16/12/1967

Record updated

3 Hours of Lourenco Marques Sports Car Race, Mozambique. Won by Paul Hawkins in a 5.9 liter Lola-Chevy.

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Lourenco Marques, Mozambique...Paul Hawkins drove his 5.9 liter Lola-Chevy to victory in the 2nd running of the '3 Hours of Lourenco Marques' Sports Car race. The race was held on a course that combined public and special built roadways with the .8 mile long main straight being part of the main highway out of the capitol city. After a LeMans style start, Hawkins took an immediate lead followed by Mike D'Udy in a 5.5 liter Lola-Chevy and Jackie Pretorius. Just 13 minutes into the race, Pretorius' open cockpit Lola-Ford fell out with head gasket trouble. At this point, D'Udy passed Hawkins for the lead while David Prophet, who'd gotten off the line next to last when his Ford GT40 failed to start, moved past Tony Dean's Porsche Carrera 6 to take 3rd. D'Udy had to pit to repair a broken rocker stud, moving Hawkins back out front. D'Udy did return, but after 27 minutes. Near halfway, Dean handed the Porsche over to South African Saloon Car champion Basil van Rooyen. Soon after the exchange, the throttle cable broke on the Porsche forcing a quick fix that led to van Rooyen running the remaining time using a wire leading into the cockpit as a throttle. When Hawkins made his final stop for fuel and oil, it moved Prophet into the lead. Upon returning, Hawkins gained 2 seconds a lap on Prophet's sputtering GT40, which later made another quick pit stop. At the end of the 3 hours, Hawkins was 3 laps ahead of Prophet with Edward Nelson finishing 3rd, 7 laps back in another GT40. The Dean/van Rooyen Porsche wound up 6th. Hawkins covered 261.2 miles in the 3 hours, averaging 87.1 mph. Hawkins win and Nelson's 3rd left the two drivers tied for the Springbok Series points lead with one race remaining.

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