Editor Chris Balfe remembers the 1970 BOAC 1000 Kilometres - Brands Hatch, 12 April 1970

Since there have only been a couple of Malaysian Grands Prix to date, I am afforded the luxury of self indulgence this week, for my chosen race is not a Grand Prix, indeed it's not even a Formula One race.

At a time when the tabloids, along with certain sections of the motorsport media, seem to be working themselves into a lather about safety, I want to take you back to a time when men were men and racing was racing.

A couple of years ago I saw 'When We Were Kings', the docu-movie based around the classic 1974 Muhammad Ali - George Foreman 'rumble in the jungle'. If it were possible to put a movie together based on today's classic race it would have to be called, 'When We Were Gods'.

It's Sunday 12th April 1970. I'm 16 and on my way to watch a race that will live in my memory for ever more. The weather is unbelievable; it's been raining all night and there's no sign of any let up. To make matters worse, when I arrive at Swanley I find there are no buses going to the circuit, perhaps they thought nobody would venture out on a day like this, they were wrong. As I start the long trek to the circuit (already soaked to the bone), I contemplate what should be a classic confrontation, Porsche versus Ferrari.

Of the two rounds of the International Championship for Makes thus far, Porsche and Ferrari have each tasted victory. At Daytona, Pedro Rodriguez and Leo Kinnunen stormed home in their Gulf-Porsche 917, while at Sebring, Mario Andretti, Ignazio Giunti and Nino Vaccarella had done the honours for Ferrari in their 512S.

Round three, the BOAC 1000km at Brands Hatch promised another clash of the titans. The two works Ferrari 512s were driven by Chris Amon/Arturo Merzario and Jacky Ickx/Jackie Oliver, whilst the privately entered Filipinetti car had Mike Parkes and Herbert Muller at the wheel. These six men faced the beast that was the Porsche 917, to this day one of the most powerful and awesome racing machines ever built.

The Gulf cars were driven by Daytona victors Rodriguez/Kinnunen and Jo Siffert/Brian Redman, while the works Porsches were to be driven by Vic Elford/Denny Hulme and Hans Herrmann/Richard Attwood, with David Piper entering a further 917 for himself and David Hobbs.

The field also included a couple of Lola T70s, Matra 650s and Porsche 908s plus half a dozen Chevrons, however attention centred on the confrontation between the 917s and the 512s.

Chris Amon sat on pole in the 512S, whilst behind him sat Siffert, Ickx and Elford. As the rain continued to fall the race got underway. Elford blasted into the lead followed by Ickx and Amon. This was utter madness, the conditions were atrocious and the rain showed no sign of abating. After a couple of laps, Ickx who had taken the lead from Elford, had to pit in order to get his windscreen wipers adjusted. Elford re-established himself at the front of the field, only to be passed by Amon on lap 17. We had already seen several cars spinning off and it was certain that the race would not run the full distance! how wrong we were.

Pedro Rodriguez in the meantime had been called into the pits for the '70's version of a ten second penalty. It turned out that Pedro, who blamed the lack of visibility due to the dreadful conditions, had ignored the yellow flags following an earlier incident and was therefore read the riot act by the clerk of the course Nick Syrett. Following the lecture, Pedro stormed out of the pits missing Syrett's toes by a few inches. The rest as they say is history.