BOAC 500

All you want to know about BOAC 500

The 1000 km Brands Hatch was an endurance sports car event that was part of the World Sportscar Championship for varying years from 1967 until 1989. Originally a six hour race running under the name BOAC 500, the event was eventually extended to 1000 kilometeres under a number of different sponsorship titles.

History

In 1966, a non-championship sports car race was held at Brands Hatch for a distance of 500 miles, with drivers David Piper and Bob Bondurant easily taking victory in an AC Cobra. With the success of this initial event, the World Sportscar Championship would add Brands Hatch to their calendar, while the British Sports Car Championship replaced their Guards Trophy event. However, unlike the initial race's set distance of 500 miles, the new event would be run for six hours. Even with a timed race, BOAC stepped in as the primary sponsor and chose to retain the 500 mile distance in the name, earning the popular title BOAC 500.

However, as the speeds of competitors improved during the early years, the drivers would actually set distances beyond even 600 miles. It was therefore decided in 1970 that the event would be extended to a set distance of 1000 kilometers, which was the distance used by five other events in the World Sportscar Championship's calendar. The race, now retitled the BOAC 1000, would continue in this form until it was temporarily dropped from the series in 1973. It would once again be part of the schedule in 1974, but this time with British Airways replacing BOAC as sponsor. The race would however not return again in 1975 and would go on a three year hiatus.

Following some reconstruction of Brands Hatch in 1976, the World Championship of Makes (split from the World Sportscar Championship) would return to the track in 1977 with a six hour timed race replacing the 1000 kilometer set distance. The event would skip one more year in 1978, before returning permanently in 1979. The six hour requirement was abandoned once again in 1981 as the event returned to its familiar 1000 kilometer format. Besides one final season without the event in 1983, the 1000 km Brands Hatch would continue until 1988. For the final appearance of Brands Hatch on the World Sportscar Championship calendar in 1989, the race would be shortened to 480 kilometers, as would nearly every race that season.

Winners

Year	Drivers	Team	Car
500 Mile distance
1966	David Piper Bob Bondurant	The Chequered Flag	AC Cobra
6 Hour distance
1967	Mike Spence Phil Hill	Chaparral Cars Inc.	Chaparral 2F-Chevrolet
1968	Brian Redman Jacky Ickx	J.W. Automotive	Ford GT40 Mk.I
1969	Brian Redman Jo Siffert	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 908/02
1000 km distance
1970	Pedro Rodríguez Leo Kinnunen	J.W. Automotive Engineering	Porsche 917K
1971	Andrea de Adamich Henri Pescarolo	Autodelta SpA	Alfa Romeo T33/3
1972	Mario Andretti Jacky Ickx	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Ferrari 312PB
1974	Jean-Pierre Beltoise Jean-Pierre Jarier	Equipe Gitanes	Matra-Simca MS670C
6 Hour distance
1977	Jacky Ickx Jochen Mass	Martini Racing	Porsche 935/77
1979	Reinhold Joest Volkert Merl	Joest Racing	Porsche 908/3 Turbo
1980	Riccardo Patrese Walter Röhrl	Lancia Corse	Lancia Monte Carlo Turbo
1000 km distance
1981	Guy Edwards Emilio de Villota	Team Lola	Lola T600-Ford Cosworth
1982	Jacky Ickx Derek Bell	Rothmans Porsche	Porsche 956
1984	Jonathan Palmer Jan Lammers	Canon Racing/GTi Engineering	Porsche 956
1985	Hans Joachim Stuck Derek Bell	Rothmans Porsche	Porsche 962C
1986	Mauro Baldi Bob Wollek	Liqui Moly Equipe	Porsche 956 GTi
1987	Raul Boesel John Nielsen	Silk Cut Jaguar	Jaguar XJR-8
1988	Andy Wallace Martin Brundle John Nielsen	Silk Cut Jaguar	Jaguar XJR-9
480 km distance
1989	Mauro Baldi Kenny Acheson	Team Sauber Mercedes	Sauber C9-Mercedes