Lost Circuits: A History of the Fortaleza street races

Fortaleza

Prior to declaring independence in November 1975 (when a 26 year civil war erupted), the Portuguese colony of Angola was a hot bed of African motor racing.

Permanent tracks at Benguela and Luanda were opened in 1972 before which a multitude of street circuits were used including Huamba (Nova Lisboa), Mocamedes and Sumbe (Novo Redondo).

The events that attracted arguably the best fields though were hosted at the Fortaleza street circuit in Angola’s capital city, Luanda.

Racing took place on a 3km track around the Saint Michael Fortress that was built by the Portuguese in 1576 as the administrative centre of the colony. The start and finish line was on the picturesque Seaside Avenue and, aside from its rather high kerbs, the circuit was popular with drivers.

Angolan GP

After some minor races were held between 1959 and 1961, Fortaleza became the scene of the Angolan Grand Prix from 1962 through to 1965. A strong contingent of European drivers made the trip attracted by free transportation, good starting money and a substantial prize fund, all of which was organised by the government.

A series of touring car races for local drivers normally preceded the Grand Prix, for which much of the city was closed down.

Well over 100,000 spectators attended each year, many of whom were positioned on the mountainside opposite the pits. The flag was usually dropped by the chairman of the local automobile club, who also happened to be the local mafia kingpin.

1962

The first Angolan Grand Prix at Fortaleza was held on December 2nd 1962. It was won by Lucien Bianchi driving a Ferrari 250 GTO.

The winning GTO was entered by Ecurie Francorchamps who would become the biggest supporter of the Grand Prix up until 1965; the Belgian outfit typically sent three or four cars every year.

Placing second in the 100 lap race was Hermann Muller with his Porsche 718 RS. Third spot went to David Piper who was a lap down in his privateer 250 GTO.

1963

For the 1963 event (held on October 6th) the top two positions were reversed as Muller’s Porsche finished a lap ahead of Bianchi’s GTO.

Local Angolan driver, Alvaro Lopes, was third in his Maserati 300 S as some of the more fancied runners retired.

1964

A third different winner in as many years saw victory fall to Willy Mairesse driving a Francorchamps Ferrari 250 LM on November 29th 1964. Bianchi was second in the sister LM and Gerhard Koch rounded out the podium in his Porsche 904 GTS.

1965

The final running of the Angolan Grand Prix at Fortaleza came in 1965 and was held on 28th November. This last event had another super grid of cars with no less than seven Ferrari 250 LMs on hand.

However, it was the Ferrari 365 P2 of David Piper that took the win.

Herbert Muller was second for Scuderia Filipinetti and Pierre Dumay took third for Ecurie Francorchamps (both driving 250 LMs).

Subsequent History

After 1965, racing at Fortaleza became infrequent with the circuit only hosting a couple of comparatively minor events once government support was withdrawn.

Between 1965 and 1974, the political climate in Angola grew ever more unstable as the Portuguese regime came under attack from emerging nationalist movements.

In 1974, a military coup brought the increasingly bloody conflict to an end, but within months, internal factions began fighting amongst themselves; the opposing sides were backed by the Soviet Union and United States as a proxy for the Cold War.

Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed