Renault 5-Cup turns 50: topsy-turvy / circuit

The first weekend in April 1974 is considered one of the most memorable in the history of the Hockenheim Motodrom. What started half a century ago on April 6th and 7th with the misfortune of the first competition in front of packed spectator stands, quickly developed into a popular hit.

At the back, rows and rows of weak fifths bowed or gave hair-raising turns. Until the model was replaced by the Clio in 1991, the Renault 5 Cup race was very popular with spectators. A modern witness remembers the beginning and the first wild years.

The first show on the first weekend in April 1974 was terrible. The plea of ​​calm and sporty Renault PR director Georg Heinz Hommen to his sporting director Rolf Schmidt is recorded: “Stop, stop immediately! So finally let it go! The PR man is said to have angrily demanded after just a few laps.

Because in front of everyone and a cheering audience, well-behaved Renault 5 TL cars rolled onto the roof in a row at the Motodrom. Fortunately there were no injuries. The situation made Hommen afraid of the brand image of Renault’s German branch.

When the memorable spectacle was released after the full distance of 10 laps, almost a dozen losses were counted and the winner named Harald Grohs (27) from Essen was awarded. But his happiness was immediately dampened because instead of congratulating him, the badly defeated Swabian slapped him across the face as a greeting. Because his teammate Schütz felt cheated by his competitor’s bad driving style.

After Hommen explained the tragedy in front of television cameras, he quickly left the place of shame, distraught. His sporting director Rolf Schmidt went on a short holiday abroad that evening to be on the safe side.

All this happened in front of around 80,000 spectators at the opening of the Formula 2 European Championship. No one would have believed that such a miraculous success story would follow such a failed beginning. Within a very short time, the weak and initially under 55 hp cup races became the daytime attraction of the events that they started as part of the supporting program.

The Hockenheim embarrassment was quickly forgotten and improvements to the tires and chassis quickly eliminated the previous bad roll behavior.

Harald Grohs, then the only man with racing experience in the large beginner field, had a simple and convincing explanation for the large number of players with more than five points: “All the boys followed me and did not realize where the normal side was. tilt ends and the Hint limit begins.”

The horrified reactions of foster fathers and fathers of frightened children (Hommen: “That was a terrible shock for us, and no one believed that there would be a second race”) was of course completely unfounded. Because instead of the expected negative impact on the product, the chaotic race at Hockenheim turned out to be a great moment for one of the most successful single cup racing series in the world.

Although the opening winner Harald Grohs won six out of ten races during the year, but also stopped a few times, it was not enough to win his first title. This was beaten by Wolfgang Schütz with only one win this season, who scored points regularly and was undefeated.

The same sly Swabian who grew harsh on his rival Grohs from the start. In general, Schütz, a person who is difficult to surpass in terms of intelligence. “He actually drove a prototype with a folding sunroof made of fabric,” Cup mechanic Wolfgang Weißhaupt. “We didn’t see it at first because it seemed impossible to us.”

After all, Schütz, who bought his fiver from a scrapyard (“it didn’t say anywhere that you have to buy a new car”) for a few hundred German marks and built it himself according to the rules, collected almost 15,000 marks. at the end of the season as a cup winner. This was offset by very low costs and he also sold the winning car at a huge profit.

Just two years later, the German sports authority ONS awarded the official championship title under the name “ONS Renault 5 eleven Cup”. The addition “eleven” stood for the French oil company of the same name, which was involved as the main sponsor.

Now there were also Renault 5 Cups in six other European countries. In 1976 there were already nine countries whose national championships were held with a total of 700 Renault 5 cars. There was also the highly regarded European series, races which were organized by countries with more power than cups.

The best players from the current state championships were eligible to start. Especially in the European Cup races as part of the Formula 1 race, things were often difficult between the drivers from the rival nations of Italy, France and Germany.

Meanwhile, the pace of the Renault 5 continued unabated, with up to 100 participants per year in Germany alone. Several times the starting fields had to be divided into two halves (north and south regions) of 50 cars each. After eight races per region, the top 25 points from all preliminary groups are pooled together for the final four races with 50 starters to decide the championship.

From the original idea of ​​the Cup’s godfathers Hommen and Schmidt, both of whom have unfortunately passed away, at least one element has fallen victim to the inflation that has been trending over the years. “We wanted to prove at that time,” says Schmidt, “that you can make a good run even with a stock of less than 10,000 points.”

The first race-ready R5 TL with 55 hp, pushrod gearshift on the dashboard, roll bar and bucket seat cost 9,950 D-Marks fully race-ready from the Cologne-Brühl factory, which is over 5,000 euros in today’s currency.

But the strike price of 10,000 D-Marks soon expired. The fifth cup became stronger, faster and more expensive. Further design changes led to a new price jump and after almost ten years you had to pay twice as much. And for the “big” R5 Turbo 2 in the European Cup (1981-1984) almost 40,000 German marks were awarded.

The prize money also gradually increased until it reached a total of D-300,000 points per year. And the European Championship races as part of the Formula 1 World Championship were also given higher bonuses, which is probably why the European Championship races were characterized by ruthless prestige duels between the superpowers.

To maintain the popularity of the German R5 Cup series in particular for a long time, it also required strong leadership from Renault’s sporting management. In addition to professional organization, this included, above all, maintaining equal technical opportunities. Renault wanted to ensure this from the start, because after all it was one of the main reasons for many entry-level decisions made by young and inexperienced racing drivers.

In this regard, Renault’s German sporting director, Rolf Schmidt and his three assistants Wolfgang Weishaupt (now 79), Gerd Gentsch (88) and parts dealer Horst Tönges (who died in 2003) were as famous as they were infamous. The law applied: “Only what is not forbidden is permitted.” And it was in this passage that the disaster began …

“We had to constantly make improvements and ban new things; it was a constant battle with the brains of the R5,” recalls technician Weishaupt. “Sometimes we caught them, sometimes they lied to us.” Convicting the most accomplished geniuses in the European Cup became more difficult.

Knowing the Italians, Dutch and French in particular sometimes required criminal knowledge. “They didn’t let anything go to waste,” said Daniel Charles, chief regulatory officer from headquarters in Paris, who was once responsible for this. And yet there were many ways to completely defeat the Renault technicians and avoid arrest.

At least that’s what former Cup drivers still tell each other today with a smile when they meet regularly and recount their past misdeeds. Like now on April 6th at the Techno Classica in Essen, where it was great to see everyone again, especially those participants of the first cup year in 1974.

Robert Lünsmann from Duisburg, now 74 years old, was invited to this class meeting by the R5 driver who also wrote Cup history in a special way. He forgot to brake at the chicane before the start and finish and threw his five-wheeler on the top row into the industrial park in May 1983…

The gray area between simply following the rules and the left path of what is officially allowed includes everything that has brought benefits in the field of theoretical vehicles with equal (or weaker) power.

Until the relevant ban, the most popular practices included: rejected alternators, artificially controlled ignition coils, speedometer cables, petrol tricks and ground clearance, modified and chemically processed tire treads, third party shock absorbers and much more.

To cover all the cows, after shaking off the respective lap of the run, we stopped briefly and quickly put away everything that had been used before.

The less technically gifted even put their own mechanics at certain points on the track to help out. At times, stopping on the lap of running was also prohibited on pain of rejection.

And then there was “pushing” which distorted the results and was very dangerous. If two or more cars were to form a bumper “push line” to hit the bumper on the straights and use the high current that resulted in increased engine speed and top speed, every single driver had no chance.

A well-designed push train was once easily 10 km/h or faster than any driver. Although this practice was soon banned, no one stuck to it. At least where there were no cameras and no sports commissioner was aware, people kept pushing as hard as they could.

With the introduction of turbo technology in the R5 Cup (national from 1982, in the European Cup a year earlier), the hidden tricks were more difficult to uncover. Avoiding the boost pressure limit has gone down in Cup history as the worst fraud.

By using a thin wire connected to the side wheel of the adjustment seat and turbocharger, the boost pressure can be increased and more power can be achieved as needed.

It took a very long time until the lie was discovered by stupid accident. The Dutchman tripped over his wire structure on his way out and tore the entire structure apart. Unfortunately, the technical inspector was standing next to him…

Unfortunately, one of the main roles in the trick was played by Hans Heyer, who in his only season of the European championship as the starter of many foreigners was not caught despite being investigated many times and in the end he showed the technical commissioners himself where and for what he lied. everyone for the whole season.

From 1974 to the end of 1990, the Renault 5 was the iconic car in this country. After that, the Clio entered the national stage, and the Megane for a few years in between. But those were the times after five, when there was very little to wonder and smile about. That is why the review should end here.

Because the Cup witnessed many interesting and eventful years, nationally and internationally, with the Renault 5 and its attractive models being the main actors.

The best stories and legends also come from this time. This is exactly what will be discussed in a special series of short shows, which SPEEDWEEK.com writer Rainer Braun will publish here at irregular intervals throughout 2024. Ten episodes are planned, starting in May.