Sammypiru
Isä
Viimeksi muokattu:
In Memory of Top 10
- Viestiketjun aloittaja jmt
- Aloituspäivämäärä
Petri Piira
Olivier Gavetta
- Liittynyt
- 5.3.2002
- Viestit
- 2779
Sunnuntai 18.7, Länsi-Savossa. Tokmanni halpisketjun mainos.
:thumbup:
:thumbup:
jmt
Senile Member
Jacky Ickx - Race of my life
Jacky Ickx began his motorsport career racing motorcycles when he was 15. He quickly switched to cars, winning the European Formula 2 championship in 1967 for Matra. He had already driven in his first Grand Prix for Ken Tyrrell the year before at the tender age of 21. His first Grand Prix win came in 1968 at Rouen when he was driving for Ferrari. He came close to the Formula 1 World Championship twice, in 1969 and 1970, and continued in F1 with Lotus, Wolf, Ensign and Ligier until 1979. His real successes came in sportscars, with a record six victories at Le Mans, and the World Endurance championship in 1983. He retired from circuit racing in 1985, continuing his competition in rally raiding, adding a win on the Paris-Dakar to his lengthy list of achievements.
One of the characteristics of my career is that it has lasted a very long time. I started on motorcycles in 1960 and now we are in 1990, and I am still doing rally raids. I have been through all sorts of possible racing, and always with reasonable success, whether through CanAm or Formula 2 or Formula 1 or long distance racing, so it is very difficult to single out just one event.
In long distance racing, for example, I think I won maybe 50 races. And to look at that, it makes me say racing was much more rewarding to me than I would have hoped for. If somebody brings you a contract and says, "Well you are going to win one time Le Mans, or one time a Formula 1 race, or one time this or that", you are nearly ready to sign for it!
But when I look backwards, I had so much more in all categories that it's just... I feel it's unbelievable in a way to have had so much success.
So it is hard to pick up one race against all the others. Finally 1 chose the Le Mans '77, and probably nobody will think about that one because of my other races at Le Mans, like '69, which was interesting, or even the Grands Prix at the Nurburgring.
But I pick Le Mans '77 because I feel there are days when you drive better than all the other days. You just can't explain why everything works, everything you try works. It is something extra. You just feel so strong and so confident. And even if what you are trying looks impossible or unbelievable, it happens.
And that was Le Mans '77.
That year I was racing with Porsche: the Martini Porsche. I was sharing the lead 936 with Henri Pescarolo. We had both won Le Mans three times, so the team was formidable!
I started in the car, and I think I ran second. The Renaults overtook me, and when I handed over to Henri we were in fourth place. Then, after three hours we had a broken engine, and we were out.
I was the reserve driver of the team's other car, and I joined Jurgen Barth and Hurley Haywood in that. They also had a problem at the start and they were in 41st or 42nd position – I don't remember exactly – but so far away from the Renaults that you wouldn't have put a coin on it. Nothing.
So for the first time in Le Mans, we had the possibility to run flat out, without having any conservative attitude, because we had nothing to lose.
And then hour after hour we started to gain positions; 30th, 20th 15th, 13th, 12th, ninth and so on. And it was funny because everybody in the Porsche team felt at that time it was possible to win, even though we were still six laps behind. And everybody gets so... I'm not going to say excited, but they just had the same feeling as me. It was still possible.
That evening it was raining, heavy rain, fog. With showers, the track went from being dry to half dry, then very wet. It was really a difficult night. That night I think I drove two three and a half hour stints non-stop, with just a one hour break in between.
I remember having stopped in the pits and the engineer was saying "Do you want to change driver?" and I said no, because I just felt I was so high. Nobody else thought it was possible to run like a maniac for such a long distance.
Then in the morning, around 9am, all the Renaults broke down, and we became first.
The other two drivers, Jurgen and Hurley, took the steering because there was a limit on my time. But I know I could not have driven one more lap. Not one. I was completely destroyed by it.
The others took the car to the finish, but we had a scare in the last hour. The car had holed a piston! We had a lead of 19 laps or something, so the mechanics started fixing it, and with 10 minutes to go Jurgen went out, did two very slow laps on five cylinders, and we won Le Mans.
There are still people in the Porsche team who live that race. They had the same feeling as me, they were great.
After the race I was completely finished. I think it is one of the races that I drove the best in my whole life. You just can't explain why at some races you have that little bit more. Probably it is so because I was supported: by the surroundings, the mechanics, their joy at watching the car climbing up, the joy of the co-drivers. Because Le Mans you don't win alone. It is a team effort.
The thing you forget is that you always talk about yourself. But in racing there is another three-quarters, and this three-quarters is the people who bring you up, who give you the car, the surroundings and the opportunity. It was a great race.
Jacky Ickx began his motorsport career racing motorcycles when he was 15. He quickly switched to cars, winning the European Formula 2 championship in 1967 for Matra. He had already driven in his first Grand Prix for Ken Tyrrell the year before at the tender age of 21. His first Grand Prix win came in 1968 at Rouen when he was driving for Ferrari. He came close to the Formula 1 World Championship twice, in 1969 and 1970, and continued in F1 with Lotus, Wolf, Ensign and Ligier until 1979. His real successes came in sportscars, with a record six victories at Le Mans, and the World Endurance championship in 1983. He retired from circuit racing in 1985, continuing his competition in rally raiding, adding a win on the Paris-Dakar to his lengthy list of achievements.
One of the characteristics of my career is that it has lasted a very long time. I started on motorcycles in 1960 and now we are in 1990, and I am still doing rally raids. I have been through all sorts of possible racing, and always with reasonable success, whether through CanAm or Formula 2 or Formula 1 or long distance racing, so it is very difficult to single out just one event.
In long distance racing, for example, I think I won maybe 50 races. And to look at that, it makes me say racing was much more rewarding to me than I would have hoped for. If somebody brings you a contract and says, "Well you are going to win one time Le Mans, or one time a Formula 1 race, or one time this or that", you are nearly ready to sign for it!
But when I look backwards, I had so much more in all categories that it's just... I feel it's unbelievable in a way to have had so much success.
So it is hard to pick up one race against all the others. Finally 1 chose the Le Mans '77, and probably nobody will think about that one because of my other races at Le Mans, like '69, which was interesting, or even the Grands Prix at the Nurburgring.
But I pick Le Mans '77 because I feel there are days when you drive better than all the other days. You just can't explain why everything works, everything you try works. It is something extra. You just feel so strong and so confident. And even if what you are trying looks impossible or unbelievable, it happens.
And that was Le Mans '77.
That year I was racing with Porsche: the Martini Porsche. I was sharing the lead 936 with Henri Pescarolo. We had both won Le Mans three times, so the team was formidable!
I started in the car, and I think I ran second. The Renaults overtook me, and when I handed over to Henri we were in fourth place. Then, after three hours we had a broken engine, and we were out.
I was the reserve driver of the team's other car, and I joined Jurgen Barth and Hurley Haywood in that. They also had a problem at the start and they were in 41st or 42nd position – I don't remember exactly – but so far away from the Renaults that you wouldn't have put a coin on it. Nothing.
So for the first time in Le Mans, we had the possibility to run flat out, without having any conservative attitude, because we had nothing to lose.
And then hour after hour we started to gain positions; 30th, 20th 15th, 13th, 12th, ninth and so on. And it was funny because everybody in the Porsche team felt at that time it was possible to win, even though we were still six laps behind. And everybody gets so... I'm not going to say excited, but they just had the same feeling as me. It was still possible.
That evening it was raining, heavy rain, fog. With showers, the track went from being dry to half dry, then very wet. It was really a difficult night. That night I think I drove two three and a half hour stints non-stop, with just a one hour break in between.
I remember having stopped in the pits and the engineer was saying "Do you want to change driver?" and I said no, because I just felt I was so high. Nobody else thought it was possible to run like a maniac for such a long distance.
Then in the morning, around 9am, all the Renaults broke down, and we became first.
The other two drivers, Jurgen and Hurley, took the steering because there was a limit on my time. But I know I could not have driven one more lap. Not one. I was completely destroyed by it.
The others took the car to the finish, but we had a scare in the last hour. The car had holed a piston! We had a lead of 19 laps or something, so the mechanics started fixing it, and with 10 minutes to go Jurgen went out, did two very slow laps on five cylinders, and we won Le Mans.
There are still people in the Porsche team who live that race. They had the same feeling as me, they were great.
After the race I was completely finished. I think it is one of the races that I drove the best in my whole life. You just can't explain why at some races you have that little bit more. Probably it is so because I was supported: by the surroundings, the mechanics, their joy at watching the car climbing up, the joy of the co-drivers. Because Le Mans you don't win alone. It is a team effort.
The thing you forget is that you always talk about yourself. But in racing there is another three-quarters, and this three-quarters is the people who bring you up, who give you the car, the surroundings and the opportunity. It was a great race.
jmt
Senile Member
jmt
Senile Member
jmt
Senile Member
1970!
jmt
Senile Member
1982!
jmt
Senile Member
1990!
jmt
Senile Member
"This took place because Footwork purchased some active suspension technology from TAG Electronics which was also used by McLaren. Häkkinen, McLaren test driver at the time, was lent to Footwork to help them install it to the Footwork FA14."
Petri Piira
Olivier Gavetta
- Liittynyt
- 5.3.2002
- Viestit
- 2779
312T4
Lehtori
:thumbup:
Viimeksi muokattu:
Charlie
Elämän jakojäännös
Taipuuko tuo toinen Lego-ukkeli tarvittaessa homohyppyyn? :doubtful:
mardemi
Well-known member
On muuten aivan helevetin iso pokaali. :dunno: