After a karting career in which he won numerous Australian state and national titles, Schuppan and his wife Jennifer relocated to Great Britain with a self-imposed two-year limit to make it in racing. He won the British Formula Atlantic Championship, which led to a test with BRM. He qualified for the 1972 Belgian Grand Prix at Nivelles-Baulers but did not start because teammate Helmut Marko commandeered his car; he did compete in some non-championship races with BRM.
In 1974 Schuppan joined Team Ensign, debuting at the Belgian Grand Prix where he finished 15th. At Monaco he retired on lap four in an accident. He was disqualified in both Sweden (for starting illegally from 26th on the grid) and the Netherlands (for receiving a tyre change outside the pits), and failed to qualify in France and Britain. He retired in Germany on lap four with gearbox problems.
In 1975 Schuppan raced one race in Sweden for the Embassy Racing With Graham Hill team, retiring with transmission problems. In 1977 he raced for Surtees, finishing 12th in Britain and achieving a career-best seventh in Germany, 16th in Austria, and failing to qualify in the Netherlands. He later described Surtees team boss, 1964 World Champion John Surtees, as autocratic — someone who "always knew best and wouldn't listen to his drivers" — and believed his time at the team was hampered by not receiving equipment equal to teammate Vittorio Brambilla.
Schuppan's most important career victory came at the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans driving the factory-backed Rothmans Porsche 956 No. 3, alongside Americans Al Holbert and Hurley Haywood. Holbert drove the final lap with an overheating engine caused by an airflow blockage to the radiator; it seized as he crossed the finish line. The second-placed car — the No. 1 Rothmans Porsche of defending winners Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell — finished just 17 seconds behind. By winning Le Mans in 1983, Schuppan became only the second Australian to win the race, following 1928 winner Bernard Rubin. Schuppan also won the 1983 Japanese Sports-Prototype Championship.
He also placed second at Le Mans in 1977 driving a Mirage GR8-Renault turbo with Jean-Pierre Jarier, second in 1982 in a Rothmans Porsche 956 with Jochen Mass, and third in 1975 with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud in a Mirage GR8-Ford Cosworth DFV.
At the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans, the factory Rothmans team boycotted the event over the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's new fuel restriction rules, initially refusing to release their drivers. Less than two weeks before the race Porsche relented, and Schuppan joined Kremer Racing with Jarier and fellow Australian, 1980 World Champion Alan Jones — making his Le Mans debut and only start — in a Porsche 956B. Schuppan and Jones fought for the lead in the early hours with the Lancia LC2 of Bob Wollek and Alessandro Nannini, until a spinning Roger Dorchy at Mulsanne Corner damaged the nose, costing the team several laps. The Kenwood-sponsored 956 fought back into contention; late in the race Jarier was two laps down but closing on the leading Joest Racing Porsche of Klaus Ludwig and Henri Pescarolo at over ten seconds per lap. Jarier pitted for Schuppan to bring the car home, but a broken conrod halted the car with 90 minutes remaining. Schuppan completed one final lap to secure a classified sixth-place finish. He had additional World Sports Car Championship podiums: second in the 1973 and 1982 Spa 1000 km, third in the 1983 and 1984 Fuji 1000 km, and third in the 1985 Selangor 800 km race.
Schuppan competed in three Indianapolis 500 races — 1976, 1979, and 1981 — winning the Rookie of the Year award in 1976 and finishing third in 1981 driving a McLaren-Ford. He started 32 CART and USAC Championship races in total. He won the Macau Grand Prix in both 1974 and 1976, dominating the 1974 race by four laps. He also won the 1971 British Formula Atlantic Championship and the Singapore Grand Prix in 1973, finished second in the 1972 Singapore round and second in the 1972 Malaysian Grand Prix.
In Australia, Schuppan won the 1976 Rothmans International Series for Formula 5000 cars driving a Lola T332-Chevrolet, and finished second in the 1976 Australian Grand Prix at Sandown Park in Melbourne — in an Elfin MR8 Chevrolet, half a second behind winner John Goss. He was runner-up in the 1978 Rothmans International Series driving an Elfin MR8-Chevrolet for Garrie Cooper, the owner and founder of Elfin Sports Cars. He also drove for touring car teams including Allan Moffat Racing, Dick Johnson Racing, and the Peter Brock-run Holden Dealer Team, achieving a best Bathurst finish of fifth with Dick Johnson in 1978 driving a Ford XC Falcon. Moffat and Schuppan started on pole and led the 1976 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 before retiring with engine failure on lap 87.
With Japanese backing, Schuppan produced minimally modified street-legal versions of the Porsche 962. The first, the 962R, retained the original bodywork and honeycomb chassis from its racing career. A later evolution, the Schuppan 962CR, used different bodywork; at 195 million yen (US$1.5 million) only six were built. Non-payment for two cars shipped to Japan, combined with construction costs and worldwide economic recession, forced Schuppan to declare bankruptcy. Schuppan also co-owned an Indy Lights team with Stefan Johansson, managing the career of New Zealand-born driver Scott Dixon until the two had a falling out.
Schuppan played a role in bringing Formula One to Adelaide in his home state of South Australia. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone had originally favoured Sydney; the Premier of South Australia, John Bannon, asked Schuppan — who knew Ecclestone personally — to show him Adelaide. Ecclestone was impressed and the Australian Grand Prix was held in Adelaide for eleven years from 1985 to 1995. In May 2006, Schuppan was elected into the Club International des Anciens Pilotes de Grand Prix F1, an organisation based in Monaco. He also placed third in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship in 1984, 1985, and 1986.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 4 related images
