‘He carried all of our hopes’ was the headline of Stefan Bellof’s obituary in German motorsport magazine Rallye Racing [xx Titel kursiv], following his death on 1 September 1985 at Spa-Francorchamps. And those hopes were high. A lot of people had been inspired by the young man from Giessen, with his cheerful manner, his spectacular driving style and his incredible commitment. His career was far too short, yet he still made it to the highest level, and his rise had been very quick. For Bellof, everything seemed to happen in fast forward.
The early 1980s were tough for German Formula 1 fans. Hans-Joachim Stuck’s F1 career had come to an end after the depressing 1979 season that yielded just two points for the ATS squad. Jochen Mass had returned to F1 in 1982 after a year off, but had no chance in the uncompetitive March-Ford. There was, however, hope on the horizon as Stefan Bellof won the 1982 European Formula 2 Championship opener at Silverstone. For his home race, the Jim Clark Race at Hockenheim, he put his Maurer-BMW on pole, even though the circuit with its long straights was more suited to the powerful V6 Honda motors. In the race, Thierry Boutsen charged into the lead early on, but that only lasted six laps, before Bellof took charge again and beat Boutsen by more than five seconds after the full 30 laps. Two races, two wins. Bellof had made a dream start to his F2 career. Of course, the F1 paddock took notice.
In the mid-1960s, two brothers found a new favourite toy in the yard of their parents’ panel shop: a 260 Goggomobil microcar. Georg and Stefan Bellof had been through football, skiing, squash and tennis. Now it was time to go racing. The old car didn’t last long before it ended up on the scrap heap. But the passion for motorsport had been awakened. Support in a family that loved racing was plentiful. Their grandfather had raced before the war, on a bicycle for the Opel team. Their father had taken part in hillclimbs.
Eventually, their grandfather caved in and bought the boys a cheap kart from a fun fair. In no time, ‘Goa’ Bellof and his brother Stefan (younger by a year and a half) were setting lap records around the company premises. Their mother once described the differing natures of the boys: ‘When Stefan and Georg were skiing and the slalom course opened for inspection, Georg would walk the course, very focussed, and then ski down it with confidence. Stefan, on the other hand, would end up in a snowball fight or something, and would then either win the slalom or mow down every single pole.’ …
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by Thomas Guthmann und René de Boer
Photographs: Collection Guthmann, Hans Schmidt, McKlein, Kräling, Müllender, Renault