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117-645: The car made its debut at the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans with a four car entry. Jean-Pierre Beltoise / Piers Courage in the MS650, Jean Guichet / Nino Vaccarella in the MS630, Nanni Galli / Robin Widdows and Johnny Servoz-Gavin / Herbert Müller were both in the MS630/650. Beltoise/Courage finished fourth followed by Guichet/Vaccarella in fifth, Galli/Widdows seventh but Servoz-Gavin/Müller retired when an electrical circuit failed. For

234-566: A 1275cc Mini Cooper S engine, while the Piper GTR had a 1300cc Ford engine. Smallest car in the field was the Abarth 1000SP After their excellent result in the previous year's race, Alfa Romeo 's Autodelta works team was favourites for a class-win. However, the team withdrew after the death of their lead-driver and 1968 race-winner, Lucien Bianchi , at the March test weekend trialing the new Tipo 33/3 –

351-461: A 2011 article in the British magazine Motor Sport , that he was glad he did not win the 1970 World Championship. He did not want to win against a man who could not defend his chances, referring to the deceased Rindt. In 1971, Ickx and Ferrari started as favourites, but the championship went to Jackie Stewart with the new Tyrrell . Ferrari traditionally started the season with its full attention on

468-468: A 3-hour pitstop to change heads and gaskets. 'Taf' Gosselin got it wrong approaching the Ford chicane, going straight on and crashing although the driver escaped without injury. The big Alpines had been plagued by engine issues, and just after midnight the last one suffered head gasket failure. At the 2am halfway mark Elford/Attwood had done 192 laps, four ahead of Schütz/Mitter and Lins/Kauhsen (187), then back to

585-494: A 5 litre engine capacity limit, it was reasoned that it would not be a difference as the cars were not usually as competitive as the Group 6 Prototypes (which were limited to 3 litres). This however, left a large flaw in the system for big manufacturers with the resources to exploit the regulations. Porsche were able to construct 25 chassis of their new 917 prototype, with its 4.5-litre engine, to get it homologated for Group 4. This year

702-728: A BMW 2000TI to win the Spa 24 Hours endurance race in his native Belgium. In 1967, Ickx won the 1000km of Spa with Dick Thompson in the Gulf -liveried JW Automotive Mirage M1. In 1968, Ickx won the Brands Hatch six-hour endurance race partnered with Brian Redman in a John Wyer entered Ford GT40 Mk1 . Ickx would go on to win the Brands race on a further three occasions, in 1972 for Ferrari alongside Mario Andretti and 1977 and 1982 driving Porsches with Jochen Mass and Derek Bell respectively. Ickx won

819-453: A bad practice when its Dino collided with its Daytona stablemate approaching the Mulsanne corner, putting both cars out for the race. A curious incident happened in practice when Bonnier pitted his Lola and got out covered in blood and feathers. Apparently he had hit a bird and it had been sucked through a cooling vent into the cockpit. With the proviso that all cars had to qualify within 85% of

936-458: A broken headlight then clipped a Porsche 911 on Mulsanne, getting bodywork damage. But come the daylight he and Beltoise pushed hard to close in on the Fords. At 6am, as a heavy mist came down over the circuit the leaders had a 5-lap lead and there were only 19 cars still running. The 1.5L Alpine, of Killy/Wollek, had been running very quickly and steadily moving up the order to as high as 11th leading

1053-419: A car leaving the track. Sandbanks were replaced by barriers. Into the second year of the new 3-litre regulations for Group 6 Prototypes, the initial entries closed with 109 applications – the biggest number in the past decade. However, after the requisite culling 60 cars were accepted, but a number of withdrawals meant only 51 practiced with non-starters reducing the final grid to only 45, the smallest field in

1170-440: A colleague as having said its power "scared the pants off me". Porsche racing manager Rico Steinemann was quoted as having pled with Woolfe before the race to allow his works-driver teammate Herbert Linge to drive the first stint, but he demurred. Woolfe crashed approaching Maison Blanche when he got two wheels on the grass and lost control. He was thrown free of the car as it spun, rolled, hit an embankment, and exploded. Woolfe

1287-497: A competitive new Lotus was ready to race. Ickx did not compete in Formula One for the remainder of 1975. It seemed that the end of Ickx's career was near. After Fittipaldi left McLaren , Ickx was thought likely to get the drive, but tobacco company promoter John Hogan preferred James Hunt . In 1976 Ickx began the season with Wolf–Williams Racing (then entering as "Frank Williams Racing Cars"), but after three races signed with

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1404-488: A cracked weld in its gearbox stopped it for good. Within a matter of minutes, the Ickx/Oliver Ford now found itself in the lead. The Herrmann/Larrousse Porsche had been driving hard making up time and when the other Wyer Ford lost two laps changing its rear brakes it moved up to second place. Going into the final hour after their final pit-stops, both teams put their best drivers in the cars. Ickx and Herrmann were now on

1521-545: A degree of respectability only with a 7th in Spain and a good drive to 10th out of 19 finishers in the French GP in a car which, in the estimate of James Hunt and Chris Amon , was worse than useless. Nevertheless, for a large payment from Wolf, Amon agreed to swap drives with Ickx and Ickx raced the rest of the season in the fast and fragile Lotus styled Ensign N176, in which design Amon had suffered horrific breakages at Zolder and in

1638-513: A difficult period awaited. Lotus had problems replacing the successful but ageing Lotus 72 (which debuted in 1970) with the troublesome Lotus 76 and, during the opening races of the championship, Ickx only managed a solitary third place in Brazil . Ickx demonstrated that he was still the Rain Master when he won the non-championship Race of Champions at Brands Hatch after having passed Niki Lauda on

1755-721: A driver, such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Monterey Historics , usually on behalf of Porsche and Ferrari . He still acts as the Clerk of the Course for the Monaco Grand Prix and is still a resident of Brussels . Jacky Ickx is married to singer Khadja Nin . The couple were guests at the wedding of Prince Albert of Monaco and Charlene Wittstock in July 2011. Ickx became

1872-480: A lead for the rest of a lap. But by strange timing the cars crossed the line with less than a minute to go and had to go around one more time. The Ford had only ever done 23 laps on a tank of fuel, but now needed an extra lap. So on the last lap, Ickx let Herrmann pass him early on the Mulsanne Straight, faking a lack of power from fuel starvation. Ickx used the slipstream of Herrmann to pass him again just before

1989-645: A low-drag coupé specially for the Le Mans, the Matra 640, bearing a resemblance to his Panhard CD designs but with the Matra 3-litre V12 engine. Not ready in time for the March test weekend, Matra was able to get a special test in April. Henri Pescarolo took to the track, but at the first kilometres on the Mulsanne Straight , the car got airborne, doing a 360° loop, before smashing into roadside trees and catching fire. Pescarolo

2106-558: A major accident on the first lap with Mario Andretti . He survived but had broken his arm in three places. The race had also marked the return to racing of Henri Pescarolo, in an F2 Matra, after his test-accident. Finally, Jacques Loste, race director of the ACO since 1957, retired later in the year. His successor was the manufacturer/engineer, and Le Mans veteran, Charles Deutsch . Results taken from Quentin Spurring's book, officially licensed by

2223-608: A pair of privateer 910s in the 2-litre Prototype class. After a tight season last year, Ford were no longer as competitive as their Porsche rivals. Although the GT40 was showing its age, five were entered. John Wyer 's J.W. Automotive, managed by David Yorke, chose not to run the disappointing Group 6 Mirage M2s and instead entered two of the cars they ran in the previous year's race. They kept their regular driving combinations: Jacky Ickx / Jackie Oliver and David Hobbs / Mike Hailwood . There were also entries for Alan Mann Racing and

2340-570: A privateer Porsche while waiting to join the Ferrari in 1986, which had promised him a seat after his performance in Monaco, similar to what they had done for Lauda after he outclassed Ickx there in 1973. At Spa, Ickx's home track, the young German in the private Porsche 956 of Walter Brun tried to pass the experienced Belgian in the factory Porsche 962 for first place after being behind Ickx for three laps. At Eau Rouge corner , Bellof attempted to pass from

2457-530: A race-debut for Reinhold Joest , as a driver. After an inauspicious debut in 1967, the Lola T70 Mk 3 had gradually improved, and with sufficient production now completed to put it into the Sports category, it could run the far more reliable, race-proven, Chevrolet 5-litre V8 engine. The new Mk 3B, designed by Eric Broadley , was the first racing car to use the new ultralight, ultra-strong, carbon-fibre . A victory in

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2574-429: A record six times at the 24h race at Le Mans, becoming known as "Monsieur Le Mans". Three of the wins were with Derek Bell : this would become one of the most legendary partnerships. In 2005, Tom Kristensen surpassed Ickx's record and when Kristensen announced his proposed retirement at the end of the 2014 season had nine victories. From 1976 on, he was a factory driver for Porsche and their new turbocharged race cars,

2691-497: A resident of Monaco in the early 1980s. Ickx's father Jacques Ickx (1910–1978) and older brother Pascal Ickx (born 1937) were racing drivers. His daughter, Vanina Ickx (from his first marriage with Catherine Ickx ) followed in her father's footsteps to become a racing driver as well. Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) † Events with 2 races staged for

2808-704: A testing accident, Ickx's results improved: Alan Henry suggests that Ickx performed better with the whole team focussed on him. Ickx finished third in France , second in Great Britain and won in Canada and in Germany at the Nürburgring, where he also took pole position and fastest lap, in the last Formula One race there before 'The Ring' was made less bumpy and dangerous. In the 1969 Mexican Grand Prix Ickx finished second and ended

2925-527: A utility pole. Ickx unbuckled his seat belt and stepped unharmed from the wrecked Porsche. Later in the month, Enzo Ferrari sold sufficient stock holdings in his company to the Fiat S.p.A. to raise their share to 50%. In another bad year for motorsport accidents, the Porsche works team lost two of their drivers at August's German Grand Prix Gerhard Mitter, driving an F2 BMW was killed in practise. Then Vic Elford had

3042-405: A works Lola was third-quickest with a 3:35.2. The power of the new Porsche 917 was shown by Stommelen on the first night of practice when he put in a blistering lap of 3:22.9 to take pole position. This was over 2 seconds faster than the sister car of Vic Elford. It was also 0.7 seconds faster than the lap record held by the big Mark IVs of Denny Hulme and Mario Andretti in 1967 (set without

3159-529: Is a Belgian former racing driver , who competed in Formula One from 1966 to 1979 . Ickx twice finished runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1969 and 1970 , and won eight Grands Prix across 14 seasons. In endurance racing , Ickx won two World Endurance Championships with Porsche and is a six-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans , as well as a two-time winner of

3276-520: The 12 Hours of Sebring . In rallying , Ickx won the Paris–Dakar Rally in 1983 with Mercedes . Born and raised in Brussels , Ickx started his career in motorcycle road racing and trials , winning several national and continental titles in the latter discipline. Progressing to touring car racing in the mid-1960s, Ickx won multiple titles before winning the 24 Hours of Spa in 1966. Attracting

3393-496: The 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans , his first victory in that race. This race also saw the first appearance of the Porsche 917 at Le Mans, which was regarded by far as the favourite. The Ford GT40 that Ickx drove with Jackie Oliver appeared at that time to be an obsolete car, outperformed by the new Porsche 917 but also by the older Porsche 908 and the new generation of 3-litre prototypes from Ferrari , Matra and Alfa Romeo . As Ickx

3510-559: The 24 Hours of Le Mans Beltoise/Pescarolo in the new Matra-Simca MS660 , Brabham/Cevert and Patrick Depailler / Jean-Pierre Jabouille / Tim Schenken were both in the MS650 but all three cars retired with engine failure. The team skipped the final two race of the 1970 season, the Watkins Glen 6 Hours and Austrian 1000km . In the International Championship for Makes , Matra had scored four points, earning it fourth place in

3627-486: The 24 Hours of Le Mans six times, a record which stood until 2005 . He also won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1969 and 1972, and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1972 alongside Mario Andretti , making him the fourth driver to complete the Triple Crown of endurance racing . Ickx won two World Endurance Championships in 1982 and 1983 with Porsche . He retired from endurance racing in 1985 , following his involvement in

Matra-Simca MS650 - Misplaced Pages Continue

3744-407: The 935 and especially the 936 sports car, which he drove to wins in Le Mans three times. These drives, as well as the losing effort in 1978, often in the rain and at night, were some of the finest ever. Ickx considers the 1977 24 Hours of Le Mans race to be his favourite win of all time. Retiring earlier on in another Porsche 936, which he shared with Henri Pescarolo , the team transferred him to

3861-609: The ACO Class Winners are in Bold text. Taken from Moity's book. Taken from Quentin Spurring's book, officially licensed by the ACO As calculated after Le Mans, Round 8 of 10 La Ronde Infernale: Le Mans 1969 (commissioned by Castrol ) Jacky Ickx Jacques Bernard Edmon Martin Henri " Jacky " Ickx ( French pronunciation: [ʒaki iks] ; born 1 January 1945)

3978-468: The Austrian Grand Prix it was Ickx that took the win. At Monza , Rindt died in an accident during qualifying. Ickx was the only driver with a chance to take the championship from Rindt who had already won five of nine races in that season, with four more to go. Monza saw a win by Ferrari teammate Clay Regazzoni while Ickx's car broke down. The Belgian took the win at Canada and if he could win at

4095-575: The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) brought the start-time forward to 2pm, to allow time for the largely French crowd to still be able to get to vote in the Presidential Elections on the Sunday afternoon. New Armco crash barriers were installed around the circuit, including on the Mulsanne Straight , where there was previously no protection from the trees, houses and embankments in the event of

4212-580: The Dutch Grand Prix in 1971 and the German Grand Prix in 1972 , but left the team halfway through the 1973 season over the performance of the Ferrari 312B3 . After one-off appearances for McLaren and Williams , Ickx joined Lotus in 1974 , but left after less than two seasons with the team. He returned to the sport with Wolf–Williams in 1976 , swapping seats with Chris Amon at Ensign from

4329-444: The Dutch Grand Prix onwards. After intermittent appearances for Ensign over the next three seasons, Ickx joined Ligier in 1979 , replacing an injured Patrick Depailler at the final eight Grands Prix of the season. Struggling to adapt to the ground effect era , Ickx retired from Formula One at the conclusion of the 1979 season with eight race wins, 13 pole positions, 14 fastest laps and 25 podiums. Outside of Formula One, Ickx won

4446-459: The German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in a McLaren , and scored a sterling third place behind the all-conquering Tyrrells of Stewart and François Cevert . Ickx returned to Ferrari for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza again finishing eighth but drove for Williams in the 1973 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen finishing seventh. When Ickx signed with Team Lotus in 1974,

4563-464: The International Championship for Makes , and were strong favourites to achieve their first outright win. More than one-third of the starting cars were Porsches, and the mighty 917s held the lead for 90% of the race. But when the Elford/Attwood car's gearbox broke at 11 a.m., it was the Ford of Ickx and Jackie Oliver that took over the lead. The race ended in a 3-hour sprint, with the Ford battling

4680-774: The Monza round. As well as the three works cars, there was one for their regular customer team, the Ecurie Savin-Calberson. The two teams, alongside another French privateer team, Trophée Le Mans, ran four of the A210 in the smaller Prototype classes including one for French ski-champions Jean-Claude Killy and Bob Wollek . After a strong showing in the 1968 race, the French team Matra gave up its Formula 1 development (leaving it to Ken Tyrrell 's Matra International) to focus on its sports-car program. Aerodynamic engineer Robert Choulet designed

4797-597: The Nürburgring . Ickx entered his first Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in 1966, driving a Matra MS5 - Cosworth one-litre Formula Two (F2) car, entered by Ken Tyrrell . However, a first lap collision with John Taylor at Flugplatz caused both cars to retire and Taylor later died as a result of burns received in the accident, after his car caught fire. In 1967, Ickx again drove at the Nurburgring, with an F2 Matra MS7 -Cosworth 1.6-litre, also entered by Tyrrell. Despite

Matra-Simca MS650 - Misplaced Pages Continue

4914-520: The Oreca team who were running a Mazda 787B for Mazdaspeed in 1991 . Ickx was also selected to participate in the 1978 and 1984 editions of the International Race of Champions . Although he had never driven a stock car before, Ickx was entered to race in the 1969 Daytona 500 , in a car owned by Junior Johnson . A few days before the race, Ickx crashed the car during practice, and although he

5031-599: The Swedish GP . For most of the Dutch GP, Ickx moved through the field, running the third fastest lap and on most laps was the fastest car in the race. With a newer Cosworth engine, Ickx probably would have won, but the under-maintained engine expired ten laps from the end. In the Italian race, Ickx drove at competitive pace in a Grand Prix for the last time, when he finished tenth, only 30 seconds behind winner Ronnie Peterson , hard on

5148-549: The Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp Ickx failed to qualify. In 1979, he ended his career as a Grand Prix driver at Ligier , standing in for the injured Patrick Depailler , gaining a fifth and sixth, but finding the ground effect cars dangerous and disconcerting, ill-suited to his precise style. Outside of Formula One, Ickx continued to win races in various sports car series, which he had decided to concentrate on exclusively. In 1966, Ickx teamed up with Hubert Hahne in

5265-481: The 1969 6 Hours of Watkins Glen , Matra entered two cars for Servoz-Gavin/ Pedro Rodriguez in the MS650 and Guichet/Widdows in the MS630/650. Servoz-Gavin/Rodriguez finished fourth and Guichet/Widdows retired with a broken clutch. For the final race of the 1969 season, the 1000km of Zeltweg , Matra only entered Servoz-Gavin/Rodriguez but the car retired through accident. In the International Championship for Makes , Matra had scored six points, earning it fifth place in

5382-460: The 1969 race entirely. By May the necessary 25 chassis were completed for homologation, intended to be sold to private racing teams at $ 35,000 each. The first was purchased by a private interest by the time of the Le Mans race, that of Briton John Woolfe. The cars had their first race at Spa, and three works entries were at Le Mans in langheck (longtail) form for Vic Elford / Richard Attwood and Rolf Stommelen / Kurt Ahrens , with Herbert Linge in

5499-436: The 1969 start, eventual winner Jacky Ickx famously staged his own one-man protest by walking to his car, and taking his time doing up his belts. Meanwhile, privateer John Woolfe ran with the other drivers, flipped his car on the opening lap near Maison Blanche corner, and not yet strapped in properly, was killed when the car broke up. The race was one of the most exciting in the event's history. Porsche had already wrapped up

5616-586: The 917 of Elford/Attwood driving within itself and still leading the 908 of Lins/Kauhsen. The Wyer Fords were 3rd and 4th with the Herrmann/Larrousse Porsche motoring back through the field, up to 5th. The remaining 312P Ferrari was in 8th with ongoing oil-leak issues splitting the three remaining Matras until it finally retired just after 5am. Through the night the Matras had had their problems: Galli spent an hour getting new fuel pumps fitted and Courage had

5733-526: The Ferraris of Rodriguez and Amon with 3:35 laps. The best Matra was Servoz-Gavin in 11th (3:36.4) and Ickx put the top Ford in 13th. The underpowered Alpines were well off the pace of their contemporaries with qualifying laps in the 3:45s putting them midfield. The top 2-litre car was the Gosselin/Bourgoignie Alfa Romeo in 27th (4:09.8) with the first 911 doing 4:28.2 to qualify 35th. NART had

5850-411: The Ford chicane present). Despite a top speed over 20 km/h slower than the Fords, this was achieved with the great advances in downforce. In the end, Porsche chose to only race two of their three 917s. Woolfe had busted his engine in practise grabbing 1st instead of 3rd but was able to get a replacement one from Porsche. The Porsche 908s of Jo Siffert and Rudi Lins were third and fourth then came

5967-518: The Fords (both 184 laps) and the Vaccarella/Guichet Matra (183). Disaster struck the Porsches at 2.45am when the team cars of Schütz (running 3rd) and Larrousse (now 8th) collided at the Mulsanne kink. Schütz's car rolled, burst into flames and almost broke in half. However the driver escaped uninjured. Larrousse's car made it to the pits with bodywork damage and was quickly repaired. Dawn saw

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6084-411: The Group 4 Sport category with one underlying goal: to win its first overall victory at Le Mans. In only ten months, the first Porsche 917 prototype was developed with a fibreglass body and Porsche's first 12-cylinder engine. Bored out to 4.5-litres, made from titanium, magnesium and exotic alloys, it produced a mighty 520 bhp. The 917 included another feature which would prove to be controversial in

6201-497: The Matra of Beltoise/Courage then the Wyer Ford of Ickx/Oliver in 6th. In the sixth hour a number of cars had problems: Herrmann was delayed for 20 minutes repairing the front suspension with parts from Siffert's car (dropping to 12th), and the Matra lost two laps fixing a faulty rear light. The leading Alpine of de Cortanze/Vinatier (running 11th) lost a wheel at Indianapolis corner. With a large crowd of observers he 'fortuitously' found

6318-454: The Porsche 917 cars proved unreliable, and none finished. The last four hours of the race turned into a duel between the Porsche 908 of Hans Herrmann / Gérard Larrousse and the Ford GT-40 of Ickx/Oliver. In the last hour, Ickx and Herrmann continually leapfrogged each other, the Porsche being faster on the straights owing to having less aerodynamic drag, while being passed again under braking as

6435-553: The Scot and the Belgian not only fought on the track, but also off the track. Stewart was constantly fighting for more safety in Formula One, while Ickx thought by doing that the challenge was taken out of the sport. In 1972, Ickx stayed at Ferrari and finished second in Spain and Monaco . After that the Ferrari only got noticed for its retirements. Yet, once again it was the Nürburgring where Ickx

6552-455: The Sports category: its 1965 race-winning 275LM car was back, with a new 365 GTB/4 in the over-2-litre class, and a Dino 206 S in the under-2-litre class. Alpine returned with its A220 , Gordini had now fuel-injected the Renault 3-litre to produce a still-underwhelming 330 bhp. Mauro Bianchi, badly injured at the 1968 race , was now the works-team manager after he failed the medical at

6669-401: The attention of Ken Tyrrell , he entered the 1966 German Grand Prix in a Matra Formula Two car, retiring after a first-lap collision with John Taylor , who later died of his injuries. Ickx returned to the race the following year , qualifying third in his Formula Two machinery and earning a Formula One drive with Cooper from the Italian Grand Prix onwards, where he finished sixth. Ickx

6786-443: The brake pads were worn and the team reckoned there was not enough time left to change them. Ickx won the race by the smallest of competitive margins ever, with less than 120 yards (110 m) between the two cars, despite having lost a bigger distance intentionally at the start. He also won his case for safety: from 1970, all drivers could start the race sitting in their cars with the belts tightened properly. In later years, Ickx won

6903-404: The burning car and he was hospitalized with severe burns. After 17 days he was back in his car at the Monaco Grand Prix , where he ran fifth before retiring with a driveshaft failure. The car started to improve and at the German Grand Prix (held at Hockenheim as his favourite Nürburgring was boycotted for safety reasons) he fought with Jochen Rindt for the win, but finished a close second. At

7020-475: The car of Jürgen Barth and Hurley Haywood which was in 42nd place. Ickx made up for lost laps to lead the race by early morning, but suffered a mechanical problem which forced the car to pit. The mechanics resolved the issue by switching off one cylinder, and Ickx went on to win the race. The win in 1982 came with the new and superior Porsche 956 model, though, which carried him to two titles as world champion of endurance racing, in 1982 and 1983. In 1983, Ickx

7137-473: The car on the Hunaudières straight , coming over the hump approaching the Mulsanne corner at over 305 km/h (190 mph). The car crashed into a telephone pole and a transformer station and exploded. Bianchi was killed instantly by the impact. From the test weekend Rolf Stommelen, in the brand new Porsche 917, recorded a 3:30.7 over three seconds quicker than Servoz-Gavin in the Matra. Paul Hawkins in

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7254-455: The car. Debris virtually blocked the road and a number of cars were affected including the Healey, Gardner's Ford and Jabouille's Alpine. The rest of the field was virtually halted and slowly picked its way through the carnage. Stommelen led the race to the first pitstops, leading a train of five Porsches (Stommelen, Elford, Siffert, Mitter, Herrmann). Bonnier's Lola was sixth, but then Stommelen

7371-403: The car. Doing so effectively relegated Ickx to the back of the starting grid. His concern was borne out almost immediately. On the very first lap, the twitchy handling of the Porsche 917 and the inexperience of one of its drivers resulted in a major accident: the death of British gentleman-driver John Woolfe. Woolfe's purchased his 917 for £16000 (US$ 40,000) only days earlier and was quoted by

7488-417: The career of his former teammate Willy Mairesse's on the first lap of the previous year's race staged his own one-man protest. He rebelled against the traditional Le Mans starting procedure to run across the track to their cars, climb in, start the car, and move the car as quickly as possible to pull away from the grid. Instead Ickx walked slowly to his car, properly put on his safety belts, and only then moved

7605-470: The championship. 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans was a motor race staged at the Circuit de la Sarthe , Le Mans , France on 14 and 15 June 1969. It was the 37th Grand Prix of Endurance and was the eighth round of the 1969 International Championship for Makes . The race was open to Group 6 Prototype Sports Cars , Group 4 Sports Cars and Group 3 Grand Touring Cars . It

7722-472: The championship. The first race of the season was the 1970 24 Hours of Daytona , Matra had two cars for Jack Brabham / François Cevert and Jean-Pierre Beltoise / Henri Pescarolo . Brabham/Cevert finished tenth and Beltoise/Pescarolo finished 18th. Matra made changes to the driver line ups for the 12 Hours of Sebring , Pescarolo/Servoz-Gavin and Cevert/ Dan Gurney . Pescarolo/Servoz-Gavin finished fifth and Cevert/Gurney finish 12th. Matra again made changes to

7839-429: The circuit. In 1979, in the newly-reborn Can-Am series for rebodied covered wheel Formula 5000 cars, Ickx won against strong opposition from Keke Rosberg , Elliot Forbes-Robinson and Bobby Rahal . Formula One fledgling Rosberg drove his Can Am car with ferocity, but often went off the road trying to match the pace of Ickx, who won the series decisively at the season finale at Riverside . The previous weekend, on

7956-406: The dangerous and undulating Laguna Seca circuit near Monterey , Ickx elected to race conservatively rather than going after leaders Forbes-Robinson and Rosberg, but film of the race indicates the brutal nature of this late generation of Can Am racing. Ickx did not return to defend his title the following season. One of his other Le Mans victories in a non-driving capacity was when he consulted for

8073-653: The death of Stefan Bellof . Between 1981 and 2000 , Ickx entered 14 editions of the Dakar Rally , winning in 1983 . Ickx was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2002. Jacques Bernard Edmon Martin Henri Ickx was born on 1 January 1945 in Brussels , Ickx was introduced to motorsports when he was taken by his father, motoring journalist Jacques Ickx, to races which he covered. Despite this family background, Ickx had limited interest in

8190-412: The decade. After a dominant season to date, Porsche had already won the 1969 International Championship for Makes and arrived with easily the biggest representation with 16 cars, a third of the field. Porsche had already wrapped up the championship after the seven races to date. Starting in July 1968, Porsche made a surprising and very expensive effort to conceive, design and build a whole new car for

8307-497: The driver line ups for the 1000km of Brands Hatch , The team put Brabham/Beltoise together but kept Pescarolo/Servoz-Gavin. Brabham/Beltoise finish 12th and Pescarolo/Servoz-Gavin retired with engine failure. The MNZ saw Brabham/Beltoise fifth followed by Pescarolo/Servoz-Gavin in sixth. The team skipped the next three races, the Targa Florio , 1000km of Spa-Francorchamps and 1000km of Nürburgring . The team entered three cars for

8424-458: The end of the 5 km straight. Ickx then managed to hold on and beat Herrmann by a few seconds, and a distance of about 120 metres (390 feet). Ickx and Oliver won with the GT40 chassis #1075 (nicknamed the 'Old Lady' ), the same car that had won the previous year. This was only the second time the same car had won two years in a row; a Bentley Speed Six had done it in 1929 and 1930 . Ickx dedicated

8541-608: The fastest lap of the F2 runners. At Monza in 1967, he made his Formula One debut in a Cooper T81B - Maserati , finishing sixth, despite suffering a puncture on the last lap. He also drove for Cooper in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen but retired on lap 45 with overheating. In 1968 Ickx drove in Formula 1 for Ferrari . He retired from his first two races, but at his home race at Spa-Francorchamps he started from

8658-459: The first season and the European 50 cc trials title. He took another two titles before he moved to racing a Lotus Cortina in touring car racing , taking his national saloon car championship in 1965, as well as winning the Spa 24 Hours race in 1966 driving a BMW 2000TI . He also competed in sports car races where he had already significant experience from taking part in the 1000 km races at

8775-459: The flaps. A last-minute decision the day before Le Mans by the FISA allowed them to race, although the 908s had to lose the flaps as they had previously run without them. Team Matra was particularly upset by this decision, but in a statement said they did not intend to protest. It was widely believed that if the ban was again reinstated because of a protest by other teams, Porsche would have pulled out of

8892-469: The front row and finished third. At the French Grand Prix at Rouen he took his first win, in heavy rain. Ickx also finished third at Brands Hatch and fourth at the Nürburgring after driving almost the entire race in heavy rain without his helmet visor. At Monza he finished the race in third position. In Canada he crashed and broke his left leg during practice, thus did not start and also missed

9009-420: The greater power of the Formula One cars, only two drivers qualified with a faster time than Ickx: Denny Hulme and Jim Clark . As Ickx was racing in the separate F2 class, he started the race behind all of the Formula One cars, but within four laps of the 28 km circuit he was up to fifth place, having overtaken 12 Formula One cars. He was forced to retire after 12 laps with a broken front suspension, but set

9126-542: The last debutant to win the race until 2011, when Nick Percat matched this feat partnering two-time winner Garth Tander . The victory at the Bathurst 1000 was in a Ford XC Falcon Group C Touring Car manufactured in Australia with limited modifications for racing. After only days practice in a car he had never driven before he was doing lap times the same or quicker than drivers who drove nothing else and who were familiar with

9243-454: The last two laps Ickx was getting close to third place Carlos Reutemann , but on the final lap, Ronnie Peterson slipstreamed past to claim 4th. In Austria, Ickx, this time in the Lotus 76, moved up the field but went off while attempting to take Depailler for second. In the last races of the year, tyre issues with Goodyears unsuitable for the Lotus 72 and 76 meant Lotus were not competitive. 1975

9360-481: The left, but Ickx turned left from the right side at the entry of the Eau Rouge and they collided and crashed, Bellof dying an hour later after he crashed the barrier in the " Raidillon " part of the track head-on, while Ickx was shaken but unharmed. He retired from professional circuit racing at the end of the season. Ickx also co-drove to victory with Allan Moffat at the 1977 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 in Australia, becoming

9477-563: The medium-engined cars and the Thermal Efficiency Index. But soon after 8am it was retired with broken suspension much to the disappointment of the French crowd. Then around 10.15am, with barely 3 hours left to run, the two leading Porsches both came in with unscheduled pitstops. The mechanics examined them but to no avail – the Lins/Kauhsen car stopped on Mulsanne with a broken clutch. The 917 limped on for another half-hour before

9594-522: The new 312P prototype, a design strongly akin to the Can-Am 612P. It ran a 3-litre V12 engine based on the Ferrari Formula 1 engine, developing 430 bhp. Two cars were entered, for former race-winners Chris Amon and Pedro Rodriguez , partnered with hill-climb specialist Peter Schetty and David Piper respectively. The North American Racing Team (NART) once again had three different options entered in

9711-563: The new team of Walter Wolf Racing , which had substantial financial backing from Wolf. The Wolf team were also running the Wolf–Williams FW05 which was essentially a rebadged Hesketh 308C from 1975 and was uncompetitive. However, at the Race of Champions , Ickx was challenging Hunt and Alan Jones for the lead, when Ickx's visor ripped off. In the world championship races he failed to qualify on four occasions, (a first in his career) achieving

9828-404: The only one to finish was the smallest: the 1-litre A210 of Serpaggi/Ethuin finished 12th, 80 laps behind the Ford, but winning the lucrative Index of Performance covering almost 30% more distance than its small-engine target. For the first time since 1926 there were no all-British entries among the finishers. So, once again Porsche, Matra and Renault left without their coveted Le Mans victory. It

9945-478: The opening Grand Prix of the season. While being successful with their sports cars, which were driven to several wins by Ickx himself, the Formula One programme of the Italians was outclassed, and they even had to skip some races, notably at the Nürburgring. This was not acceptable to Ickx, who left the team halfway through the season (after the 1973 British Grand Prix , where he finished eighth). Instead, he competed in

10062-507: The opening championship round at Daytona for Roger Penske 's team boded well. Lola withdrew its entries after Paul Hawkins burned to death in an accident in May driving a Lola at the RAC Tourist Trophy . Without the works team, it was Scuderia Filipinetti who ran a car for Jo Bonnier / Masten Gregory . The SEFAC- Ferrari works team returned to Le Mans after a year's absence, with

10179-688: The outside at Paddock Bend. After the Brazilian Grand Prix his season deteriorated, the Lotus-Ford retiring in five consecutive races until an eleventh-place finish at Zandvoort . However, in mid season Ickx recovered some form, rising through the field in the British Grand Prix to finish a strong third. Even better was his drive in the German Grand Prix. For most of the race Ickx dueled for fourth place with his teammate Ronnie Peterson who

10296-449: The pole-sitting car's average speed for safety reasons, it meant that several cars failed to qualify. After a sunny week, race-day was overcast, but dry with a huge crowd in attendance for the start. At the drop of the flag it was Stommelen, with a big power-slide, who was first under the Dunlop bridge. In yet another deadly year of motorsport Jacky Ickx, mindful of the accident that had ended

10413-540: The pursuing Porsche 908 of Hans Herrmann and Gérard Larrousse non-stop. In the end, the Ford GT40 – the same chassis that had won the previous year – took the chequered flag just 120 metres ahead of the Porsche after 24 hours of racing. Heeding the calls of race promoters worried about diminishing fields, the FIA sought to fix things by reducing the minimum production figure to run in Group 4 from 50 to 25. Even though they had

10530-515: The race before half distance due to heavy rain, just as leader Alain Prost was being caught by a young Ayrton Senna and Bellof. Prost thus won the race but was awarded only half the points for a win (4.5); the Frenchman subsequently lost the 1984 World Championship to McLaren team-mate Niki Lauda by half a point. In 1985, Ickx was involved with Bellof again, but with fatal consequences. Bellof raced

10647-503: The remaining two events, he would overtake Rindt and win the championship. However, in the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen he only finished fourth, with Rindt's replacement Emerson Fittipaldi scoring his first career win, and thus was mathematically eliminated from the championship chase. Despite winning the last race in Mexico , Ickx could not beat Rindt's points total. Ickx later stated in

10764-506: The reserve car. In the Prototype class, Porsche had three works 908s, also in langheck form, including regular team drivers Gerhard Mitter / Udo Schütz . This season's version was at least 20% lighter than the 1968 car. The new 908/2 spyder version that had been very successful through the season was run by the team's lead drivers, Jo Siffert and Brian Redman , through Siffert's sponsor, Hart Ski with strong works support. There were also

10881-530: The right tools on the grass verge but dropped well back. The Matra was being raced very hard and by dusk, at 9pm, had made it up to second only to be delayed repeatedly by slow pitwork. As night fell, the three works Porsches were ahead of the two Wyer Fords and also running in the top-3 of the Index of Performance. Bonnier and Gregory were having a good run in the Lola, running sixth, until overheating issues at 11pm forced

10998-472: The same lap, barely 10 seconds apart. The Porsche 908 had fading brakes and an engine now 400rpm down on power and the Ford GT40 suffered from exhaust problems, making for a very even contest. In a dramatic finish, Ickx and Herrmann repeatedly overtook each other. Ickx knew if he led onto the Mulsanne straight, Herrmann would pass, but he could slipstream past him back again before the Mulsanne corner and then hold

11115-401: The sport until his father bought him a 50 cc Zündapp motorcycle. He began to compete in road racing and motorcycle trials . He won the 50 cc class at the 1962 Mettet Grand Prix road race, then demonstrated impressive talent when he defeated future motocross world champion Roger De Coster in the 1963 Belgian 50 cc trials national championship. Soon afterwards, Ickx won 8 of 13 races at

11232-513: The sports car championship rather than Formula One, a fact that had already caused John Surtees to leave in the middle of the 1966 season. Ickx won at Zandvoort in the rain with Firestone wet tyres, while Stewart had no chance with his Goodyear rubber. After that, he had a lot of retirements, while Stewart took one win after the other, despite Ickx giving him a good challenge at the Nürburgring once again, where both drivers shared victories from 1968 to 1973. That long and very challenging track

11349-664: The subsequent United States Grand Prix . He returned in time for the final race of the season in Mexico . Ickx scored 27 points in the 1968 Formula One season finishing in fourth place behind Graham Hill , Jackie Stewart and Hulme. In 1969 , Ickx moved to Brabham , partly at the instigation of the John Wyer team for whom he'd had considerable success in sports cars. Wyer's main sponsor, Gulf Oil were keen to ensure that they retained his services rather than possibly lose him to Ferrari 's sports car team. His first results at Brabham were poor, but after Jack Brabham broke his foot in

11466-488: The tail of Carlos Reutemann in a works Ferrari 312T2 in ninth. After a bad crash at the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen which he was lucky to have survived with only ankle injuries, Ickx only competed sporadically. In 1977 Ickx competed in only one Grand Prix at Monaco for Ensign finishing tenth. In 1978 he entered four Grands Prix, again for Ensign but only achieved a twelfth place at Zolder . In

11583-716: The team's victory to Lucien Bianchi, who had been killed earlier in the year, and had helped the Wyer team win the Le Mans the previous year . The Hobbs and Hailwood Wyer Ford, after its delay, finished third four laps behind, just ahead of the Matra of Beltoise/Courage. The older Matra of Vaccarella/Guichet was 5th a distant 9 laps behind and the German Ford of Kelleners/Joest 6th an even further 18 laps behind them. The veteran NART Ferrari 275LM finished eighth, covering 250 km (155 miles) less than its race-winning performance in 1965. With eight cars entered, Alpine had great expectations but

11700-408: The third driver death for the team in testing after Jean Rolland and Leo Cella in 1968. Instead it fell to the Belgian customer team VDS to run two of the older model Tipo 33/2 , one with a 2.5-litre V8 engine. The GT category was still a limited field. Scuderia Filipinetti had a lock on the over 2-litre class, with both entries – a Corvette Stingray and Ferrari 275 GTB/C. The under 2-litre class

11817-503: The week leading up to the race: movable aerodynamic wings linked to the suspension. These were banned by the CSI (Commission Sportive Internationale – the FIA 's regulatory body) at the Monaco GP in May as dangerous. Porsche team manager, Rico Steinemann, protested that their test-sessions had shown the car was inherently unstable without them and that the cars had been homologated for Group 4 with

11934-583: The year as runner-up in the drivers' world championship, behind Stewart. He returned to the Ferrari team for the 1970 season, a move he had been considering since the Italian Grand Prix. As in 1969, Ickx had a disappointing start to the 1970 season . On the first lap of the Spanish Grand Prix he collided with the BRM of Jackie Oliver and his car caught fire. It took at least 20 seconds for him to leave

12051-470: Was also an MS630 for Nino Vaccarella / Jean Guichet who had won the 1964 race together for Ferrari. Meanwhile, Pescarolo did race commentary for French TV from his hospital bed. Aside from the Lola, British cars were limited to the small manufacturers. The Chevron B8 had been homologated into Group 4, with a 2-litre BMW engine. Donald Healey had returned with its SR 2-litre prototype, improved from extensive testing at Silverstone . The Unipower GT had

12168-503: Was delayed by oil leaking from the transmission. Gardner brought the Alan Mann Ford in several times with overheating because debris from the accident had holed the radiator. Jo Siffert and Brian Redman took over the lead until they too were crippled by an oil-leak in the gearbox after four hours. This moved the Elford/Attwood 917 to the lead, ahead of the other 908 team cars of Mitter/Schütz, Herrmann/Larrousse and Lins/Kauhsen, pursued by

12285-407: Was eager to show it was his track, giving his great rival Stewart no chance at all. As for Stewart one year later, and other champions such as Juan Manuel Fangio in 1957, it turned out that the last Formula One win for Ickx came at Nürburgring, where superior driving skill could beat superior machinery. In 1973, the Ferrari 312B3 was no longer competitive, and Ickx only managed one fourth place at

12402-408: Was even more disastrous for Lotus and Ickx left the team halfway through the season, even though he managed a second place in the chaotic Spanish Grand Prix which was overshadowed by accidents and stopped before half distance. Ickx was generally qualifying about 0.8 seconds slower than teammate Peterson. Ickx was stood down after the 1975 French GP with the promise that Chapman might re-employ him when

12519-506: Was not injured, the car was damaged beyond repair. The team's only backup car was needed by eventual race winner LeeRoy Yarbrough , so Ickx did not have the opportunity to race. After he retired from his professional racing career, he continued to compete in the Paris-Dakar Rally , even competing with daughter Vanina in recent years. He won the event in 1983 driving a Mercedes-Benz G-Class . Nowadays, he appears in historic events as

12636-403: Was only contested by 911 privateers – the Porsche already proving to be the car of choice in this class. Alfa-Romeo and Abarth factory entries dropped out because of a customs strike, and Ferrari North America also scratched some entries. The test weekend was held on 29/30 March and was marred by the fatal accident to Lucien Bianchi in the new 3-litre Alfa Romeo. Apparent mechanical failure hit

12753-400: Was opposed to the traditional Le Mans start which he considered to be dangerous, he slowly walked across the track to his machine, instead of running. He locked the safety belt carefully and thus was the last to start the race, chasing the field. On lap one, private driver John Woolfe , who had not taken time to belt himself in, had a fatal accident in his new and powerful 917. During the race

12870-461: Was pulled out alive but had two broken vertebrae and severe burns to his face and arms. The project was cancelled; however development was also proceeding on the 630. This led to a new open-top car, the 650. Only one had been finished (just before scrutineering ) for Jean-Pierre Beltoise / Piers Courage , while two former 630 chassis were converted (christened 630/650) for Johnny Servoz-Gavin / Herbert Müller and 'Nanni' Galli / Robin Widdows . There

12987-464: Was signed by Ferrari in 1968 , taking his maiden victory in France , amongst several podiums, as he finished fourth in the standings. Moving to Brabham in 1969 , he took multiple wins as he finished runner-up to Jackie Stewart . He returned to Ferrari the next year , again finishing runner-up to Jochen Rindt as he took wins in Austria , Canada and Mexico . Ickx took further wins for Ferrari at

13104-403: Was taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital, but was dead on arrival. The nearly full fuel tank from Woolfe's car became dislodged and landed, burning, in front of the oncoming Ferrari 312P of Chris Amon . Amon ran over it, and Woolfe's fuel tank jammed underneath causing Amon's to rupture and explode as well. Amon set off the on-board fire extinguisher and was uninjured but forced to retire

13221-462: Was the favourite of Ickx, while Stewart had called it the 'Green Hell' as well as being a driving force behind the driver boycott of 1970 that urged the Germans to rework the layout of the track, which had been built in 1927. Stewart said the only thing that had changed since then were the trees growing bigger. As requested, those near the track were cut and replaced with a small run-off area, and armco. So,

13338-507: Was the first win of six for Jacky Ickx (a record that stood until 2005 when beaten by Tom Kristensen ). He had walked across the track at the start line and still won. The ACO's response to that was proactive and the iconic Le Mans start was discontinued. Ironically Ickx himself had a road accident near Chartres while driving to Paris on the Monday morning after the race. A car pulled in front of his Porsche 911 . Ickx's car ended up crushed against

13455-481: Was the last year with the traditional "Le Mans" style start, in which the drivers run across the track to enter their cars, start them, and race away. The previous year, Willy Mairesse crashed on the first lap while trying to properly close the door of his car at speed on the Mulsanne Straight ; the crash would have been avoided entirely if not for the Le Mans-style start, and it ended Mairesse's racing career. During

13572-402: Was the team leader at Porsche, but a new teammate was faster than he was: young German Stefan Bellof set new lap records at the Nürburgring in the last ever sports car race held on the original configuration of Ickx's favourite track. As it turned out, Ickx and Bellof would become involved in controversial events later on. In 1984, Ickx acted as Formula One race director in Monaco. He stopped

13689-407: Was using a Lotus 76, which had been grafted to the back end of a Lotus 72, Mike Hailwood in a McLaren M23 and Jochen Mass in a Surtees running on his home circuit on Firestone tyres well suited to the circuit. It was a classic duel on the daunting circuit, which still lacked armco around half the track in 1974. Two laps from the end Hailwood crashed badly ending his World Championship career. On

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