Jo Siffert

[VladD]

I've just been reading a Motorsport article about Jo Siffert. He was killed in 1971 during a race at Brands Hatch (his 41st race of the season). For his funeral, around 50,000 turned out and his coffin was carried on the back of a Porsche 917. Now THAT is a proper way to be laid to rest.

[ph123]

He used to come down to Goodwood and test for the Gulf team.
Crank it up early in the morning, break for coffee, run till lunch.
Massive lunch, burp ...
and continue all afternoon. Trying this, trying that ... all day.
Local man D Bell would do the same, later in their very pretty little DFV sports car.

[haggy]

Not heard of that before! where did you find that out?

[ph123]

... was there.

[VladD]

I subscribe to Motorsport magazine and get occasional e-mails. It was in an article that was linked.

[timbo48]

Was at that Brands meeting. Crash happened at the other end of the straight from where we were watching. Car flipped and caught fire and lots of people rushed down there. Apparently it wasn't the fire that got him but the lack of oxygen (used by the fire). I think that as a result, oxygen cylinders became the norm in race cars. One of my favourite drivers.

[kevin ritson]

There's an excellent foreign language DVD available about Jo - if you enjoyed Mark Stewart's films on Stewart, Clark and Hill then you'll like this. Can't remember the name of the distributor in the UK but it's usually found with the Gulf wear range at major events.

[Nick M]

kevin ritson said:

There's an excellent foreign language DVD available about Jo - if you enjoyed Mark Stewart's films on Stewart, Clark and Hill then you'll like this. Can't remember the name of the distributor in the UK but it's usually found with the Gulf wear range at major events.

I got my copy at Le Mans last year.

It used to be available on Amazon but doesn't seem to be available there at the moment. Link for where to buy it is below:

http://www.grandprix-originals.com/shop/product_in...

[El Guapo]

It was the first time I´d ever been to a race track, a teacher at our school was a real petrolhead and took 4 of us. When the black smoke went up there was a tangible feeling of dread in the stands. It was even more tragic because it was a day of celebration rather than a competitive meeting.
I had always enjoyed reading about Jo´s exploits in F1 & sports cars and he was my second driving hero after Jim Clark. I will admit that I cried my little eyes out. RIP Jo, another real gentleman lost too soon.