Jo Siffert

Jo Siffert

Born	(1936-07-07)7 July 1936
Died	24 October 1971(1971-10-24) (aged 35)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Swiss
Active years	1962–1971
Teams	Privateer Lotus and Brabham Rob Walker Racing Team March BRM
Races	100 (96 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	2
Podiums	6
Career points	68
Pole positions	2
Fastest laps	4
First race	1962 Monaco Grand Prix
First win	1968 British Grand Prix
Last win	1971 Austrian Grand Prix
Last race	1971 United States Grand Prix

Joseph Siffert (July 7, 1936 – October 24, 1971) was a Swiss racing driver.

Affectionately known as "Seppi" to his family and close friends, Siffert was born in Fribourg, Switzerland, the son of a dairy owner. He initially made his name in racing on two wheels, powering his way to the Swiss 350 cc motorcycle championship in 1959, before switching to four wheels with a Formula Junior Stanguellini. Siffert graduated to Formula One as a privateer in 1962, with a four-cylinder Lotus-Climax. He later moved to Swiss team Scuderia Filipinetti, and in 1964 joined Rob Walker's private British Rob Walker Racing Team. Early successes included victories in the non-Championship 1964 and 1965 Mediterranean Grands Prix, both times beating Jim Clark by a very narrow margin. Siffert was married twice and to his second wife Simone during the height of his career in the late 1960s and at the time of his death in 1971. They had two children together, Véronique and Philippe.

Life and career

Formula One

In 1968, Siffert drove into the F1 history books by winning the 1968 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch in Rob Walker Racing Team's Lotus 49B, beating Chris Amon's Ferrari into second place after a race-long battle. This is regarded as the last GP victory by a genuine privateer.^[1]

Sports cars

While Siffert's status in F1 grew slowly, his fame came as a leading driver for the factory Porsche effort in its quest for the World Sportscar Championship. In 1968, Siffert and Hans Herrmann won the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring in a Porsche 907, marking the first major outright wins for the company, apart from a few earlier victories on twisty tracks.

Later on, Siffert's driving displays in the Porsche 917 were legendary, earning him several major wins in Europe. In addition, Siffert was chosen by Porsche to help launch its CanAm development program, driving a Porsche 917PA spyder in 1969 and finishing fourth in the championship despite few entries.

In 1970 he teamed up with Brian Redman to drive a Porsche 908/3 to victory at the Targa Florio. That same year, Porsche bankrolled Siffert's seat in a works March Engineering F1 since the German company did not wish to lose one of their prize drivers to rival Ferrari. His association with March in F1 was disastrous, so he was delighted to join rival Porsche racer Pedro Rodriguez at BRM the following season.

Death

Siffert won the 1971 Austrian Grand Prix, and was later killed in the non-championship World Championship Victory Race at Brands Hatch, Kent, England, the scene of his first victory in 1968. The suspension of his BRM had been damaged in a lap one incident with Ronnie Peterson, and broke later. This was not admitted by BRM until much later when it was accidentally divulged by a BRM ex-mechanic.^[2] The BRM crashed and immediately caught fire. Siffert could not free himself from the burning car.

This accident led to a rapid overhaul of safety, both in-car and on circuit. In the subsequent Royal Automobile Club (the UK organising and regulatory representative of the FIA at the time) investigation, it was discovered that the crash itself caused non-fatal injuries but Siffert had rather been killed by smoke inhalation. None of the trackside fire extinguishers worked, and it was found to be impossible to reach the car and extract Siffert because of the intense fire. On-board fire extinguishers (using BCF—bromochlorodifluoromethane, an aircraft product) became mandatory and also piped air for the drivers, direct into their helmets. Thus, perhaps one of the legacies of Seppi was the focus on vehicle and driver safety in Formula One and lesser formulae and far better fire retardant driving overalls.

His funeral in Switzerland was attended by 50,000 people and a Gulf-Porsche 917 of Team John Wyer led the hearse and procession through the streets of Fribourg. A very comprehensive story about Siffert's life and death was published in 2005 by Roger Benoit in the Swiss newspaper Der Blick. Benoit was a period Formula 1 sports reporter and knew Siffert well. He was also present at Siffert's tragic last Brands Hatch race in 1971. The night before the race, Benoit took pictures of Siffert, his wife Simone and his mother Maria as well as a friend Jean Tinguely at an evening victory celebration Link. He then also took the very last picture of Siffert alive as he sat waiting in his BRM in the pole position on the starting line five minutes before the start of the fateful race.

Legacy

In 2005, a very informative 90-minute documentary about his life was made by director Men Lareida: Jo Siffert – live fast, die young "DVD".

In the final round of the 2007–08 A1GP season, at Brands Hatch, the A1 Team Switzerland car carried the message:

Jo 'Seppi' Siffert

40th Anniversary

Brands Hatch

This commemorated his 1968 British Grand Prix victory at Brands Hatch.

Formula One results

Complete World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	WDC	Pts
1962	Ecurie Nationale Suisse	Lotus 21	Climax straight-4	NED	MON DNQ												NC	0
	Ecurie Filipinetti					BEL 10			GER 12
		Lotus 24	BRM V8				FRA Ret	GBR		ITA DNQ	USA	RSA
1963	Siffert Racing Team	Lotus 24	BRM V8	MON Ret	BEL Ret	NED 7	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER 9	ITA Ret	USA Ret	MEX 9	RSA				14th	1
1964	Siffert Racing Team	Lotus 24	BRM V8	MON 8													10th	7
		Brabham BT11			NED 13	BEL Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 11	GER 4	AUT Ret	ITA 7
	Rob Walker Racing Team											USA 3	MEX Ret
1965	Rob Walker Racing Team	Brabham BT11	BRM V8	RSA 7	MON 6	BEL 8	FRA 6	GBR 9	NED 13	GER Ret	ITA Ret	USA 11	MEX 4				12th	5
1966	Rob Walker Racing Team	Brabham BT11	BRM V8	MON Ret													14th	3
		Cooper T81	Maserati V12		BEL Ret	FRA Ret	GBR NC	NED Ret	GER	ITA Ret	USA 4	MEX Ret
1967	Rob Walker Racing Team / Jack Durlacher	Cooper T81	Maserati V12	RSA Ret	MON Ret	NED 10	BEL 7	FRA 4	GBR Ret	GER Ret	CAN DNS	ITA Ret	USA 4	MEX 12			12th	6
1968	Rob Walker Racing Team / Jack Durlacher	Cooper T81	Maserati V12	RSA 7													7th	12
		Lotus 49	Cosworth V8		ESP Ret	MON Ret	BEL 7	NED Ret	FRA 11
		Lotus 49B								GBR 1	GER Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA 5	MEX 6
1969	Rob Walker Racing Team / Jack Durlacher	Lotus 49B	Cosworth V8	RSA 4	ESP Ret	MON 3	NED 2	FRA 9	GBR 8	GER 11†	ITA 8	CAN Ret	USA Ret	MEX Ret			9th	15
1970	March Engineering	March 701	Cosworth V8	RSA 10	ESP DNQ	MON 8	BEL 7	NED Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 8	AUT 9	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA 9	MEX Ret	NC	0
1971	Yardley-BRM	BRM P153	BRM V12	RSA Ret													5th	19
		BRM P160			ESP Ret	MON Ret	NED 6	FRA 4	GBR 9	GER DSQ	AUT 1	ITA 9	CAN 9	USA 2

†Formula Two cars occupied fifth to tenth positions in the 1969 German Grand Prix, however drivers of these cars were not eligible for championship points. The points for fifth and sixth were awarded to the drivers of the eleventh and twelfth placed cars.

Non-championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
1962	Ecurie Nationale Suisse	Cooper T60	Climax V8	CAP	BRX 6	LOM	LAV	GLV	PAU 7	AIN	INT		MAL	CLP			KAN		DAN	OUL	MEX	RAN	NAT
	Scuderia Filipinetti	Lotus 25	Climax V8									NAP DNA			RMS 9	SOL Ret		MED 4
1963	Ecurie Filipinetti	Lotus 25	Climax V8	LOM DNS	GLV	PAU Ret	IMO 2	SYR 1	AIN	INT	ROM DNP	SOL Ret	KAN	MED 5	AUT Ret	OUL 11	RAN
1964	Siffert Racing Team Lotus	Lotus 25	V8	DMT	NWT	SYR DNS	AIN WD	INT 11	SOL 7	MED 1	RAN
1965	Rob Walker Racing Team	Brabham BT11	V8	ROC 6	SYR Ret	SMT Ret	INT	MED 1	RAN 5
1966	Rob Walker Racing Team	Brabham BT11	V8	RSA 2	SYR Ret	INT Ret	OUL
1967	Rob Walker Racing Team	Cooper T81	Maserati V12	ROC 3	SPC	INT 3	SYR 3	OUL	ESP Ret
1968	Rob Walker Racing Team	Lotus 49B	V8	ROC DNS	INT Ret	OUL
1969	Rob Walker Racing Team / Jack Durlacher	Lotus 49B	Cosworth V8	ROC 4	INT 11	MAD	OUL
1971	March Engineering	March 701	Cosworth V8	ARG 6
	Yardley-BRM	BRM P160	BRM V12		ROC	QUE 6	SPR Ret	INT	RIN	OUL	VIC 4

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joseph Siffert.

• Official Jo Siffert web site (German and French) by Philippe Siffert, Jo's son
• Jo Siffert fan page authorized by Simone Siffert, Jo's second wife

Preceded by Jochen Rindt	Formula One fatal accidents October 24, 1971	Succeeded by Roger Williamson

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