Jo Siffert

Name: Jo Siffert

Nationality: Switzerland

Date of birth: July 7, 1936 - Fribourg

Date of death: October 24, 1971 - Brands Hatch Circuit, Kent, England

In the Porsche works team, while Pedro Rodriguez was referred to as the "Mexican Bandit" so Jo Siffert was affectionately known as the "Crazy Swiss." They were drivers out of absolutely the same mold and were thrown together as teammates and rivals in the BRM F1 squad for 1971. Nicknamed "Seppi" in his youth, this son of a motor trader won the Swiss 350cc motorcycle championship in 1959 before switching to four wheels with a Formula Junior Stanguellini. He graduated to F1 as a privateer in 1962 with a four-cylinder Lotus-Climax, later driving under the Swiss Scuderia Filipinetti banner and in 1964 joining British private owner Rob Walker's team. In 1968, "Seppi" drove superbly into the F1 history books by winning the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch in Rob's Lotus 49B, beating Chris Amon's Ferrari into second place after a race-long battle. Walker and his wife Betty held Siffert in deep affection and Jo continued to drive for them through to the end of 1969. In 1970, Porsche bankrolled Siffert's seat in a works F1 March, the German company not wishing to lose one of their prize sports car racing aces to rivals Ferrari. His association with March was disastrous, so he was delighted to join Rodriguez at BRM the following season. He was killed in an end-of-season non-championship F1 race at Brands Hatch, the scene of his greatest victory.

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