22 replies to this topic

[JBonnier]

Posted this under readers comments but maybe people aren't old enough over there to remember ;)

OK, name the tallest drivers in F1 ever! It seems like the days are long gone when a Hans-Joachim Stuck or a Dan Gurney would fit in an F1-car. And does anyone know how tall they were?

JBonnier

[Timm]

Christian Danner - Rial & Zakspeed driver of the mid-'80's. 6 feet 7 inches

[JBonnier]

Never got the impression that Danner was that tall but then again there weren´t that many comparison shots of him with others on the podium

JBonnier

[maxie]

well, i don't have a clue, but coulthard seems pretty tall to me.

[ensign14]

Although not F1, Chris Kniefel (ex Indycar driver, sportscar race winner and current CART chief steward) was billed as being 6'6" when an Indy rookie in 1983. I thought Danner was 6'4", like Justin Wilson.

[JBonnier]

I don't remember how tall COulthard is but he's not in the same category as Danner, Stuck, Gurney and Justin Wilson. Wilson is the proof that you can't be that tall and drive F1. Very unfortunate I think, both for him and the public. Remember Wurz driving the Benetton? The cockpit was too crowded for him to operate comfortably, I'm sure. He looked severly cramped at one occasion when he climbed out of the car.

JBonnier

[David McKinney]

Having stood face-to-face with Christian Danner many times I can assure you he's not 6ft 7in. I have trouble believing even 6ft 4in. Unless he's grown since he raced in New Zealand in the 1980s.
De Beaufort had to have his cars, or some of them, lengthened - haven't we done this one before?
F2 and FJ driver Steve Ouvaroff was allegedly 6'7. Cop a look at the photo on page 151 of Powered by Jaguar, if you have a copy

[Geza Sury]

What about 60s Ferrari driver Michael Parkes? IIRC he was 192 cm tall! According to my calculations, that makes 6'4".

[oldtimer]

How tall was Mike Hawthorn? I remember Ferrari having to move bits inside the cockpit to accomodate his legs. And did BRM lengthen the wheel-base of the 1956 car by 3 inches to accomodate Hawthorn, or was it a piece of happy engineering happenstance?

[Jeroen Brink]

There was a dutch driver called Boy Haye, who drove a few races in the late seventies, who was fairly tall as well.

As to Christian Danner - now commenting F1 on the german RTL networks - at least his ego is big.

[Ray Bell]

Is that not Boy Hayje?

[Jeroen Brink]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Is that not Boy Hayje?

You may be right, no typical dutch name that's for sure. Now that we got the spelling right, all we need to know is his height.

[2F-001]

There was a Norwegian (?) rallycross driver in the Schanche/Alimaki/Gollop era named Vidar Sauthon, who was nick-named ''the two-metre man''. He drove one of those fancy hi-tech Xtrac Escorts, I think.

[FEV]

Philippe Streiff was one of the tallest drivers of his era but I can't back this with figures. Jabouille was nicknamed "Le Grand" which has two meanings : the tall and the great... one was true . More recently, Alex Würz seems quite tall too.

[Geza Sury]

Originally posted by Jeroen Brink

You may be right, no typical dutch name that's for sure.

That's right, but remember, according to Forix, his original name was Johan Gerard Haijje.

[scheivlak]

Speaking of Dutch drivers: how about Rob Slotemaker? Or did he look so tall to me because I compare him to his pal Ben Pon?

[Bernd]

Originally posted by Geza Sury
What about 60s Ferrari driver Michael Parkes? IIRC he was 192 cm tall! According to my calculations, that makes 6'4".

Yes Mike was something of a giant he required a special longer 312 Ferrari built for him in 1966.

[Mac Lark]

Christmas Dinner came to NZ in 82 or 83. If he's 6'7, I'm 6'10!

And I'm not close - CD would be 6'2/6'3 - about the same height as Dan Gurney who I'veball met and nearly looked eye ball to eye ball.

James Hunt, I've also met and would be 6'1 ish.

I understand Gurney was a similar height to Michael Hawthorn. Parkes I would say was nearer 6'4, Hans Stuck somewhere in between.

[Newtown]

How tall would Jos the Boss be then, seeing as how his height cost him a spot at Sauber? BTW, what does height have anything to do with racing ability? I'm 6'2" myself, and i'd like to think that if I had more skill than some 5'6" shrimp then I, or anyone of my stature, should get a job based on skill, not size. Maybe Frank Williams was right when he called the drivers "jockeys".

[cv2000]

Originally posted by Newtown
How tall would Jos the Boss be then, seeing as how his height cost him a spot at Sauber? BTW, what does height have anything to do with racing ability? I'm 6'2" myself, and i'd like to think that if I had more skill than some 5'6" shrimp then I, or anyone of my stature, should get a job based on skill, not size. Maybe Frank Williams was right when he called the drivers "jockeys".

Sauber did not want to spend money on it. I am sure Jordan is the same way as they are both smaller teams with less budget then say Renault, Ferrari, Mclaren, Williams etc etc

[Mac Lark]

Verstappen also came to NZ with his manager Huub Rothengatter.

Jos wasn't as tall as Rothengatter would was about 6'1. Jos I'd estimate was about 5'11.

[Carlos Jalife]

Kneifel is 6'6 (1.98 for us who do not care for english system) but no way Danner is taller, I've seen them both at CART races and Chris is much taller. However, there is a boy Jon Morley or something, in the Barber Pro series who's 6'4 and still only 19 so he could go better. And Justin is 6'3 at least from what I've read in Autosport.
By the way, does this has any relation to the old question, does size matter?

[fines]

Originally posted by Carlos Jalife
Kneifel is 6'6 (1.98 for us who do not care for english system) but no way Danner is taller, I've seen them both at CART races and Chris is much taller. However, there is a boy Jon Morley or something, in the Barber Pro series who's 6'4 and still only 19 so he could go better. And Justin is 6'3 at least from what I've read in Autosport.
By the way, does this has any relation to the old question, does size matter?

I was 6 feet 5 when I was 15, and now I'm "only" 6'7" - I don't think you get any taller when you're 19 already! And to your last question: Yes, size matters!