Greatest OS Drivers

[racer69]

Who do you think is the overseas driver who when they came to bathurst put in the best performance. (exclude New Zealand)

[Crash Test]

Rickard Rydell? That top 10 shoot out lap of his at Bathurst 1998 was absolutely amazing...

[Ray Bell]

I don't think it was Basil van Rooyen... lemme see... Jacky Ickx stands out, but that was for the result more than anything... Derek Bell showed a lot of flair in the Alfas... Roberto Ravaglia... now there was one... Hasemi did okay, too...

[Brock]

I think the best at his time would have to be Rauno Allttonen who won Bathurst with Bob Holden in a Cooper S in 1966. He has also won the Monte Carlo Rally and competed and numerous other rallys through out his career. He currently is a BMW works driver in the Euoropean Historic Touring Championship.

[Ray Bell]

True enough. Even today, Bob Holden speaks very highly and enthusiastically of Rauno... and why not? He helped Bob get his name on the list of winners...

[the man]

I would have to say Peter "Perfect" Brock, for his 9 Bathurst wins,and some of the great driving i saw was in the 1987 WTCC when he didn't have the fastest car but still put up a fight
regards the man

[Crash Test]

Nono- Peter is an Australian

[Airhead]

Yes Jacky Ickx,

the shot of him out of the car on Conrod Straight... lifting the bonnet to plumes of smoke and giving the universal thumbs down sign.

And on Moffat's Ford as well...

[racer69]

I think you'll find it was John Fitzpatrick giving the thumbs down on conrod in 1979.

Basil who? i recall that name, Basil von Rooyen from the opening lap of the 78 race from my highlights video, because he left the pits late, thats it.

Derek Bell and Dieter Quester did ok in 1978, starting fifth, and apparently Hasemi was very fast in Hardies Heroes in 1982. Rydell is hard to go past, although Menu did very well in 1997 and did a good job with Larkham in 2000.

Roberto Ravaglia was very fast though, the years he came out he did very well and was potentially the best touring car driver in the world at that time, and i think it was bad luck he didn't win in 85 and was taken out early in 86, after being 2nd before Hardies Heroes

[Ray Bell]

I'm sure 'cousin' Derek drove Alfas for Alec Mildren in the late sixties... that was what I meant... and Basil van Rooyen was one of the team brought out for the 1977 Bill Patterson effort. I think he was there earlier, too.

As for Ravaglia, what year did he drive that orange BMW?

[racer69]

Ravaglia drove the orange Bob Jane T Marts BMW in 1985 with Johnny Cecotto. They qualified in the top 10, but on race day had engine problems with the Schnitzer car but still came 2nd. Without the problems, i think they would have beaten the Goss/Hahne Jag.

[marcus]

what about the jaguar fleet...John Goss and armin hanhe (sp) and of course good old tom walkinshaw...real beasts of cars and the drivers did very well indeed.

Scott pruett....ohh sorry about that one


that rally bloke who won with Bob holden has always been spoken of very highly.

I always enjoy seeing john Cleland come out he is good fun

How about Matt neal ...ohh sorry for that one as well

[marcus]

ohh and jacky ickx was good as well.


I remember a story about him at bathurst ..dont know if it is true or not but is sounds great.

when he was here with Moffat's team he went out for practise and completed about 2 laps ..he came flying back into the pits got out and was screaming at moffat that the thing had no brakes at all and was too dangerous to drive if the pedal kept going to the floor...moffat looked at him bemused..got in the car and completed 2 laps as well came back in got out and walked up to jacky and simply stated to him "there is nothing wrong with the brakes ..that is the way they are meant to be"

i bet poor old jacky was wondering what he had gotten himself into after that one

[Crash Test]

I think the best of the sceptics was Tommy Kendall, albeit he never set the world on fire. Pruett wasn't too bad, but then there was John Andretti, Paul Newman (ha!), Janet Guthrie, Johny Rutherford, Bob Tullis (did he run?...nah), and who else?

[Crash Test]

How about Stirling Moss?

[racer69]

John Fitzpatrick did very well, and Klaus Neidzweidz did well in the Moffat Sierra's, and Klaus Ludwig was very fast as well in the Texaco Eggenberger Sierra, he put in a great lap in 1987 Hardies Heroes.

[XR_Club]

Definitely Jacky Ickx. For those not old enough to understand the genius of this fellow, do some investigating as to what is still regarded as the greatest Le Mans of them all .. the 1969 Race, where Ickx, driving probably the greatest Road Racer of them all, the Ford GT-40 Mk 1-b, held out a works Porsche to win by seconds after 24 hrs of racing. Add to that Ickx's very impressive Formula 1 career, where he twice went close to claiming the crown, and his brilliant drive in '77 with Moffatt. I do not know of any other o'seas driver to have the creds of Ickx. Certainly, in the wet, he was peerless (and that includes the superb Schumacher) and remains to this day one of the most highly regarded Sports Car & F1 drivers of this or any generation. Denny Hulme was also extremely talented, and was a Bathurst stalwart for quite a number of years. In modern times, certainly Klaus Neidwiz' efforts in both the Eggenberger Sierra's, Moffatt's ANZ Sierra coupled with his highly regardes skill o'seas in the British Touring Car C'Ship over nearly a decade, and we really do have some top quality o'seas imports to have driven in this country. Cheers and hope to see you ou at Willowbank for the Qld 500 - XR.

[racer69]

Jacky Ickx was very good, its a pity he only ever came out in 77 & 78, Jason Plato also did very well in 1997 Bathurst, he was doing 2:16's in the early laps of the race, and i think did an overall better job than Menu that day, and Anders Olofsson was a good driver in the Gibson Nissan's and Holden's, he wasn't the fastest, but lapped in good times and always brought the car home, he was on the podium in 89 and 1992. I've heard Hasemi was good, especially in 82, but thats about all i know about him.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by XR_Club
Definitely Jacky Ickx... the greatest Le Mans of them all .. ...to that Ickx's very impressive Formula 1 career... one of the most highly regarded Sports Car & F1 drivers of this or any generation. Denny Hulme was also extremely talented

But the thread is about performances at Bathurst...

[XR_Club]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Ray Bell
Definitely Jacky Ickx... the greatest Le Mans of them all .. ...to that Ickx's very impressive Formula 1 career... one of the most highly regarded Sports Car & F1 drivers of this or any generation. Denny Hulme was also extremely talented


But the thread is about performances at Bathurst...
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The thread was about who was, in the poster's opinion, the greatest overseas driver to drive at Bathurst, and their performance at Mt Panorama. I'm sorry if you think that a little background to substantiate Jacky Ickx' greatness is out of step with the thread. People with little or no knowledge of Ickx will no doubt appreciate your candour....

[Crash Test]

Ahh, obviously why Moss doesn't get much of a mention

[Ray Bell]

Look, I'm only clarifying the issue so that the posts stick to the point of the thread... this is what was said in the beginning:

"..who when they came to bathurst put in the best performance."

There is nothing about their overseas performances mentioned.

Sure, it's fine to mention them, but Denny Hulme, for instance, did nothing special at Bathurst...

The thread would seem to me to have been started to evoke memories of great drives from overseas drivers at Bathurst.

[mtpanorama]

G'day XR,

Welcome to the fun house. It is great to have another ford supporter in the place . Moff will be pleased. Jacky Ickx was certianly a great driver. Keep on posting and go the FORDS

btw, thats a nice way to greet new members Ray, everybody has their own thoughts.

[Alan Jones]

XR,
welcome to ten tenths and congratulations on having such good taste in cars, all ford fans are glad to have you join us.Then forum is full of like minded, friendly people who are very interested in what different posters have to say.Have a nice one XR and i hope to see more of your informative posts soon.

[Ray Bell]

While I probably was a bit severe, and I should have welcomed you XR, my point stands. Getting off topic is one thing, but I was looking to see what you had to say about these drivers' performances at Bathurst and found precious little..

That said, as an XR man you might have noted the story in MRA about this model GT recently?