Yesterday at Spa I had the chance to catch up and spend some time with Jacky Ickx, one of the all-time greats. He was successful not only in F1 but also won 6 times the 24 hours of Lemans, won a Paris-Dakar and a Bathurst 1000. As Jacky is Belgian and was in his local circuit, the organizers had him test the mythical Ferrari 312B. Ickx drove it like the old days and it was a very emotional moment for everyone present at the Circuit. He had raced with this car on the 1970 F1 season achieving 3 wins and 5 podiums which got him second place in the driver’s championship behind Jochen Rindt. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
We are very privileged to have the legendary Signor Piola amongst us. Please contribute more Sir! Is that the Paolo Barilla 312B?
Great pictures - thank you. Car looks stunning in that amazing red hue. I remember Ickx from the latter part of his career racing the Porsches in Group C and beating, among others, my favored Lancias.
Well, he turned 73 in January; can't stay young for ever, can we? He raced on the old Spa, even with a Matra Sport-Prototype in the 1974 event after having left Ferrari, and reputedly, but I can't find any solid reference on this, was involved in the design of the new track when the "old one", the great track, was shortened. Since this year's event, turn 11 of the track is now known officially called the "Jacky Ickx" corner. https://franceracing.fr/f1/spa-francorchamps-reserve-une-surprise-a-jacky-ickx/ Rgds
Jacky Ickx was an eclectic driver of the old school: he could drive anything and enter different categories with success. From hillclimbing to touring cars, and then F2 and F1 to sports cars, then rallye-raid, he won everything. I wish modern F1 drivers could do the same, but most are tied up in contracts or have no interest. Jacky Ickx also has a pleasant personality and is a true gentleman.
..One of my fav drivers, even if he was before my time!..Always considered him as good as the other Jackie
Their paths crossed at Tyrrell, but in later years, they couldn't stand each other. You must know that Ferrari negotoated with the wee Scott, only to recruit his Belgian time mate at the last minute!
To his own admission, Jacky Ickx could be quite aloof, sometimes even snobbish, when he was young, to the extent that he makes a point to excuse himself rather often about that nowadays. It's a pity that his Formula One career, despite eight Grand Prix wins, dimmed slowly to oblivion before having fully blossomed; it never really recovered after the difficult 1973 season, when he was only 28 years old; when he joined Lotus, they weren't at their best anymore. But anyone who remembers his long charge from the back during the 1977 24h of Le Mans knew what a great driver he was... Rgds
I think Jacky Ickx didn't focus enough on F1, as opposed to Jackie Stewart for example. Ickx was happy to divert to endurance during the season, and probably prefered sports cars to single-seaters. It may even have been the reason behind his departure from Ferrari when they gave up on Le Mans, etc ... Ickx became a factory driver for Porsche in endurance, and had a second career there. F1 wasn't a priority anymore by then.
In many ways i compare him with Mario, they both exceled in various types of racing..Ickx won le mans, dakar, f.1, etc, mario was also one of the most versatile drivers, together they formed an amazing sports car team at Ferrari...
I think Ickx gave up on Ferrari in 1973 because the F1 car was so terrible, but the fact that they had announced withdrawing from sports car racing after the season may have influenced him as well. How would Ickx have done in an F1 Ferrari in 1974? It's hard to say, but the reversal of form Ferrari saw in '74 was due in large part to the extensive testing done by new hire Niki Lauda.