TOM KRISTENSEN
“If there's one car I would love to have raced, it would be the widow-maker – the Porsche 917K. That car was dangerous, of course, but surely it is one of the greatest sports cars of all time.”
NICOLAS MINASSIAN
“I started getting interested in motor racing in 1988. I remember watching the Le Mans 24 Hours on TV and I fell in love with that year's Jaguar XJR-9LM. I've always preferred the look of sports cars to Formula 1 cars, and that car in its Silk Cut livery looked like something special.
“I'd love to have done Le Mans in those days with the old Mulsanne Straight without any chicanes. I reckon you would really have had to hang on through the kink and you'd have had plenty of time to think about the consequences if something went wrong at more than 200mph.”
BRIAN REDMAN
“That's a tough question, but I'd probably choose the Porsche 908/3 – a really fantastic car. Although built only for the Targa Florio and the Nurburgring, it would have been faster than the 908/2(LH) at Spa-Francorchamps, the fastest road course in the world at that time. Of course, you wouldn't want to think too much about your feet being level with the front of the front wheels. There was very little between you and any potential accident!”
EMANUELE PIRRO
“The Ferrari 312PB was around when I started to get interested in motorsport and it has obviously stuck in my mind. Those where the days when drivers were real heroes; perhaps it was a more heroic age. I would love to have had the chance to drive with greats like Jacky Ickx and Mario Andretti.”
TIMO BERNHARD
“The Porsche 956/962 was special because it won so many races in so many series over a such a long period. It's one of the greatest sports cars ever and, having demonstrated a 962 once, I'd say it was also perhaps the first modern sports car in that it was built to be driven hard.
“The other reason I would pick that car is that, back when I was 6 years old, I used to ‘drive' a Shell Porsche 962C on a video game called WEC Le Mans on my Commodore computer.”
ALEX WURZ
“The car that I would love to have driven is the last Group C car Sauber built for Mercedes-Benz, the Sauber C292. When I was in the Sauber factory, they showed me the car. They never raced it, but they tested it and they were so many seconds faster than the previous car.
“It looked really cool – so low but with a massive diffuser you could sleep under. It was stunning. Jean-Louis Schlesser, who drove it, said that the car created 5G forces just under braking! It had so much downforce, he couldn't believe it.”
MARTIN BRUNDLE
“It would have to be the No. 2 Jaguar XJR-9LM that won the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hours driven by my teammates Jan Lammers, Andy Wallace and Johnny Dumfries. That car was so much faster down the straight than our Jag and it also used less fuel. They had changed the ride height, which unlocked the potential of the car.”
HENRI PESCAROLO
“As a driver, you always want to be in the most competitive car possible and I was lucky in my career to drive the best cars out there with Matra, Porsche and Alfa Romeo. I was in the best machinery possible, so I never wanted to drive any of the cars from our rivals.
“So that's why I'd pick the present Audi R15 TDI or Peugeot 908 turbodiesels. If I were still racing today, I would want to be in either one of those cars.”
PATRICK LONG
“For me it would be the Porsche 917/20, the ‘Pink Pig' – and, in an ideal world, I'd race it at Cleveland's airport track. How's that for a rare fusion?!”
ALLAN McNISH
“As a Scot, I should probably say the 1957 Le Mans-winning Jaguar D-type, but one car I've always hankered after driving is the Porsche RS Spyder. I had some great battles against that car in 2007-'08 in the American Le Mans Series when I was driving an Audi R10 TDI. The Audi and the Porsche were in separate classes, but they had very similar performance, yet achieved it in different ways. I'd love to have been able to experience where the Porsche was really quick. I think it would have been a real eye-opener.”