Founded in the year nineteen twenty-four February 1980

of the European Championship, sharing with Jochen
Mass. The car was quicker than the Capris — in fact it
started off the season quicker as well, but I think it was
never developed in Germany because they wanted the
Capri to win. Earlier in the year we had the flywheel
fall off four times in a row, so I don’t think they cared
much for our little Escort. Anyway we were doing well
at Jarama, and it was obvious we were going to win
when Neerpasch suddenly ordered that I be pulled
out to be replaced by Mass, who had been asked to go
slower and let the Capris win. [Ford in Cologne recall
that Mass still had a chance of improving his European
Championship position — J.W.] I was not at all happy
about this, and I let Neerpasch know it: after a lot of
to and froing before the 1972 season, I think this was
the main reason I did not gel to drive for Ford Cologne
again until 1973.”
Fitzpatrick started 1972 with an outing at Daytona
in John Buffum’s Broadspeed-built Escort, Buffum now a
regular rally performer who appeared in Britain driving
the Leyland TR7 on last year’s RAG. At Daytona John
Fitzpatrick met up again with Erwin Kremer, who he
had driven against when he was in the Pon 911, and
who continued to support the Porsche marque. Kremer
particularly remembered John’s per¬formances in the
Escort and the Pon 911.
Thus it was that John Fitzpatrick appeared at a wet
Nurburgring for his first appearance with the Kremer
Porsche camp. As in ail good stories, John won that
first race comfortably, but even then he would have
been surprised to learn that, with the exception of a
couple of years, the Stuttgart marque and the German
Championship, or European series, were to provide such
a consistent living.
In 1972 he went on to secure both the Porsche Cup
and European title for Kremer’s two-car team, but he also
struck a very significant blow against Ford as well. When
Neerpasch and Braungart moved from Ford to BMW
they decided on supporting the private BMW runners in
the fight against the Ford Capris, now run by Michael
Kranefuss. This meant John’s win with Stommelen
and Heyer in the 1972 Nurburgring 6 hours was pretty
important, not least for the Schnitzer brothers, who ran
the silver BMW CSi. For the first lime that season the
Capris had been beaten, and on home ground.
Fitzpatrick had started the year intending to
drive the Broadspeed/Cooper Car Co. BMW coupe,
which MOTOR SPORT tested, as it did the Broadspeed
Escort BDA of the previous season, but that was axed
after providing an encouraging third place at a snowy
Salzburgring.
“Fitz” took up the story of 1973 with an admission,
“I made a big mistake. Porsche had decided to develop
the Carrera (it appeared under Martini sponsorship in
silver primarily) and asked me to drive. I thought they
would only do a couple of races and so I chose the
offer from Ford, because I knew I would get at least the
European Touring Car Championship races, plus Le
Mans. As it turned out Porsche did a lot more than they
had originally planned. I think I would have gone on to a
couple of years in the 936s with a real chance of winning
Le Mans, which is still one of my ambitions. That was
a big error, but I did try and do both . . . Ford would
not agree to me driving the factory Porsche on the one
occasion that the dates did clash, though.”
Forthrightly John explained the 1973 season, one
in which the now 3-litre Cologne-prepared Capris went
under to the Munich BMWs. “That year the Capri was
simply the worst car I have driven. It used to two-wheel
everywhere: there was no feeling in the brakes, steering,
or anything! As soon as the BMWs appeared with their
wings that was that, we had no chance.
“I remember that famous incident where Frank
Gardner tried the Capri at Silverstone and said what a
pig it was. They said it was the axle out of alignment, but
I couldn’t feel any difference when they said they’d put
it right! Even Jackie Stewart,
when he drove at Monza, came back and said he
could not slide it accurately so there was no information
he could give them on the car.”
Despite the disappointments of 1973 Fitzpatrick
was expecting to sign with Ford again in 1974, but the
completed contract was never counter-signed by the
German PR chief of the period, necessary to make it
valid. Fitzpatrick finally forced the issue and discovered
how embarrassed the company were by the fuel crisis,
running two cars in a reduced programme. “So I got in
my car and went back into Cologne itself to find Georg
Loos and his office. I had a letter from Georg the day
before I left for Cologne, asking what I was doing.
“Now Loos had never signed a driver before for
his Porsche and the arrangement was the same as for
Kremer. Share the long distance races and have my own
car for the German Championship sprint events.
“I came second, first in the first two races with
the Loos Porsche. When it came to sharing, Georg was
incredibly slow, which I had half expected anyway, but it
was so upsetting for him that we had terrible problems.”
Fitzpatrick grinned cheerfully and recounted how he quit
in mid-season and went back to Kremer. “Then Kremer
gave me a bad engine deliberately so that his other
driver, Paul Keller (who had promised a lot of money
for the following season) could win the title that year.
I went hack to Loos, and never had the same problems
with Georg again: I think he actually respected me more
for walking out on him, because people simply don’t do
that to Georg Loos.”
In fact Fitzpatrick spent the 1975, 78 and 79 seasons
with Loos, leaving 1976 to the Hermetite Group 5 BMW
3.5 CSL. The 1977 season was to be split between Jaguar
and a return to the Kremer Porsche fold.
Over those years appearing in Germany. Fitzpatrick
has become immensely popular. As well as running
consistently in the top three, John’s able command of
German made for much better relationships all round:
in fact when Jaguar were appearing at the ring in 1977
John provided commentary in German as well as driving
(briefly!). This was really another example of liking what
he could do well, for five years’
German at school left him willing to try the
language out from his first drives with the Cologne
Escort. “It seems to be some kind of class thing. The
managers usually speak English in the German teams,
but the mechanics do not, so I tried it out first on the
Ford boys. With Kremer it was essential and I found it a
natural thing to do thereafter.”
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