Canadian-American Challenge Cup celebrates its golden anniversary at Hockenheim
Images thanks to Marcel Hundscheid of Speed-O-Graphica
Packed with CanAm’s finest, Group 7, Formula 1 and 2, sportscar prototypes, DTM cars and more, the 2016 Bosch Hockenheim Historic is looking to be a stunner.
Hockenheim hosts the Bosch Hockenheim Historic – Jim Clark Revival from the 15th to 17th of April, featuring the golden anniversary of the Canadian-American Challenge Cup, formerly CanAm-Cup. Together with the European Interserie, the Canadian-American Challenge Cup will play an important role as they rock the Motodrom at Hockenheim.
From 1966 to 1987 the Canadian-American Challenge Cup started out as a race series for Group 7 sports cars, featuring two races in Canada and four held in the United States. Regulations were minimal and permitted the use of unlimited engine sizes including turbochargers and superchargers. Aerodynamics were also unrestricted as long as the car had two seats, bodywork enclosing the wheels and a roll bar..
Regulations at that time spanned just three pages. This resulted in cars with well over 1000 hp, spectacular wings and ground effects. Many of the cars that were produced remain one-off items or were built in very limited numbers.
Initially Lola and John Surtees dominated the series, followed by a period in which it became known as the ‘Bruce and Denny Show’.
This was followed by the era of the McLaren cars M6 and M8 – driven by Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme. The cars from England were almost unbeatable until Porsche set the bar significantly higher again with its 917 Turbo. Porsche claimed 1500 hp for its 917/30 in qualifying trim.
Today’s CANADIAN-AMERICAN Challenge Cup is organised by German Peter Schleifer. The original CanAm and Interserie cars from 1966 to 1974 are eligible. Exact modern replicas are also entitled to take part. In the true spirit of the original race, no electronics, such as telemetry, laptops or other modern data recording tools, are permitted.
Interserie is the name of a European-based motorsport series created in 1970 by German Gerhard Härle. Interserie was inspired by English races of the 60s for Group 7 cars and by the Nordic Challenge Cup which had run in 1969 in both Finland and Sweden.
Initially Intersie used the Group 7 formula similar to that used by CanAm. Later the series would evolve into open-wheel cars as well as Group C sports cars.
Besides the Canadian-American Challenge Cup and Interserie an action packed weekend weekend will feature 13 races. As part of the anniversary celebrations there will be demonstration races with numerous additional Interserie vehicles. Porsche 908 and 917 sports prototypes will feature prominently here.
The Bosch Hockenheim Historic offers a variety of Formula vehicles like no other historical event in Europe. During the special races by the Raceclub Germany Historic, spectators will be captivated by Formula 1 and Formula 2 Monoposti spanning five decades.
In addition to the special theme of “50 years of CanAm” with “Interserie meets CanAm” demonstration race, for the first time ever racers will be competing for the Herbert Linge Trophy as part of the Bosch Hockenheim Historic. In commemoration of the extraordinarily versatile achievements of the Porsche veteran, the Porsche Centre in Mannheim, Penske Sportwagenzentrum GmbH, will be awarding this cup.
Linge, who will be there in person, will be honoured with numerous exhibits from the Porsche Museum. Besides all this cars of the H&R Cup, the special touring car trophy, and the Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge, DRM and DTM vehicles from different eras will be sizing up against one another.
Family-friendly admission prices make for a perfect motorsport weekend. Tickets for the Oldtimer show are already available in advance from 10 EUR.
For more information on Bosch Hockenheim Historic, please go to: www.hockenheim-historic.de
