I was reminded, whilst watching this year’s (rather lacklustre) Le Mans 24 Hours review on DVD, that it has been 40 years now since the more traditional style start to the blue riband event was abolished.

Up until 1969, drivers would line up opposite their cars on the starting grid, and as the flag was dropped to signify the start of the race, they would run across the track to their vehicles, climb in and get it started as quickly as possible to pull away from the grid.

In their haste to make a speedy getaway, many of the drivers would often neglect to belt themselves in correctly until they were often along the Hunaudieres straight pulling speeds of around 160mph, resulting in frequent crashes and, as 1969 would show, tragedy.

John Woolfe, an amateur British driver who had qualified 21st in his private Porsche 917, crashed into a barrier at Maison Blanche and, due to the fact he had not taken the effort to strap himself in securely, was flung from his vehicle and subsequently died.

This would then set off a chain of events as the fuel tank from Woolfe’s car became dislodged and eventually collided with Chris Amon’s Ferrari 312P, causing it to explode underneath his car, resulting in his retirement and forcing the race to stop for two hours before eventually restarting.

In contrast, a 24-year-old Jack Ickx had demonstrated his displeasure against the starting procedure by slowly walking over to his Ford GT40, deliberately making the effort to strap himself in properly and securely, and as a result, emerged voluntarily at the back of the field.

Yet in a dramatic race, which some consider as being the best in the history of the endurance event, Ickx eventually won after beating rival Hans Hermann by just 100m after 24 hours of fierce driving and winning Le Mans for the first time in his brilliant career.

The following year the traditional Le Mans-style start was then replaced by a variant in which the drivers already sat in their cars, strapped in safely by their mechanics and then entered the track simultaneously, before the advent of the rolling start we now know was adopted in 1971.

But a legacy to this bygone era still remains, as to this very day, Porsche continues to place the ignition to the left of the steering column on its cars. This placement was chosen to enable the driver to start the car with his left hand and put it into gear with his right. Old habits die hard.

At the time of writing (6th August) I am on holiday in the French Pyrenees in a rather beautiful location near a small village, the only downside being the mountain roads. To get to the main roads, one has to take a forty minute drive over twisty, rather harrowing mountain roads, with dizzying drops to the side. The problem is further compounded by the locals, and their obsession with driving round the roads as fast as possible, pretty uncaring as to whether people may be coming in the other direction.But worse even than the locals (never easy) are the Belgians. They race around these roads, which at many places will only barely accommodate one car, as if they’re trying to imitate Jacky Ickx in his formula 1 exploits. A far cry from the peaceful chocolate eaters that we know. In fact, maybe they’re trying to boost their own economy. I can see it now. Agatha Christie’s Poirot in ‘Death in the Pyrenees’. That’s one way of doing it. Pay attention Mr Brown.

Celebrando o seu 100º aniversário, a Audi estará presente no festival de velocidade de Goodwodd que se realiza entre os dias 3 e 5 de Julho. Serão 15 modelos de várias gerações e com vários pilotos que cumprirão as diversas provas deste mítico festival. Walter Rohrl, Stig Blomqvist, Hannu Mikkola, Frank Biela, Alan McNish, Dindo Capello, Marco Werner, Jacky Ickx, Harald Demuth e Nick Mason são os nomes que estarão presentes, com destaque para o baterista do Pinl Floyd, Nick Mason que estará ao volante do Auto Union Type D na sua última aparição antes de rumar ao merecido descanso no museu da Audi.

Motorsport is a dynastic sport, at least racing drivers are often followed by their children into the sport. I have made a research on sons and daughters of famous or less famous F1 drivers and where are they with their career progress.

It’s not just the sons

Vanina Ickx: She is the 34-year-old daughter of racing legend Jacky Ickx. She started racing at the late age of 21 and she never made it into F1, but she had a fairly successful career in sportscars and other series.

Vanina Ickx

As a special mention Bruno Senna: He is not a “son of” but a “nephew of”. By now we all know him and he may be the next guy who steps into F1 with a famous name. But what a name it is! It certainly won’t be an easy burden on Bruno’s shoulders.

Bruno Senna

Jacky Ickx.

Jacky Ickx, a legend of the F1 paddock has joined the ever growing number of people calling for Max Mosley to resign over the sex scandal allegations published in various British newspapers.

The story is a simple one, you all know, and Ickx sees it as highly unprofessional, and that it could bring the sport into problems.

“Regardless of how this story became public, he (Mosley) cannot continue to represent such an association – even though I regret this, as he was a good president.” Ickx said in an interview with Die Welt (germany).

The Germans have been highly critical of the scandal, probably because of the Nazi happenings within the video.  ADAC, BMW and Mercedes all want him to resign.

Vanina Ickx, pilota Audi nel campionato tedesco Dtm, è una delle donne più veloci del mondo. La figlia dell’ex Pilota di Formula1, nonchè sei volte vincitore della 24 Ore di Les Mans, Jacky Ickx, ha iniziato la sua carriera quando già aveva 21 anni, nel 1996. Dopo vari successi raccolti con le vetture turismo, ha catturato l’attenzione del pubblico conquistando un gradino del podio alla 24 Ore di Spa Francorchamps. Ha inoltre partecipato ad alcune edizioni della 24 Ore di Les Mans e della Dakar.
Prima della belga, già Michèle Mouton e Tamara Vidali avevano dimostrato chiaramente che una donna poteva emergere in modo eccellente anche in uno sport dominato dagli uomini. Vanina Ickx ha tutte le carte in regola per continuare questa storia di successo.

La giovane pilota è stata una delle prime a guidare Audi S3. Cerchiamo di capire cosa ne pensa.

“Gli ingegneri hanno perfezionato il quattro cilindri 2.0 TFSI, premiato per due volte consecutive come Engine of the Year, rielaborando completamente il motore di base, il turbocompressore ed il sistema di iniezione fino a ottenere un concentrato di alta tecnologia. I risultati sono accelerazione ed elasticità ulteriormente migliorate e un motore che romba come i propulsori da gara”.

Qualche dato: a un intervallo compreso tra 2500 e 5000 giri, Audi S3 sviluppa una coppia di 350 Newtonmetri; la potenza massima è di 195 KW (265 CV) a 6000 giri, un valore sufficiente a raggiungere i 100 Km/h in soli 5,7 secondi e una velocità di punta di 250 Km/h (autolimitata).

Rispetto ad Audi A3, la carrozzeria della S3 è stata ribassata di 25 millimetri per migliorare ulteriormente il comportamento attivo e sportivo della vettura. Aggungendo componenti in alluminio sull’assale anteriore, si è distribuito il peso in modo ancora più bilandiato a tutto vantaggio della maneggevolezza. Lo sterzo elettromeccanico offre un’elevata precisione ed è meno sensibile agli influssi della strada persino a velocità elevate. Per una decelerazione adeguata alla grinta sportiva della vettura, è stato previsto un impianto frenante con freni da 17 pollici e quattro dischi autoventilanti. Sulle pinze verniciate di nero è riconoscibile l’emblema esclusivo S3.