Vern Schuppan
AM

Closeup of thePorsche 956 in which Schuppan and co-driversAl Holbert andHurley Haywood won the1983 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Born	(1943-03-19)19 March 1943 (age 82) Booleroo Centre,South Australia, Australia
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Australian
Active years	1972,1974–1975,1977
Teams	BRM,Ensign,Hill,Surtees
Entries	13 (9 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1972 Belgian Grand Prix
Last entry	1977 Dutch Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1973–1979,1981–1989
Teams	see below
Best finish	1st(1983)
Class wins	1

Vernon John SchuppanAM (born 19 March 1943) is an Australian former motor racing driver. Schuppan drove in various categories, participating inFormula One, theIndianapolis 500 and most successfully insports car racing.

Although he considers himself to be asingle-seater driver, Schuppan's biggest career victory was with the factory-backedRothmansPorsche team when he partneredAmericansHurley Haywood andAl Holbert to win the1983 24 Hours of Le Mans driving thePorsche 956.

In 1984 he was made aMember of the Order of Australia for "service to the sport of motor racing".^[1]

After a successful karting career in which he won numerous Australian state and national titles, Schuppan made the decision to pursue a career in motor racing. He and his wife Jennifer ventured to Great Britain (with a self-imposed 2-year limit of making it big) to allow him to participate in the BritishFormula Atlantic Championship, which he won, leading to a test withBRM. As BRM's test driver he qualified for the1972 Belgian Grand Prix atNivelles-Baulers, but he did not start the race because teammateHelmut Marko commandeered his car, though he did compete in some non-championship races with BRM.

In 1974 Schuppan went toTeam Ensign, débuting again in theBelgian Grand Prix where he finished in 15th position. InMonaco he retired on lap four because of an accident. Schuppan was disqualified in bothSweden andthe Netherlands; in Sweden because he started illegally from 26th place on the grid and in the Netherlands for receiving a tyre change outside of the pits. Schuppan failed to qualify inFrance orBritain. He retired inGermany on lap four because of gearbox problems.

In 1975 he raced in one race inSweden forEmbassy Racing With Graham Hill team, retiring from the race with transmission problems. In 1977 Schuppan raced forSurtees, finishing 12th inBritain and a career best seventh inGermany. He finished 16th inAustria, but failed to qualify for his final Formula One race inthe Netherlands. Schuppan would later describe Surtees team boss,1964 World ChampionJohn Surtees, as an autocratic owner who "always knew best and wouldn't listen to his drivers" and believes his time with the team was hampered by not being given equal equipment to his teammateVittorio Brambilla.

Schuppan has had a very successful sports car career, winning the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans for Porsche's official factory team with Al Holbert and Hurley Haywood in a RothmansPorsche 956 (#3). Holbert drove the final lap of the race with an overheating (and steaming) engine caused by an airflow blockage to the radiator that cooled the heads, it seized as he crossed the finish line. The second placed car, the #1 Rothmans Porsche of defending winnersJacky Ickx andDerek Bell (driving) was only 17 seconds behind their teammates at the end of 24 hours of racing.

By winning Le Mans in 1983, Schuppan became only the second Australian to win the French classic, following in the footsteps of1928 winnerBernard Rubin. Although Rubin was born in Australia, Schuppan is often mistaken for being the first Aussie winner.

Schuppan also finished second at Le Mans in1977 driving aMirage GR8-Renault turbo with French F1 driverJean-Pierre Jarier, and second in1982 in a Rothmans Porsche 956 withJochen Mass. He also finished third in1975 withJean-Pierre Jaussaud in a Mirage GR8-Ford Cosworth DFV.

After winning at Le Mans, Schuppan went on to win the1983 Japanese Sports-Prototype Championship.

He finished sixth at the1984 24 Hours of Le Mans driving with Jarier and fellow Australian,1980 World ChampionAlan Jones making hisLe Mans début (and indeed his only start), in aKremer Racing Porsche 956B after the factory backed Rothmans team boycotted the event over theAutomobile Club de l'Ouest's new fuel restriction rules. Initially Porsche were not going to release their drivers for the race, but finally relented less than two weeks before the race and Manfred and Erwin Kremer were more than happy for the defending race winner to join them. Schuppan and Jones fought for the lead in the first few hours of the race with theLancia LC2 ofBob Wollek andAlessandro Nannini, until the nose of the 956 was damaged by a spinning Roger Dorchy at Mulsanne Corner, losing the team a few laps in repairs. TheKenwood sponsored 956 fought back to be again fighting for the lead, and near the end of the race Jarier was 2 laps down but catching the leadingJoest Racing Porsche driven byKlaus Ludwig andHenri Pescarolo (the eventual winners) by over 10 seconds per lap. He then pitted for Schuppan to run the car to the flag. Schuppan got in only one and a half laps before the car broke a conrod with just 90 minutes left to run. As Automobile Club de l'Ouest rules state that for a car to be classified as a finisher it must finish the last lap within a certain time, Schuppan fired up the Porsche and headed out for one last lap and a 6th-place finish.

He had a number of other podium finishes in theWorld Sports Car Championship, including second in the 1973 and 1982Spa 1000 km, third in the 1983 and 1984Fuji 1000 km and third in the1985 Selangor 800 km race. Schuppan also placed third in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship in 1984, 1985 and 1986.

Schuppan competed in threeIndianapolis 500 races. These were1976 (where he won theRookie of the Year award),1979 and1981, with a best result of third in 1981 driving aMcLaren-Ford. In all, he started 32 CART and USAC Championship races. He won the 1974 and 1976Macau Grand Prix races, dominating the 1974 race, winning by four laps.

He also won the 1971 British Formula Atlantic Championship^[2] and theSingapore Grand Prix in 1973. He was second in 1972 and also second in theMalaysian Grand Prix in 1972. He racedFormula 5000 in Europe between 1974 and 1975^[3] and in North America 1974-1976^[4] with some success.

In his home countryAustralia, Schuppan won the1976 Rothmans International Series run forFormula 5000 cars, driving aLola T332-Chevrolet. He placed second in the1976 Australian Grand Prix atSandown Park inMelbourne driving anElfin MR8 Chevrolet, only half a second behind winnerJohn Goss in aMatich A53-Repco Holden. He was also runner up in the 1978 Rothmans International Series, driving an Elfin MR8-Chevrolet for fellow South AustralianGarrie Cooper, the owner and founder ofElfin Sports Cars and his factory run Ansett Team Elfin.

When Schuppan was regularly returning home to Australia to race he was also a popular choice as a co-driver for toptouring car teams such asAllan Moffat Racing,Dick Johnson Racing and thePeter Brock runHolden Dealer Team in theSandown 400 andBathurst 1000 races in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His best finish atBathurst was a fifth place withDick Johnson in1978 driving aFord XC Falcon. He drove for the Holden Dealer Team in 1981, partneringJohn Harvey in aHolden VC Commodore to 4th place in theHang Ten 400 after starting the race, but never got to drive the car atBathurst after a broken front wheel sent Harvey into the guardrail and retirement on lap 37.

Allan Moffat and Schuppan started on pole and were leading the1976 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 when theirXB Falcon GT Hardtop retired with engine failure in lap 87. In a 2013 interview with "Australian Muscle Car" magazine Schuppan told that Moffat's Falcon was the best touring car he ever drove.

With Japanese backing, Schuppan produced minimally modified street legal 962 race cars. The first, known as the 962R and registered in the UK as H726 LDP, retained the original bodywork and honeycomb chassis from its racing career. Later a road going evolution of thePorsche 962 called theSchuppan 962CR was developed, using different bodywork than the 962R. At the then price of 195 million yen (US$1.5 million) only six were built.

Failure of payment for two of the cars shipped to Japan coupled with the high cost of the car's construction and worldwide economic recession, forced Schuppan to declare bankruptcy. Schuppan then also co-owned anIndy Lights team withStefan Johansson, the pair managed the career ofNew Zealand born driverScott Dixon until Schuppan and Johansson had a falling out resulting in Schuppan leaving the partnership.

In May 2006, Schuppan was elected into theClub International des Anciens Pilotes de Grand Prix F1, an eminent organisation based inMonaco.^[5]

Schuppan also played an important role in bringing Formula One to the city ofAdelaide in his home state of South Australia. F1 bossBernie Ecclestone had originally favoured theAustralian Grand Prix to be held inSydney. However, thePremier of South Australia,John Bannon, asked Schuppan (who knew Ecclestone personally) to come and take a look at Adelaide. Ultimately Ecclestone was so impressed the Grand Prix was held in Adelaide for eleven years from 1985 to 1995.

As of 2014, Schuppan lives in Adelaide with Jennifer, his wife of over 45 years. The couple live in a converted warehouse adjacent to theAdelaide Street Circuit which hosted the Australian Grand Prix and currently hosts theClipsal 500 on a modified version of the circuit forV8 Supercars. Despite his over 40 years of international motorsport, Schuppan describes living in a city as a new experience. He is also a regular supporter of theTarga Adelaide tarmac rally.

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1973	Gulf Research Racing	Mike Hailwood John Watson	Mirage M6Ford Cosworth	S 3.0	112	DNF	DNF
1974	Gulf Research Racing Co.	Reine Wisell	Gulf GR7Ford Cosworth	S 3.0	49	DNF	DNF
1975	Gulf Research Racing Co.	Jean-Pierre Jaussaud	Mirage GR8Ford Cosworth	S 3.0	330	3rd	3rd
1976	Grand Touring Cars Inc.	Derek Bell	Mirage GR8Ford Cosworth	S 3.0	326	5th	4th
1977	Grand Touring Cars Inc. MirageRenault	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Mirage GR8Renault	S +2.0	331	2nd	2nd
1978	Grand Touring Cars Inc.	Jacques Laffite Sam Posey	Mirage GR9Renault	S +2.0	293	10th	5th
1979	Grand Touring Cars Inc. Ford Concessionaires France	Jean-Pierre Jaussaud David Hobbs	Ford M10	S +2.0	121	NC	NC
		Derek Bell David Hobbs	Ford M10	S +2.0	262	DNF	DNF
1981	Porsche System	Jochen Mass Hurley Haywood	Porsche 936	S +2.0	312	12th	2nd
1982	RothmansPorsche System	Jochen Mass	Porsche 956	C	356	2nd	2nd
1983	RothmansPorsche	Hurley Haywood Al Holbert	Porsche 956	C	370	1st	1st
1984	PorscheKremer Racing	Alan Jones Jean-Pierre Jarier	Porsche 956B	C1	337	6th	6th
1985	RothmansPorsche	Al Holbert John Watson	Porsche 962C	C1	299	DNF	DNF
1986	RothmansPorsche	Jochen Mass Bob Wollek	Porsche 962C	C1	180	DNF	DNF
		Drake Olson	Porsche 962C	C1	41	DNF	DNF
1987	RothmansPorsche AG	Bob Wollek Jochen Mass	Porsche 962C	C1	16	DNF	DNF
1988	Porsche AG	Bob Wollek Sarel van der Merwe	Porsche 962C	C1	192	DNF	DNF
1989	Team Schuppan	Eje Elgh Gary Brabham	Porsche 962C	C1	321	13th	10th
Source:[13]

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1976	Moffat Ford Dealers	Allan Moffat	Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop	3001cc – 6000cc	87	DNF	DNF
1977	Bryan Byrt Ford	Dick Johnson	Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop	3001cc – 6000cc	124	DNF	DNF
1978	Bryan Byrt Ford	Dick Johnson	Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop	Over 3000cc	153	5th	5th
1981	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	John Harvey	Holden VC Commodore	8 Cylinder & Over	37	DNF	DNF

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

• Vern Schuppan career summary at DriverDB.com
• Vern Schuppan driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Champcar Stats
• My F5000 Profile

• 1943 births
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans winning drivers
• Australian Formula One drivers
• Australian IndyCar Series drivers
• BRM Formula One drivers
• Ensign Formula One drivers
• Surtees Formula One drivers
• Hill Formula One drivers
• British Touring Car Championship drivers
• Champ Car drivers
• Indianapolis 500 drivers
• Indianapolis 500 Rookies of the Year
• Living people
• People from Whyalla
• Racing drivers from South Australia
• World Sportscar Championship drivers
• Members of the Order of Australia
• Long Distance Series drivers
• Japanese Sportscar Championship drivers
• Porsche Motorsports drivers
• Team Joest drivers

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use Australian English from June 2012
• All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
• Use dmy dates from January 2021