World Championship.

What was Bellof's Formula One record?

Bellof raced for Tyrrell in 1984 and 1985, with Martin Brundle as his teammate in 1984. He failed to finish his first two races in Brazil and South Africa, then scored his first two points at Zolder and Imola. The Monaco Grand Prix that year brought his best result, a podium in the rain-shortened race.

At Monaco he started last, in 20th place, and kept away from the barriers that caught out many of his rivals. He was closing on the leading pair when the race was curtailed after 31 laps. At the end he was 21 seconds behind Alain Prost and 13.7 seconds behind Ayrton Senna.

Tyrrell was later stripped of all its 1984 points after a dispute over ballast in the fuel tanks found at the Detroit Grand Prix. Bellof's first points of 1985 came at Estoril, and he finished fourth at Detroit that year. His last Formula One race was the Dutch Grand Prix, where his Renault turbo engine failed on lap 40.

Tyrrell only switched to turbo engines from the German Grand Prix onwards in 1985, so Bellof never truly had the chance to show his talent in a Formula One car.

What happened at Spa in 1985?

Bellof was killed on 1 September 1985 during the 1000 km of Spa, the seventh round of the World Sportscar Championship. On lap 78 his Brun Porsche made contact with Jacky Ickx's works Porsche 962C as he approached the Eau Rouge corner. The Brun car hit the barriers and caught fire, and he died of internal injuries at the track hospital.

He had started third on the grid, 0.86 seconds behind the pole-winning Lancia LC2, and was partnered with Thierry Boutsen. Ickx's car spun and hit the barriers too, but Ickx climbed out unaided and tried to help the rescuers. Rescuers needed more than 10 minutes to free Bellof from the burning wreck.

Out of respect the organisers ended the race about 150 km early. An in-car camera on Ickx's car kept recording and captured the wreckage. Three weeks earlier, Manfred Winkelhock had died at Mosport in a Kremer Porsche 962C, so the two deaths shook the sport and raised concerns about the Porsche 956.

What changed after Bellof's death?

After Spa, Formula One teams tightened contracts to stop their drivers racing outside their championships. Many customer teams questioned the 956 for the rest of the season, and the car was eventually withdrawn from the series.

Ferrari had been planning a meeting with Enzo Ferrari about a possible 1986 drive for Bellof before his death. Derek Bell later said in a 2007 interview that Bellof's driving style lacked discipline, but he also said the people around him, including team personnel, should have let him mature.

Michael Schumacher is often cited as having idolised Bellof as a child, and that link has kept his name alive among racing fans.

How is Bellof remembered today?

In 2009 a poll of 217 Formula One drivers, conducted by Autosport, chose Bellof as their 35th-greatest driver. In August 2013 the Nurburgring renamed the Pflanzgarten III section the Stefan-Bellof-S, a lasting tribute on the circuit where he set his records.

In 2015 Timo Bernhard wore a helmet in Bellof's livery at a Spa endurance race to mark thirty years since his death. There is also a karting circuit named after him, the Motorsportarena Stefan Bellof at Oppenrod. His family donated his racing mementos to a local museum in 2010.

What did Bellof do in testing before Tyrrell?

Late in 1983 Bellof tested a Formula One car for McLaren at Silverstone, alongside the top two drivers from that season's British Formula Three Championship, Ayrton Senna and Martin Brundle. During his run he damaged the gearbox before Brundle had his turn in the car.

Bellof then joined Tyrrell Racing Organisation for 1984, partnering Brundle in naturally aspirated, Ford-engined cars. Those cars were giving away over 150 horsepower (110 kW) to their turbo rivals, which made the early part of the season a difficult one for the team.

Why did Bellof miss the 1985 Brazilian Grand Prix?

Bellof missed the opening round of 1985, the Brazilian Grand Prix, because Tyrrell had Brundle and Stefan Johansson in its two cars at Rio de Janeiro. He returned at the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril, where the weather was similar to the rain-shortened Monaco race of 1984.

At Estoril he started well down the order but worked his way into the top six by the finish, claiming a point. That point was his first of 1985, because all of his 1984 results had been expunged.

How did Bellof's 1985 sports car programme look?

In 1985 Bellof contested only six sports car races, taking one win at the Norisring alongside Thierry Boutsen in the German DRM series. He had been champion in the German DRM series in 1984, so that was a light programme after his title-winning season.

The Spa race was his fourth appearance of 1985 in the series, and he partnered Boutsen, as he had done in his other appearances that season.

How did Bellof's 1982 Spa appearance go?

Alongside his Formula Two campaign, Bellof also made a single sports car start in 1982, at the 1000 km of Spa. He partnered Rolf Stommelen in a Kremer CK5, and the pair retired from the race on lap 51 with a starter motor problem.

The previous weekend he had joined Kremer for the Hessen Cup at Hockenheim, but he retired there with transmission failure. Those early sports car outings were a sign of the work that would later bring him the Porsche factory drive.

What happened at Monza in the 1984 season opener?

Bellof and Derek Bell won the opening round of 1984 at Monza, but after crossing the line first their Porsche was disqualified in scrutineering for being under the weight limit. Appeals from both teams were lodged, and the outcome was successful, which reinstated the result.

The same weight limit applied to the third-placed Martini Racing Lancia, which also appealed. Bell and Bellof were able to keep the win on the results sheet because the appeal succeeded.