Hans Heyer – ATS Penske PC4 Cosworth V8

I’ve raced in more than 1,000 races, although my 1,000th was just a bit of fun with Kris Nissen. I’ve driven many, many cars in that time. So, the greatest racecar I ever drove—even for just a small time—was the ATS Penske PC4. It was the same car in which John Watson won the 1976 Austrian GP. My father had banned me from formula racing as I’d had a big accident, and he said formula racing was far too dangerous for me and he didn’t ever want to see me in a formula car again.

This ban on racing formula cars didn’t bother me, as I was busy driving sports and touring cars, so it made no difference to my racing life. I think it was my racing success in touring cars that led to the offer of a drive in Formula One. Gunther Schmidt of the ATS team asked if I’d like to race in the 1977 German GP. Of course, I wanted to do this, but I remembered my father’s ban. I asked him about the drive and he made some big trouble for me. My father contacted Gunther Schmidt, he wanted to make sure the ATS car was safe for me to drive. Schmidt confirmed it was a good safe car for me to drive and I was allowed to take up the offer.