My Top Ten Favourite Matra Drivers 1965 to 1974

A Matra MS120 Formula One car such as Jean-Pierre Beltoise used to race.

As I live in France, and became interested in motorsport in the late sixties, I really can't be anything but a bit of a Matra fan.  Some time ago, I did a blogpost on my Top Ten BRM Drivers, which can be seen by clicking here.  I thought I would follow on from this by doing a blogpost on my top ten Matra drivers - those who contributed to more than 100 Matra victories on circuits over the ten years.  But first, before I reveal my top ten, give yours a thought.  To help you, here are the main drivers who raced Matras successfully between 1965 and 1973.  It is not intended to be an exhaustive list but will prompt us to remember their top stars:

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Matra MS1 Formula Three car in the Matra Museum at Romorantin.

The F3 Programme of the mid to late sixties with the MS 1, MS 2 and MS 5.

Jean-Pierre Beltoise was inextricably linked with Matra in its early years and scored Matra's first F3 win at Reims-Geux in July 1965 and won the French F3 Championship for them.  In 1966 Beltoise won the prestigious Monaco F3 race for Matra.  Beltoise also won the 1967 Argentine Temporada for F3 cars.

Jean-Pierre Jaussaud also took F3 victories for Matra in 1965, winning at Montlhéry and Albi. This gave him runner-up slot in the French championship.  His Matra F3 wins continued in 1966, 67 and 68.

Henri Pescarolo started making his mark with Matra in 1966 with wins in F3 at Montlhéry and Magny-Cours. In 1967 he took further F3 wins for Matra at Monjuich Park, Monaco, Rouen, Zandvoort and elsewhere and also won the French F3 Championship.

John Fenning in a Ken Tyrrell run Matra took the F3 victory at Reims in 1966.  He is rather forgotten nowadays but was a British F3 talent in the mid-sixties.

Johnny Servoz-Gavin won the French F3 Championship for Matra Sports in 1966 winning at Montlhéry, the Bugatti Circuit and elsewhere.

Jean-Pierre Jabouille took his first F3 victory in a Matra at Reims-Geux in 1967 and continued with a number of F3 wins for them in 1968.  Overall he took eight F3 victories for Matra.

Matra MS5 Formula Two car in Ken Tyrrell colours.

The F2 Programme of the late sixties with the MS 5, MS 6 and MS 7.

Jean-Pierre Beltoise, not surprisingly,  was also involved in the Formula Two programme.   1n 1966 he was the driver of the first finishing F2 car in the German GP and took his first win in the Course de Côte du Mont Dore.  In 1967 he repeated his Mont Dore victory.  In 1968 he won the European F2 Championship for Matra Sports winning at Hockenheim, Jarama and Zandvoort.  He also took a F2 victory at Hockenheim in 1969.

Jacky Ickx won the inaugural 1967 European F2 Championship in a Ken Tyrrell run Matra winning at Nurburgring, Zandvoort and Vallelunga.  He is also remembered for recording an incredible third fastest time in practice for the 1967 German GP driving his F2 car against the F1 stars.

Johnny Servoz-Gavin became the third Matra driver to win the European F2 Championship in 1969 clinching it with a race win at Vallelunga.

Jackie Stewart played an important role in Matras success. In Formula Two he tooks wins for Ken Tyrrell's Matras in 1967 at Karlskoga, Enna, Albi and Vallelunga and was runner-up in the Trophée de France.   In 1968 at he won at Montjuich Park, Pau, Nurburgring and Jarama,  Then in 1969 he took a further two victories in F2 Matras.

Henri Pescarolo won the F2 race at Albi in 1968 for Matra and was second that year in the European Championship.

Sixties Matra V12 Formula One car.

The F1 Programme of the late sixties and seventies with the MS 7, MS 9, MS 10, MS 80, MS120.

Jean-Pierre Beltoise took Matras first F1 win in a South African non-World Championship race at Killarney in January 1968 driving an FVA engined ballasted MS 7.  His best World Championship F1 results for Matra were a second place at both the 1968 Dutch GP and the 1969 French GP, the former in a V12 car.  Beltoise took a win with the V12 Matra F1 car at the Course de Cote du Mont Dore in 1970.

Jackie Stewart was the only driver to win a F1 World Championship for Matra (albeit with a Cosworth engine) winning nine times over the 1968 and 1969 championship season and dominating the 1969 World Championship.  I remember seeing him winning the 1969 Race of Champions a non-championship race at Brands Hatch.

Chris Amon was the only driver to win a Formula One race in a V12 Matra engined Matra.  He did so by winning the 1971 non-championship Argentine GP.   In World Championship races he had two third placed podium finishes in the 1971 and 1972 season.  He would have won the 1972 French Gp except for a puncture.

Henri Perscarolo had a third place at the Monaco GP in 1970 to show for his single season with Matra in F1.  He also won the Course de Côte d'Urcy in 1970 in his F1 car.

Johnny Servoz-Gavin took a single second place in a F1 Matra, scoring this at the Italian GP at Monza in 1968.  He also had the honour of being the first Matra driver to qualify for a World Championship GP by starting the 1967 Monaco GP in a ballasted F2 Matra.

A number of the sixties Matra 630s at the Matra Museum in Romorantin.

The Matra (BRM and Ford Engines) Sports Car programme of the sixties with the MS 620 and MS 630

Jean-Pierre Beltoise took Matras first sports prototype win with a victory in an MS620-BRM in 1966 in a minor race at Magny-Cours.

Johnny Servoz-Gavin took five minor French victories in 1968 in a Matra MS 630-Ford.

Henri Pescarolo also took a minor victory at Magny-Cours in 1967 in an MS 630-BRM, the only victory for this car engine combination. At Montlhéry in 1968 he took the first victory for an MS 630 with a Ford engine.

Matra at the Le Mans Classic in 2016 reminding us of these three Le Mans triumphs in the seventies.

The Matra V12 Sports Car programme of the late sixties and early seventies with the MS 630, MS 650, MS 660, MS 670 and MS 680.

Jean-Pierre Beltoise was in the car at Le Mans in 1969 when Matra scored its best result in the 24 hours up to that time with a fourth place.  Later in the year Beltoise shared the winning MS 650 at the 1,000 kms of Montlhéry.  In 1970 Beltoise was one of the drivers of the winning Tour de France Automobile car.  In 1974 Beltoise shared four endurance victories in a Matra to help them win the World Sportscar Championship.

Piers Courage was also in the 1969 Le Mans 24 Hours fourth placed Matra.

Henri Pescarolo shared the 1969 winning car at the 1,000 kms of Montlhéry.  He also shared the driving of the first Matra to win at the 24 Hours of le Mans in 1972 in an MS670.  Pescarolo repeated his win for Matra at Le Mans the next year and with victories at Vallelunga, Dijon, Osterreichring and Watkins Glen helped Matra win the World Sportscar Championship.  A hat trick of Matra wins for Pecarolo at Le Mans was completed in 1974 and with wins also at Imola, Osterreichring and Kyalami he helped Matra retain their World Sports Car Championship.

Patrick Depailler shared the driving of the winning car in the 1970 Tour de France Automobile.

Gerard Larousse drove the winning car in the 1971 Tour de France Automobile.   In 1973 Larousse shared the win for Matra at Le Mans and with victories at Vallelunga, Dijon, Osterreichring and Watkins Glen helped Matra win the World Sportscar Championship.  A second Matra win for Larrousse at Le Mans was completed in 1974 and with wins also at Imola, Osterreichring and Kyalami he helped Matra retain their World Sports Car Championship.

Jack Brabham shared the driving of the winning Matra 660 in the 1970 1,000kms of Paris at Montlhéry.

Francois Cevert also shared the driving of the winning Matra 660 in the 1970 1,000kms of Paris at Montlhéry.  He came second at Le Mans in 1972 for Matra.

Howden Ganley shared the second placed car at the 1972 Le Mans.

Graham Hill famously was one of the drivers of the first Matra to win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1972 in an MS670, thus completing his Triple Crown.  His only other sports car drive for them was at Spa the next year (he had driven the John Combe's car in F2)

Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Jean Pierre Jaussaud shared the third place car at the 1973 Le Mans. Jabouille repeated that result in 1974 but this time with Francois Migault.

Jean-Pierre Jarier had wins at Spa-Franchorchamps, Nurburgring, Watkins Glen, Paul Ricard and Brands Hatch to help Matra win the World Sports Car Championship in 1974.

Jacky Ickx shared Jarier's winning Matra at the 1,000 kms of Spa Franchorchamps in 1974 in a one-off drive for the team.

Lots of other drivers including Pedro Rodriguez, Brian Redman, Jo Schlesser, Hervé Bayard, Hubert Hahne, Eric Offenstadt, David Hobbs, Philippe Vidal and Roby Weber drove Matras as well but just missed out on my highlights.

One of the Tour de France Automobile Matra 650s which were modified to be driven on the road.

So more than a dozen drivers to choose from for my top ten.  The top four are fairly obvious, it is the order that is more difficult and then after the top four it becomes more personal.  I have tried to balance the sixties and seventies drivers.

1st.  Jean-Pierre Beltoise for all of his many victories and second places and Championships for Matra in F3, F2, F1 and Sports cars.  He was there at the beginning in 1965 and there at the end in 1974.

Gerard Larrousse

2nd. Henri Pescarolo for his three Le Mans victories for Matra.  I believe he also scored more Matra wins than any other driver.

3rd. Jackie Stewart for his 1969 World F1 Championship for Matra.  He only gets third as he never raced the Matra V12 engine as far as I can remember.

4th. Gerard Larrousse for his two Le Mans victories for Matra and for playing a big part in the two World Sportscar Championships.

5th. Chris Amon for being the driver who won in the V12 Matra F1 car and for some amazing drives in the MS120 in the World Championship that didn't quite end in success.

Jacky Ickx

6th. Jacky Ickx for his European F2 Championship and much later one-off drive and win at Spa.

7th. Jean-Pierre Jarier for his part in Matra's second World Sportscar Championship.

8th. Johnny Servoz-Gavin for his nine Matra wins up until the end of 1969

9th. Graham Hill for his part in Matra's first Le Mans win.

10th. Jean-Pierre Jaussaud for his part in Matra's early F3 success with nine victories.

Interestingly enough, three of these drivers also appeared in my BRM top ten!

For Matra fans you can follow this link to my review of the Matra Museum in Romarantin which includes a 1964 to 1974 timeline.

I must mention the excellent reference book "MATRA TOUT L'HISTOIRE - TOUT LES COURSE" by Dominique Vincent, which I used to look up most of the results mentioned in this blogpost.  An excellent and useful wok.

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John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

The 1974 Matra MS680.