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Jacky Ickx steers Porsche 936 & Porsche 956 at Fuji Speedway

Formula 1 legend gets behind the wheel of one of his other former flings in Japan

Jacky Ickx racing legend
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We’ll be honest – there’s not a huge amount of driving footage in this video. But don’t let that deter you.

There’s enough to keep hooked those who aren’t particularly interested in hearing a racing legend speak about his passion.

However, we feel that most out readers at MOTOR don’t mind spending a few minutes listening to the fantastic Jacky Ickx speak about his time behind the wheel of some of Porsche’s historic racers.

Porsche 956 at Fuji SpeedwayNot that they were historic when he first drove them.

In 1976, Ickx used the Porsche 936 to take Le Mans by storm, on top of winning the World Sportscar Championship (in Group 6).

Even without Ickx at the wheel, the Porsche 936 domiated. It won six of seven rounds in the 1976 World Sportscar Championship, with Ickx and/or Jochen Mass credited with all of those.

The 956, however, comes with a history that extends past even Ickx. Jochen Mass and Stefan Bellof (who was later quite sadly killed in a crash with Ickx) co-drove a 956 to great success, and Bellof used the car to set records which still stand today.

Racing legend Jacky IckxDuring qualifying for the 1983 1000 km Nürburgring, Bellof set an 11-minute, 13-second lap at the Nordschleife, which stands as the fastest lap ever, though during the race he set a lap timed at 6:25.91.

For context, Ickx set a time of 6:27.36 in qualifying that same year, while the third-place qualifier reportedly ran a time of 6:31.59.

So, after talking the car up this much, we should really give you a better idea of how it sounds.

Even a relatively tame dyno test sounds gorgeous.

If all of that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, just skip to 0:45 and 5:51 in the main video (top) to witness some of the most pleasing footage you’ll see this week.

Chris Thompson
Contributor

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