Still, Heyer had been faster than two notable names, 1974 World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi who had struggled badly in his own Copersucar machine, and the flamboyant Arturo Merzario. Still, he was only third reserve should anything untoward rule some of the starters out - and a long shot to get a run come Sunday afternoon. Nevertheless, he climbed aboard his car as the race approached, perhaps hoping for a last-minute break. But as it turned out, he had a devilish plan up his sleeve...

Perhaps egged on by his team and his long-time sponsors Mampe Halb und Halb, and perhaps trusting in the goodwill of the local officials, Heyer took advantage of confusion at the start. The lights failed, and the German flag had to be dropped to start the race. Then Clay Regazzoni and Alan Jones collided at the first corner. In the middle of all that, Hans drove out of the pit lane and started the race! The crowd, realising what was going on, went ballistic.



Indeed, the crowd seemed to have more of a clue of what was happening than the stewards, who either failed to notice or ignored the illegal 25th car on the circuit. As it turned out, Hans retired after 9 laps with a gear linkage problem having set the 22nd fastest race lap, and it was only after he had pulled out that he was disqualified from the final results. But Hans had left a trail of confusion in his wake; with his non-qualification, his illegal start and DNF, and his disqualification, did he officially start a Grand Prix?