at the start of the dfv project, hayes told henry ford ii that he thought the dfv engine was "fairly likely" to win a world championship. in 1997 a group of people gathered at donington park to commemorate the dfv's 30th anniversary. jackie stewart said a few words, making comments on an engine which had made him as well as graham hill, jochen rindt, emerson fittipaldi, james hunt, mario andretti, alan jones, nelson piquet and keke rosberg. it had also brought championships to teams: lotus, matra, tyrrell, mclaren and williams; and won races for hesketh, march, penske, shadow and wolf.