This news really shook me I must admit having spent much time with Nike during my Goodyear Tyres F1 duties.
Of all the F1 drivers of his time he was by far the most able to convey in a technical manner what was happening to a car and tyres in any given circumstance.
We supplied all the F1 tyres to all drivers up to 1979 but Nike had his own special compounds for each circuit .
Many memories:...
We were tyre testing the new Brabham Fan car (before it was banned by the authorities on the grounds of throwing up stones at competitors cars !!!). In truth the genius of Gordon Murray had developed a car superior to any other.
We were in Andersdorp Sweden and testing was stopped due to mechanical issues..Gordon and his engineers were left to fix and Nike decided to fly home in his new Lear Jet..I was invited and spent the weekend at his house in Austria.
He has a great Dane dog which tried to eat me ..and Niki just stood there laughing...just a little bit too long for my liking !!
We then flew back to Sweden when the car was fixed...
Goodyear had a Tyres test track at Luxembourg with a glass plate in the road so we could view and measure race tyre footprints.
Nike was always the fastest round this track above Jody Schecter and all other F1 stars of the day and our engineers reported that Nike always gave the most valued technical feedback.
One of the drives of my life as a passenger was on this track with Niki driving a BMW M1 on a fast lap to determine the tyre break out point...he was driving one handed whilst eating an apple !!!...didn't realise a car would go so fast sideways..amazing car control.!!
RIP Niki
What an excellent post and tribute. Thanks. And another reason to be on Talk Morgan. Lots of first hand experience and stories here.
