1963 Belgian GP
Grand Prix de Belgique, Grote Prijs van België |
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Monte Carlo |
June 9, 1963 |
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Ecurie Maarsbergen |
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Porsche 718 (201) |
No: 29 |
Q: 18 |
R: 6 |
C: GP |
During practice Carel blew the engine of his Porsche and he was sure that he was out of the race. He had a replacement engine block, but it was back at the Porsche factory in Stuttgart. In the Spa pits he met Porsche employee André Loubser and together they made a stout plan to go to the factory, fetch the engine, and bring it to Spa so Carel could start the Grand Prix. Carel took off with André, his mechanic Jan Dijkstra and his girlfriend Evelyn Delis in his huge Chevrolet Impala (with Venezuelan registration so he didn't have to pay taxes).
They arrived at the factory gates around midnight to find nobody there except for two guard dogs. In the distance they could just make out the guard sleeping in his hut. Carel climbed over the gate and that bold move of the giant Dutchman somehow scared off the dogs. They woke up the guard and persuaded him to call Dr. Porsche himself. Carel asked Porsche for help but Porsche didn't like to be woken up in the middle of the night and told Carel to figure out something for himself. The problem was that Carel didn't know exactly where to find his engine in the large factory.
They decided to wake another Porsche worker: Erich Bett, who was a service advisor. Bett took them to the engine and during the night he rebuilt the engine while Carel watched his every move in disarray and hope.
By four in the morning Carel could finally head back to Spa with his engine in the back of the Impala. During the first hours Carel's mechanic Jan took the wheel, while the others slept. When Carel woke up he realised that Jan had messed up and that they were heading the wrong way. The thought that this would cost him the Belgium Grand Prix after all angered him so much that he brutally threw Jan out of the car and sat himself behind the wheel, leaving Jan in the middle of Germany, without a wallet or passport.
A few hours later the Chevy reached the Belgian border with its rear axle almost hitting the asphalt under the heavy weight of the Porsche engine in the boot. It was at that moment that Carel realised he didn't have papers to show to customs for the engine which they where in fact importing into Belgium. They didn’t have a particularly good story: here were a Dutchman and a South African in an American Chevrolet with Venezuela licence plates carrying a German engine into Belgium without any paperwork! Luckily, before the customs could ask if they had anything to declare they recognised De Beaufort and being race fans they waved the car through.
With less than an hour to go before the start Carel's other mechanic Arie Anssems was able to start building the engine into the Porsche. Just before the start Jan came into the pits to help him. He told Carel that he'd hitchhiked and was smuggled across the border in a trunk. Carel and Jan shook hands and laughed off their earlier quarrel.
In the end Carel was able too take the start in the rain and he managed to finish in sixth place. It was probably the hardest fought World championship point ever.
