Events on February 4th
Interesting and notable events from the history of motor sport.
1927
Malcolm Campbell set a new Land Speed Record of 174.833 mph
1961
Teretonga International, New Zealand won by Jo Bonnier in a Cooper.
1962
Warwick Farm 100, Australia won by Stirling Moss in a Cooper-Climax.
1968
Daytona 24 Hour Race. Won by Vic Elford, Jochen Neerpasch, Jo Siffert, Rolf Stommelen and Hans Herrmann in a Porsche 962.
The Daytona 24 Hours race took place under new World Sports Car Championship rules limiting engines to 5 liters. With the 7 liter Fords and Chapparals no longer eligible, 4.7 liter John Wyer Ford GT40s and a hoarde of 2.2 liter Porsche 907s took to the grid.
Driving a Wyer GT40, Jacky Ickx still turned practice laps faster than the 7 liter cars did the year before. In the race, the Wyer entries broke, the Howmet turbine car slapped the wall and the Porsches cruised. The winning Porsche was driven by Vic Elford and Jochen Neerpasch for most of the race, with Porsche putting Jo Siffert, Rolf Stommelen and Hans Herrmann in the car in the late going as 907s finished 1-2-3.
1973
Tasman Cup, Surfers Paradise, Australia. Won by Frank Matich in a Holden/Repco powered Matich A50.
1979
Daytona 24 Hour Race. Won by Danny Ongais, Hurley Haywood and Ted Field in a Porsche 935.
Danny Ongais, Hurley Haywood and Ted Field drove a Porsche 935 to victory in the 'Daytona 24 Hours' Sports Car race, round 1 of the World Championship for Makes. The Ferrari 365 of John Morton and Tony Adamowicz finished 2nd with the Porsche 935 of Rick Mears, Bruce Canepa and Monte Shelton 3rd. The winners completed 684 laps around the 3.84 mile Daytona International Speedway course, averaging 109.409 mph.
1979
Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos, won by Jacques Laffite in a Ligier.
Jacques Laffite won the Brazilian Grand Prix on the 4.94 mile Interlagos circuit as the Ligier team dominated for the second straight race. This time the all Ligier front row had Laffite on the pole and Patrick Depailler alongside. As the field rolled off, Carlos Reutemann's Lotus would not start. He was push started after the entire field left, and weaved back through to re-take his 3rd spot on the grid. Lafitte led from the green, Depailler quickly regained second from Reutemann, and the Ligiers easily pulled away. Lafitte beat Depailler by 5.2 seconds with Reutemann another 39 seconds back in third. A protest was filed against Reutemann, but his finish was left to stand on the grounds that a penalty should have been imposed prior to the start of the race.
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