Jacky Ickx
Sadly, there is no German Grand Prix this year, but Sunday August 6th will mark the 50th anniversary of Jacky Ickx exploding on to the F1 stage at the 1967 German Grand Prix, held at the old Nurburgring. ADAC & the FIA decided to combine the F1 and F2 grids to attract a couple of German drivers and hopefully increase spectator interest. They also thought the 3 liter F1 cars would enjoy a significant performance advantage over the 1.6 liter F2 entries. Jacky Ickx was entered in a F2 Matra Cosworth fielded by Ken Tyrell. Ickx qualifying performance would steal the show and send shock waves through the F1 paddock. Ickx put his F2 Matra third overall, and on the front row of the F1 field! His next closest F2 rival, Jackie Oliver in a works Lotus-Cosworth, was 21 seconds in arrears. The organizers were stunned; they couldn't have an upstart F2 driver starting on the front row of a F1 event; so they relegated Ickx back to the fifth row, with the other F2 entries. But Ickx didn't let his starting position stop him, by the 12 lap of the race he had surged his way up to fourth overall, chasing down Chris Amon's Ferrari 312, when his front suspension collapsed and he had to retire. Ickx had served notice, he had arrived, his qualifying performance was a tectonic earthquake in the F1 world. In the modern F1 world can you imagine out qualifying your next closest competitor by over 21 seconds? Placing a F2 car on the front row of a F1 grid?
Another little tidbit; a newcomer came in 3rd, in the F2 field, driving a Lola T100 powered by a Ludwig Apfelbeck BMW engine, his name was David Hobbs, my how time does fly!
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