It’s always difficult to look back and decide what was your greatest race, circuit, moment, or any other of those things, and selecting a greatest racecar is no different. For obvious reasons, the Maki isn’t at the top of my list; it’s a little way down! At heart, I would say that I was more of a single-seater guy, and the BRM P180 was a wonderful car, a lot lighter than the P160. The last time I drove one was at Brands Hatch; I had to interrupt practice for a sports car race elsewhere, but my times were comparable with Emerson Fittipaldi’s. I thought, “Boy, has this come right!” If you put the P160 on full opposite lock, it would take forever to get back. They sorted that out with the P180, and I was right on the pace in that car.
However, I did have a good run in sports cars. I really enjoyed racing the Chevron B15; it was a wonderful car, as all Chevrons are. Similarly, the BRM Can-Am car was fantastic—in fact, any Tony Southgate–designed car is fantastic. Technically, I would say, one of the strongest and most interesting was the Matra 670. I drove that quite a bit as I did most of the test driving and, of course, raced it at Le Mans, in 1972, finishing 2nd with François Cevert. That was fun, and a really top team to work with.
The race that gave me the most satisfaction was at the Nürburgring, the old 14-mile Nordschleife, the most wonderful circuit in the world. I hadn’t raced there until I was due to race in the Grand Prix in 1971. My idea, to learn the track, was simply to go to the circuit on the Monday, preceding the Grand Prix, take the hire car, and drive around and around, just to get a feel for the place. I got to the track but was disappointed to find that they were working on it. They were erecting Armco barriers. There was no way I could get into the circuit. To make it “double trouble” for me, I realized that I would be the only person in the race that had never driven it before. I decided the next best thing was to walk a bit of the circuit. I set off and walked a little, then a little further, and a little further. I was continually saying to myself, “I’ll just get to the next bend,” or “I’ll just walk up the next hill.” Before I knew it, I was halfway around, so I might just as well carry on all the way. By doing that, I was able to engrain most of the information in my head. More importantly, I was able to break down the track, mentally, into sections.
Now back to the race: the 1972, ADAC, 300-km Eifel Pokal Rennen, one of the Interseries races; and my greatest racecar, the Chevy-engined BRM P167. It was so fantastic. In the rain, you could drive it and hold it on opposite lock for such long periods of time. The wheels would spin in top gear in the wet, yet the car was so beautifully balanced and a real joy to drive. You could drive it “flat out” down the “Fox-hole” (Fuchsröhre); of course, it would bury itself in the road at the bottom, but such a delight to drive!
The race was split into two heats, and I won both by a minute, although I will admit that the opposition wasn’t up to much. I was able to enjoy the Nürburgring circuit, too. It was pretty much “in my head”; I understood it, by then, although I was later to have two of my worse accidents there!
As told to Mike Jiggle
