Editors: Marcel Visbeen, Dennis Drenthe, Mattijs Diepraam. Feedback: feedback#carelgodindebeaufort.nl (# = @). This tribute site is in no way connected to the Beaufort family.

1959 Spa GP

Grand Prix de Spa

Spa-Francorchamps

May 3, 1959

Carel Godin de Beaufort

Porsche 718 RSK

No: 3

Q:

R: 1

C:

After practice Carel considered that if it would rain on race day, he might stand a chance against the factory Porsches of Paul Frère and Bino Heins, who were on the front row of the grid. It didn't rain, but Heins eliminated himself after a huge first-lap shunt at Eau Rouge. His car somersaulted a few times and the Brazilian was narrowly able to crawl from under the wreckage while the drivers following took evasive action. Miraculously Heins suffered only minor injuries and the other cars survived without a scratch, but pole sitter Frère, the only one not involved in the incident, had already disappeared in the distance.

At the end of the first lap Argentinean Alejandro de Tomaso in the OSCA was second and Carel was third. On the fifth lap Frère retired with rear suspension failure and Carel managed to overtake De Tomaso, thus gaining the lead in the race. De Tomaso kept up with Carel, however, and was close to his tail until the OSCA had to back off with overheating problems.

So Belgian Porsche driver Goethals gained second and de Tomaso's wife Isabelle Haskell, driving the second OSCA, was in third place. After Haskell managed to pass the Belgian, he seemed to overdo it in his haste to get back at her and crashed the Porsche, promoting Piper's Lotus to third. All that was of minor importance to Carel who drove his RSK to victory. With this victory he won a lot of respect from the Dutch automobile press, who didn't have many native victories to celebrate in those days.

a complete account of his races

This section features all the events that Carel ran in - it tells you all about his results and the way he scored them.