Jacky Ickx
acky Ickx is a Le Mans legend and Ferrari Formula 1 hero, but to have British sportscar lionheart Brian Redman acknowledge him as his favourite team-mate means a lot.
The story of their partnership began when they teamed up for the Kyalami 9 Hours at the end of 1967, winning by the handsome margin of 13 laps in a JW Automotive Mirage-ford M1.
That led to Redman joining Ickx in a JWA Ford GT40 for much of 1968, when the Lancastrian notched the first of his four manufacturers’ titles (he later won two with Porsche and another with Ferrari) in what is today known as the World Endurance Championship. Although he’d later became renowned for his partnership at Porsche with Jo Siffert – “another great, brilliant driver” – Redman regards Ickx as his most influential team-mate.
“I recall my first time driving at Daytona,” says Redman, “I just couldn’t go flat on the banking, no shame, my foot kept twitching throughout practice. I asked Jacky if he was driving flat onto the banking, and to be honest… ‘Yes, Brian,’ he replies in a deadpan manner, ‘Of course I’m going flat.’”
They won the 1968 BOAC 500 together at Brands Hatch, beating the Gerhard Mitter/ludovico Scarfiotti Porsche 907 by 22 seconds, but it was their success in the Spa 1000Km later that year that is
Jingrained as one of Redman’s favourite moments in his long racing career.
“The best first lap that I ever saw was in Spa in the rain,” he declares. “Yes, it was Jacky’s home circuit and he’d won the saloon race in the morning in a Mustang also when it was pouring down. But he came past the pits in our GT40, through Eau Rouge, up the hill, gone. And it all went quiet. In the pits, we assumed there’d been a big accident that had held the rest of the field up. Then the second-placed car came past, driven by a very well-renowned wet-weather driver in a Porsche, and he was 38s behind. In one racing lap! That was amazing.”
They won by a lap. And there were further successes together at Ferrari in 1972-73. To this day, they remain firm friends and reunite at historic racing events from time to time.
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