Although entries were unsurprisingly depleted by the competing attractions of an FIA Lurani round at Dijon on the same days, this event was a fantastic opportunity to sample both the Nordschleife and the latest incarnation of the Nurburgring’s history, the modern Grand Prix circuit on which we were to race. In fact, judging by the rate of FJ retirements over the course of the weekend, there were too many opportunities to sample the track – nearly two and a half hours of touring, practice, qualifying and racing taking their toll on gearboxes, driveshafts, clutches and engines.

On Friday morning, mist and patches of dense fog hung over the region as cars set off around the 14.7 miles of twists, turns, crests and dips of the charismatic old circuit that winds its’ way through the Eifel Mountains. It was somehow fitting that the pine forests were partially obscured by cloud suspended just above track level and that the conditions changed markedly between Adenau Village and The Flugplatz.  All too soon the reality of a more normal race environment kicked in. FJs were in the minority at this event but with a long, wide, GP spec circuit and a smallish field, there was plenty of room for everybody and the speed differentials caused few problems.

Ellie Duvetter elected to run his Stanguellini only in the Parade laps of the Nordschliefe and Horst Niggemann withdrew before practice when his Lotus 20’s gearbox proved reluctant to select gears other than 3rd and 4th. Of the other FJ entrants, Peter Hinderer loaned his FF Lotus 51A in the invitation class to his son who initially showed great prowess until a flailing driveshaft curtailed his weekend while Geoff Williams was unable to attend with his Lotus 20. The F3s were also in the wars with Grant Saunders retiring his March 703 even before free practice with oil pump failure and resultant engine damage during warm up.

Qualifying saw the pattern of the weekend established early with David Methley’s Merlyn comfortably fastest ahead of Roland Fischer’s Tecno and the Chevron of Francois Derossi – fresh from his great drive in the recent Monaco Historique F3 race. Leading the much reduced FJ field was Peter Anstiss’s Lotus 20/22 which had been involved in a coming together with Stuart Tizzard’s Chevron B15C. Fortunately, after the application of numerous pop rivets and a few kilometres of Duck Tape, the car was serviceable for the rest of the weekend. The other Juniors had even more problems to contend with as Marcus Rollinger’s Stanguellini ran erratically throughout and Lars-Goran Sjoberg’s Swebe-Cooper required an overnight engine change.

Race 1 was held on Saturday afternoon in dry but chilly conditions. The lap chart  showed David Methley in command throughout with Roland Fischer and Max Blees (Brabham BT15) taking the top three slots after Francois’ challenge evaporated on lap 12 with a rocker shaft failure. Peter Anstiss came home 7th overall to win the FJ section of the race. Poor Lars Goran was sidelined with a puncture – having solved an earlier problem with a burnt through vacuum pipe. Marcus Rollinger was classified as a finisher even though his mount also expired prematurely.

Race 2 had a quite different feel to it as rain threatened to change the established order –however, despite ominous dark clouds, the track remained dry, much to the chagrin of Jim Chapman who had gambled on new wet tyres for his beautiful ex-Bev Bond Gold Leaf liveried Lotus 59 only to find them so out of balance on the warm up lap that he had to retire. It was another flag to flag win for David Methley whose extensive experience of preparation, set-up and driving enabled him dominate once again. Although Roland was a comfortable second, third was hotly contested throughout with Max Blees, Ferdinand Gustafson's Brabham BT18 and Francois Derosssi separated by less than a second at the flag after 30 minutes of great racing. With Lars-Goran non-starting and Marco experiencing further engine dramas, it was left to P.Anstiss to uphold Formula Junior honours as the only finisher in the FJ race.

Peter Anstiss