The 22nd F1 Beyond The Grid podcast of 2019 has Jacky Ickx talk about destiny’s role in his career, Le Mans wins, surviving danger era, time with Ferrari, Brabham, McLaren and more.
They started the F1 Beyond The Grid podcast talking about multi-tasking and who has done more between Ickx and Mario Andretti. The Belgian modestly said it is Andretti having done more than him.
The discussion led to an interesting story from his childhood which instilled the love for racing. Ickx admits he was never a fan of motor racing even though his dad used to work as a journalist in those days.
Even visiting the Spa-Francorchamps circuit and watching Juan Manuel Fangio race didn’t ignite the passion. It didn’t stay like that for long as the racing bug finally hit him at the age of 14-years when he got a small bike.
Ickx revealed he was never good in studies and most people put him down as he would achieve nothing in his life. But once he started with bike racing at small level, he soon understood his career path.
One thing led to another for Ickx as having raced in bike, he started getting offers for car racing with Ken Tyrrell eventually playing a big role to make his career, which he puts it down to destiny.
He talked about having the right tools for achieving what he did and what others do. He also touched on surviving the era which saw many fatalities, which he reckons was all down to luck.
They then discussed his Le Mans 24 Hours outings and the wins and his juggle between sportscar and F1 at the same time. They also talked about racing in wet as he said all the tricks came from bike racing.
Ickx then moved to talk about his stint with Ferrari and his relationship with Enzo Ferrari. They also touched on Maranello factory of those times to now. He talked on leaving Ferrari after 1968 and returning in 1970.
They also discussed the time with McLaren plus Ron Dennis, Brabham and later in the podcast, they also talked on his stint with Ligier. When asked about the 1970 title loss, Ickx says he has no issues with it.
Despite the death of Jochen Rindt, the Austrian took the championship. They then talked on having the motivation to continue on despite his own incidents and the decisions he took in his career.
He doesn’t have a single best car but he liked the B1 Ferrari he drove and on the drivers, even though he didn’t raced against Fangio, he admired him. Among his rivals, he looked at Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart.
For the races, he pointed towards 1969 and 1977 Le Mans 24 Hours wins, when he won in a Ford and then a Porsche respectively.
