Wednesday 14th December 2022

BOOK REVIEW  By Peter Baker 

JACKY ICKX: His authorised competition history 

In 1963, a well-established importer of BMW into Belgium decided to support a young 18-year-old aspiring race driver. The underpowered BMW 700 Coupe produced a meagre 44bhp, just enough to learn on. The teenager went on to drive for Ferrari, finishing runner-up in the F1 World Championship and winning at Le Mans. With Porsche he continued to win, twice becoming World Sports Car Endurance Champion. Add to this the coveted Can-Am series and a further outright victory in the Paris-Dakar, you could say, it all worked out rather well. The importer was Albert Moorkens, and the upstart driver? Jacky Ickx.

This is another fantastic book by well renowned author Jon Saltinstall, running to over 600 pages, each page a story in itself. Such is the attention to detail and depth of research, it can only be described, a work of art. I’m told Ickx is a very private person, not hard to get on with, but preferring to keep himself to himself. So, well done Jon on creating what must have been an incredible working relationship.

I watched Jacky Ickx race many times. Of course, as a Jim Clark fan, his achievements in those early years meant little, until on the 7 April 1968 Clark died. It was the same day Ickx, sharing a Ford GT40 with Brian Redman, won the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch. I was there. Maybe you were too. He won again in front of his home crowd, with a double-header, in Touring Cars and Sports Cars at Spa. After that I became a fan and followed his progress until 1985 when, aged just 40, Jacky retired.

This authorised racing history is faultless in production. Evro Publishing has learnt to produce books that not only look good, but are a treat to just handle. Whether it proves an investment in monetary terms is hard to say but, in ownership terms, it’s worth every penny. Five stars.

JACKY ICKX: HIS AUTHORISED COMPETITION HISTORY
Written by Jon Saltinstall
ISBN 978-1-910505-80-9
Published by Evro Publishing
Price £95.00