First try at Nivelles

After a successful karting career in which he won numerous Australian titles, Vern Schuppan (born 19 March 1943) made the decision to pursue a career in motor racing. He and his wife Jennifer travelled to Great Britain (with a self-imposed 2-year limit of making it big) to allow him to participate in the British Formula Atlantic Championship, which he won, leading to a test with BRM.

As BRM’s test driver, he qualified his BRM P153B for the 1972 Belgian Grand Prix at Nivelles-Baulers (picture above) but he did not start the race, because teammate Helmut Marko requested his car, though he did compete in some non-championship races with BRM.

Vern Schuppan entered 13 Grand Prix (9 starts) for the BRM, Ensign, Hill and Surtees teams, between 1972 and 1977, but failed to score any championship points. Nevertheless, he had a very successful sports car career, winning (amongst plenty other races) the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans with Al Holbert and Hurley Haywood in a Rothmans Porsche 956 (picture below).