Jo Siffert: Contemporary witnesses remember the champion 🎥
LOOK BACK October 24, 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Freiburg driver Jo Siffert, who died in a fatal accident on the Brands Hatch circuit during a non-championship Formula 1 race.
A film released in 2012 looks back at John Wyer's 1970 Gulf Porsche team in historic scenes.
Porsche Switzerland pays tribute to Jo Siffert, who drove various official Porsche cars from 1966 to 1971 and also worked as a Porsche representative in Feiburg. Jo Siffert's various victories led to three consecutive world championship titles for the Porsche works team in 1969, 1970 and 1971. The picture in the center gallery shows Ferry Porsche and Jo Siffert at Le Mans in 1970.
The German Kurt Ahrens and the Frenchman Gérard Larrousse, official drivers of the Porsche 917 in Jo Siffert's day, attended the celebrations in Freiburg to mark the 50th anniversary of his death.
The painter Wolfgang Hugentobler has created a fresco depicting Jo Siffert's former garage. It will adorn the construction site panels on the site of the old garage until the beginning of next year.
Personality, attitude and results
Biographer Jacques Deschenaux: "50 years after Jo Siffert's death, one can wonder why he is still so popular. Through his personality, his attitude, his friendliness and his results, Jo Siffert succeeded in making himself a person of whom people were proud and with whom they could easily identify. It is wonderful to see that someone who died almost 50 years ago is still alive in the hearts of an incredible number of people. Some of them weren't even born in 1971."
Fuel mixture of stubborn passion
Former National Councillor Dominique de Buman, Mayor of Fribourg, Jo Siffert's home town, from 1994 to 2004: "The immortality of the champion with his incredible will to succeed, even though he started at the bottom of the ladder, still impresses many people today. In addition, he constantly fed his engine with a fuel mixture of his stubborn passion for speed and the unwavering friendship of his racing team. Through the enduring values he embodies, Jo Siffert has escaped the erosion of time and is part of our collective memory."
A shining example for young people too
Journalist Adriano Cimarosti, who headed the sports section of the weekly Automobil Revue for many years: "Jo Siffert, who won two Grands Prix in Formula 1 and was practically unbeatable in endurance races, where he helped Porsche to three consecutive world championship titles in 1969, 1970 and 1971, was and is a shining example for young people and for all those who strive for success. He made the greatest sacrifices to get to the top because he had no means to do so. This is his greatest victory, which is even more important and rewarding than a world title."
An always human and simple driver
Heini Mader, Jo Siffert's mechanic: "There has never been a driver as human and simple as him. When he became famous with Porsche, he didn't change his attitude. He remained as friendly and approachable as he was in his early years, and that's why everyone loves him and still does. When I learned of his death, it was like losing a brother."
On the day of Jo Siffert's funeral, tens of thousands of people paid their last respects to his home town.
Jacques Deschenaux: "All in all, Seppi's death was felt in Switzerland in a similar way to that of Ayrton Senna in Brazil, and no fewer than 50,000 people were on the streets of Fribourg to pay their last respects to him."
A well-deserved place in the motorsport firmament
This comparison between Jo Siffert and Ayrton Senna illustrates the mythical dimension that these two great champions still enjoy in their countries today. Both died at the wheel of their racing cars in the prime of their lives without the exact defect that cost them their lives becoming known.
However, Jo Siffert differs from Ayrton Senna in that he comes from a very poor family. The man from Fribourg had managed to rise from very modest circumstances to the firmament of motorsport. This has also given him a dimension that extends far beyond the borders of Switzerland.
