Jo Schlesser

JO SCHLESSER d1968. French Formula One and sports car racing driver. He participated in three World Championship Grands Prix driving for Matra Honda. An opportunity for a Formula One seat came in the 1968 French Grand Prix with Honda. The Honda team had completed an experimental air-cooled Formula One car (the RA302) which had been tested by their works driver John Surtees. Surtees pronounced it as not ready for racing and a potential deathtrap. Undaunted and with the financial help of Honda France, they entered it for the French Grand Prix at Rouen on July 7th 1968. Being the local hero, 40 year old Schlesser was hired to drive it. After two laps, the car slid wide at the Six Frères corner and crashed sideways into a bank. The magnesium-bodied car and 58 laps' worth of fuel ignited instantly leaving him no chance of survival. As a result, Honda withdrew from Formula One at the end of the 1968 season after John Surtees again refused to drive in the Italian Grand Prix