Jacky Ickx and the smoky Martini Porsche 936 just made it to the end to claim the win for himself, Hurley Haywood and Jürgen Barth at Le Mans in 1977. Photo: Ed McDonough
Jacky Ickx’s motor racing CV is enough to make your head spin. Believe it or not, it all started with a 50-cc Zundapp trials bike his dad gave him to boost his tepid interest in motor sport. It did that alright. By the time Jacky was 38, he had won the 1967 European F2 Championship, eight F1 Grands Prix—most of them for Ferrari—six 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 1979 Can-Am championship and the 1983 Paris Dakar Rally!
He was World Championship material, no doubt about that, but he never really got the breaks when they mattered most. For instance, Jacky came 4th in the drivers championship in Mauro Forghieri’s Ferrari 312 in 1968. A year later, he was 2nd to Jackie Stewart in the Scot’s first year as champion. And, in 1970 he lost the crown to Jochen Rindt, the only man to win the title posthumously. He came equal 4th with Jo Siffert in ’71, 4th again in ’72 and nowhere in ’73.
