1970 McLaren M10B

I have driven numerous racing cars over my 30 years and many eras of motor sport. I drove in several different disciplines. I had so much fun in the Gulf Wyer GT40 at Le Mans in 1968 and 1969. It was the perfect long-distance car, very comfortable to sit in and a good driving position. It didn’t suffer violent oversteer or violent understeer, it didn’t suffer from those “quirky” things some cars do; in fact the car had no vices at all. It had a ZF gearbox, which was a joy, not very easy to change the ratios, but good to use. It did about 204 mph, with its 380-hp. A lap at Le Mans, would be in the region of 4 minutes.

I drove a Ferrari 512 with Mark Donohue, but I didn’t really like that car, and it was very tight for me. My head was on the roof most of the time. Conversely, the Porsche 962, like the one I drove with John Fitzpatrick, was a good long-distance car. It started on the key, just like a road car: It would idle for 20 minutes, you could just drive it out, do Le Mans, bring it back, idle it for another 20 minutes, drive it onto the truck, drive off to Spa for the next week’s race, unload it, idle it for 20 minutes before practicing with it, and then race it; an unbelievably reliable car. It, again, had few vices. It had a tremendous amount of downforce, unlike the GT40; in fact, it was one of the first aerodynamic cars I raced. It had a lot of grip, tremendous grip. One of the only problems was the brakes; I found them hard and strange. Its synchro gearbox led to slow gear changing, and added a few tenths to the lap times. Some may think it was difficult swapping drivers in endurance racing, with me being so tall, too. The 962 had an adjustable seat, so when I drove with say, Derek Bell, the changeover wasn’t too bad. Now, of course, each driver has his own seat, which gets thrown in and out at pit stops.