As a winner of six Le Mans 24 Hours, eight Formula 1 victories and countless other triumphs — including the Dakar Rally — Jacky Ickx is a living legend who has competed in a career spanning over 30 years. The 78-year-old talks about his life behind the wheel and his experience of the Dakar Rally in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Start of the Journey…
I never dreamt about being a racing driver when I was young. I thought that maybe I would grow up to be a gamekeeper. But when I started motorcycling as hobby, I soon discovered the joy of the podium and achieving success. The rest was destiny.
Everyone has a story and along the journey you meet people who help you with your path in life. It’s clear I have been fortunate with every aspect of motor racing, and I achieved the ultimate goal — which was to survive.
A Matter of Survival…
When you are young, you think you will live for eternity. When I raced in Formula 1 in the 1960s and 1970s taking risks was a free choice you had. Nobody forced you to race cars and that was the same for mountaineering or around-the-world navigation at sea. Racing back then was night and day different to today. Grands Prix took place on open roads, converted into a racecourse for the weekend. Safety was limited to straw bales that protected spectators from the cars. Nobody complained about it; everybody thought it was normal.
Sometimes racing in that era was painful, but if you started to think about the risks, you could never be competitive. You have to wipe the thoughts of safety from your mind when you are at the wheel of a racing car. You have to drive flat out and avoid any temptation to think of fear — although it was even worse for my predecessors.
I’m almost 79-years-old and in the history of the sport, I’m probably one of the drivers who did the most mileage of anyone in 32 years of competitive racing: Formula 1, endurance sports cars and the Dakar. Perhaps someone who did more miles than me was Mario Andretti, but we are both fairly exclusive in that respect. We did many years without hurting ourselves badly. That’s not a matter of talent — it’s a matter of luck.
A Team Effort…
In racing you are surrounded by people who provided you with cars that were drivable, strong, and mechanically perfect. That was my insurance. At the end of your career, you become the mirror of those who have worked with you.
Motor racing is truly a group effort whereby the driver can be represented as the tip of the iceberg. But that means that 90 per cent of the work is in the water and that’s the people with the expertise, the passion, the motivation behind the scenes — you don’t see them. The driver is there to finish the project. However, regardless of the talent you have, the referee remains the clock — it’s all about speed.
After racing in the 1960s and ’70s, I was lucky to be able to continue my career competing on the Dakar Rally and to this day, I’m grateful to the people that made it possible, and to my guardian angel. At one stage I was even lucky enough to enter the event alongside my daughter Vanina. It’s the dream for any family to do something with your children and I was fortunate enough to achieve that.
The Dakar Adventure…
Dakar is as far away from Formula 1 as you can imagine. Firstly, it’s not a case of competing on the same 15 or so corners 70 times. Even long distance racing of one thousands kilometers is the same story. The Dakar Rally is an exceptional motorsport event. One of the key aspects is that you have to read the terrain, be on your wits and understand your environment. But the most thrilling thing about Dakar is the adventure.
The original event was held in Africa and at that time you had to survive the difficult terrain of those countries. Then it attracted the curiosity of South America where the Dakar spent a decade or so. And now we go to Saudi Arabia.
Not only is it a very large country, but Saudi Arabia also represents the philosophy of the Dakar Rally. Today competitors drive for two weeks, off-road, with different machines — motorcycles, cars, and trucks — and the stages can be up to 500km per day. It’s an experience that everyone can share, the community of people who compete in off-road racing are always fascinated by discovering new countries.
On the Dakar, every day it’s a different track, a different terrain and profile, sometimes it rains — even in Saudi Arabia it can be flooded sometimes — but the reality is that it’s a place where you discover people with different traditions and histories. There is a mix of racing and a desire to explore new horizons.
Exploring Saudi Arabia…
For me the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a place you need to visit because when you’re there it opens your eyes. You discover the people who live in the desert, or the big cities and you can explore its rich heritage.
It’s a fantastic place to visit with its varied landscapes too, whether it’s the dunes or the mountains or the wadis. It’s an incredible place with a society developing with amazing progress. When you discover Saudi Arabia, you also discover yourself. It brings your feet to the ground.
When you are young and Formula 1 is your life, you only have one goal. It often means your vision of the world is restricted. When you explore the countries the Dakar Rally takes you to, you start to change your view of the world. It opens you up to a 360 degree vision. You see the people, their solidarity and spirit — it broadens the mind. Three times now I have been to Riyadh, Jeddah and Al’Ula. The country is changing — but at its own speed and with its own tradition and timing. All around you see a young generation who are creative and motivated.
A Final Thought…
The one thing about motorsport that remains today, that was the same back in my day, is the pleasure of driving and, of course, winning. It might be a business now, but the sporting element still remains. And that’s what brings the crowds in. For me, motor racing doesn’t exist without the fans. After all, motor racing is all about passion.
For More details on the Dakar in Saudi 2024 please visit https://www.dakar.com/en/
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