Jo Siffert
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| Nation: |
 Switzerland
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| Automobile world championship | |||||||||
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| First start: | Belgian Grand Prix 1962 | ||||||||
| Last start: | 1971 USA Grand Prix | ||||||||
| Constructors | |||||||||
| 1962 Ecurie Filipinetti · 1963–1964 Siffert Racing Team · 1964–1969 Rob Walker Racing Team · 1970 March · 1971 BRM | |||||||||
| statistics | |||||||||
| World Cup balance: | World Cup fifth ( 1971 ) | ||||||||
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| World Cup points : | 68 | ||||||||
| Podiums : | 6th | ||||||||
| Leadership laps : | 99 over 520 km | ||||||||
Joseph "Jo" Siffert (born July 7, 1936 in Freiburg im Üechtland , Switzerland ; † October 24, 1971 in Brands Hatch , United Kingdom ) was a Swiss Formula 1 and sports car racing driver.
The entry into racing
Siffert grew up in the then poor lower town of Friborg. As a child, “Seppi” Siffert and his father, who ran an unprofitable milk shop there, attended motorsport events in Switzerland. Fascinated by the charismatic drivers of the time, he decided to become a racing driver himself. Since his parents could not finance this sport for him, Siffert tried to earn the necessary money as a scrap metal and rag collector while he was still at school. After school he did an apprenticeship as a bodywork cleaner and got into the used car trade .
In the mid-1950s, Siffert met the driver Michel Piller at a motorcycle race, who recognized his talent and supported him in his early days. In 1957 he started quite successfully with an old Gilera Pillers in some Swiss motorcycle races in the 125 cm³ class, in 1958 he drove a 350 cm³ AJS , in 1959 he became Swiss motorcycle champion in the class up to 350 cm³. Also in 1959 Siffert took the passenger seat of his countryman Edgar Strub at the Grand Prix of France for motorcycles in Clermont-Ferrand on BMW in the team class part and finished third. A week earlier, the two had won the Grand Prix of Finland , which was not part of the World Cup this year, and the Eiläintarhanajot .
In 1960 Siffert switched from motorcycle to automobile racing. He bought a used Stanguellini racing car with which he competed in hill climbs and slaloms . The season was so successful that Siffert founded his own racing team and bought a Lotus Formula Junior for the next year . In 1961, he was immediately tied with the South African Tony Maggs Formula Junior European Champion.
Sports car
In addition to his appearances in Formula racing Siffert denied in the 1960s, numerous sports car and endurance racing . In 1961 he finished his first 1000 km race on the Nürburgring with a borrowed Ferrari 500 in third place. With these successes, he made a name for himself in the motorsport scene, and the victory bonuses helped him finance his racing team. In 1965 , Siffert competed in a Maserati for the first time in the Le Mans 24-hour race , but retired due to a technical defect. In the following year, with a Porsche 906 entered by the factory, he was the winner of the 2-liter class and fourth in the overall standings.
From 1967 to 1969, in addition to the formula racing championships , he competed for the Porsche works team in the sports car world championship . With his teammates Hans Herrmann and Brian Redman , Siffert achieved numerous victories and podium places in the classics of endurance races . He won in 1968 on the Porsche 907 , the 24 Hours of Daytona (with Hans Herrmann, Vic Elford , Rolf Stommelen , Jochen Neerpasch ), the 12-hour race at Sebring and the 1,000-km race at the Nürburgring (with Vic Elford). In 1969 he won the 1000 km races at the Nürburgring, Monza and Spa-Francorchamps, as well as fourth place overall in the CanAm series in a new Porsche 917 PA Spyder .
In 1970 and 1971 Porsche dominated, but the brand-internal duels with or against Vic Elford or Pedro Rodríguez were exciting. Siffert and Brian Redman won the legendary Targa Florio in a lightweight Porsche 908 used by the Gulf Team and the 1000 km races in Spa and Zeltweg with the more powerful Porsche 917 .
Jo Siffert in 1966 in the Porsche 906
Jo Siffert in 1969 in the Porsche 908 Spyder
Jo Siffert in 1970 in the Porsche 908.03 at the 1000 km race
... and in the Porsche 908.03 during training in 1971 on the Nürburgring
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formula 1
In 1962 , Siffert received the opportunity to enter Formula 1 from the newly founded Swiss Ecurie Filipinetti team . At the Belgian Grand Prix he was able to qualify for his first Formula 1 Grand Prix with a Lotus-Climax and finish the race in tenth place. The 1963 season didn't start out promisingly. After he was often unable to compete in races due to technical breakdowns, he fell out with the team after the Monaco Grand Prix . He had to buy himself out of his contract as well as take over the Lotus 24 . With this racing car, again as the driver of his own Siffert Racing Team , he contested the following Formula 1 races and several hill climbs. For the 1964 season he bought a Formula 1 car with a BRM engine from Brabham . Despite some success, he could not finance participation in the overseas races in the USA and Mexico towards the end of the season . In order to be able to start anyway, Siffert signed on as the third driver for the Rob Walker Racing Team and repainted his car in the team color blue. He finished the US Grand Prix behind Graham Hill and John Surtees with a podium finish.
In addition, Siffert also took part in Formula 2 races for his team from 1964 . In 1967 he became a works driver for the BMW -F2 team.
From 1965 he started regularly for the Rob Walker Racing Team. Siffert's first big success in Formula 1 was winning the 1968 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch ahead of Chris Amon and Jacky Ickx in a Lotus 49 Cosworth. At the end of the season he was seventh in the championship. In 1970 he moved to March for a year . Since Siffert did not have a competitive car there and could not achieve any success, he switched to BRM for the 1971 season . His last Formula 1 season was also to be his most successful. He won the Austrian Grand Prix with the twelve-cylinder BRM-P160 and came second behind François Cevert at the US Grand Prix . In the world championship, he finished fifth.
Accident and death
On October 24, 1971, Siffert started a Formula 1 race without world championship status , the World Championship Victory Race (in honor of the already established world championship winner) at Brands Hatch, his 41st car race that year. Siffert had a seemingly harmless collision with Ronnie Peterson in the start phase . He continued the race until a wheel suspension broke on lap 15 at high speed, either as a result of the accident or a material defect . The BRM hit a bank of earth, overturned and started to burn. Trapped unconscious and with broken legs, Siffert died of lack of oxygen and smoke inhalation .
Around 50,000 people lined the streets of Freiburg at his funeral. This was one of the largest funeral ceremonies ever in Switzerland. Posthumously was Jo Siffert 1971 Swiss Sportsman of the Year chosen. In June 1984 the Jo Siffert Fountain ("Fontaine Jo Siffert") was inaugurated in his memory , a gift from his friend Jean Tinguely to the city of Freiburg.
Reports
Niklaus Meienberg published a report on the life of Jo Siffert in the magazine of the Zürcher Tages-Anzeiger (1972, No. 5) (see literature). Roger Benoit, a Formula 1 reporter at the time and a good acquaintance or even a friend of Siffert, published a commemorative series in the Swiss newspaper “Blick” in 2005 (see web links).
Movie
“Jo Siffert - Live fast, die young” is the name of the documentary by the Bündner Men Lareida , which revives the myth of the Swiss racing driver. The film was produced in Switzerland and opened in German-speaking Switzerland on December 22, 2005.
statistics
Statistics in the automobile world championship
These statistics include all of the driver's participations in the World Automobile Championship, which is now known as the Formula 1 World Championship .
Grand Prix victories
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1968: Great Britain
( Brands Hatch ) -
1971: Austria
( Spielberg )
general overview
Single results
| season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
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| 1962 |
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| DNQ | 10 | DNF | 12 | DNQ | |||||||||
| 1963 |
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| DNF | DNF | 7th | 6th | DNF | 9 * | DNF | DNF | 9 | |||||
| 1964 |
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| 8th | 13 | DNF | DNF | 11 | 4th | DNF | 7th | 3 | DNF | ||||
| 1965 |
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| 7th | 6th | 8th | 6th | 9 | 13 | DNF | DNF | 11 | 4th | ||||
| 1966 |
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| DNF | DNF | DNF | NC | DNF | DNF | 4th | DNF | ||||||
| 1967 |
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| DNF | DNF | 10 | 7th | 4th | DNF | DNF | DNS | DNF | 4th | 12 * | |||
| 1968 |
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| 7th | DNF | DNF | 7th | DNF | 11 | 1 | DNF | DNF | DNF | 5 | 6th | ||
| 1969 |
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| 4th | DNF | 3 | 2 | 9 | 8th | 11 | 8th* | DNF | DNF | DNF | |||
| 1970 |
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| 10 | DNQ | 8th* | 7 * | DNF | DNF | DNF | 8th* | 9 | DNF | DNF | 9 | DNF | |
| 1971 |
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| DNF | DNF | DNF | 6th | 4th | 9 | DNF | 1 | 9 | 9 | 2 |
| Legend | ||
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| colour | abbreviation | meaning |
| gold | - | victory |
| silver | - | 2nd place |
| bronze | - | 3rd place |
| green | - | Placement in the points |
| blue | - | Classified outside the point ranks |
| violet | DNF | Race not finished (did not finish) |
| NC | not classified | |
| red | DNQ | did not qualify |
| DNPQ | failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify) | |
| black | DSQ | disqualified |
| White | DNS | not at the start (did not start) |
| WD | withdrawn | |
| Light Blue | PO | only participated in the training (practiced only) |
| TD | Friday test driver | |
| without | DNP | did not participate in the training (did not practice) |
| INJ | injured or sick | |
| EX | excluded | |
| DNA | did not arrive | |
| C. | Race canceled | |
| no participation in the World Cup | ||
| other | P / bold | Pole position |
| SR / italic | Fastest race lap | |
| * | not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered |
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| () | Streak results | |
| underlined | Leader in the overall standings | |
Le Mans results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
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| 1965 |
Johnny Simone
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Maserati Tipo 65 |
Jochen Neerpasch
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failure | accident |
| 1966 |
Porsche System Engineering
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Porsche 906 / 6L Carrera 6 |
Colin Davis
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4th place and class win | |
| 1967 |
Porsche System Engineering
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Porsche 907 / 6L |
Hans Herrmann
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5th place and class win | |
| 1968 |
Porsche System Engineering
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Porsche 908 |
Hans Herrmann
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failure | Clutch damage |
| 1969 |
Hart ski racing
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Porsche 908/02 LH |
Brian Redman
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failure | Gearbox damage |
| 1970 |
John Wyer Automotive
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Porsche 917K |
Brian Redman
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failure | Engine failure |
| 1971 |
John Wyer Automotive
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Porsche 917K |
Derek Bell
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failure | crankshaft |
Sebring results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
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| 1966 |
Charles Vögele
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Porsche 906 |
Charles Vögele
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Rank 6 | ||
| 1967 |
Porsche car
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Porsche 910 |
Hans Herrmann
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Rank 4 | ||
| 1968 |
Porsche Automobile Co.
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Porsche 907 2.2 |
Hans Herrmann
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Overall victory | ||
| 1969 |
Porsche System Engineering Ltd.
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Porsche 908/02 |
Brian Redman
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failure | Chassis broken | |
| 1970 |
JW Automotive Engineering Ltd.
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Porsche 917K |
 Leo Kinnunen
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Pedro Rodríguez
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Rank 4 | |
| 1971 |
JW Automotive Engineering Ltd.
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Porsche 917K |
Derek Bell
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Rank 5 |
Individual results in the sports car world championship
See also
literature
- Niklaus Meienberg : Reports from Switzerland. Luchterhand, Darmstadt et al. 1974 (Unchanged reprint. Limmat-Verlag, Zurich 1994, ISBN 3-85791-227-8 ).
- Ed Heuvink: Jo Siffert, 1936–1971. (The Swiss racing legend). McKlein Publishing, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-927458-47-5 .
- Michel Janvier & Olivier Marin: Jo Siffert . Comic biography, Editions Paquet, 2018, ISBN 978-2888907411 . German-language edition at Salleck Publications, 2019, ISBN 978-3-89908-685-0 .
Web links
- Markus Peter: Siffert, Jo. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Website about Jo Siffert
Individual evidence
- ↑ In thoughts by Jo Siffert , the view from August 17, 2011, accessed on August 28, 2013.
- ↑ "Nei, dasch zvüu, do me connais!" , swissinfo, September 18, 2010
- ↑ a b A life in tempo exchange , NZZ, October 16, 2017
- ↑ Jo Siffert in the Internet Movie Database (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Siffert, Jo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Siffert, Joseph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 7, 1936 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Freiburg im Üechtland , Switzerland |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 24, 1971 |
| Place of death | Brands Hatch , UK |