Siffert Pics

[gulf908]

re the patches on Jo's race suit -

The original shoulder patch is likely to be Hinchman,the UK makers of the suit and the front patch looks like a Gulf one.
Maybe he taped it over for a GP race for BRM - IIRC their oil contract was Shell.
By 1971 you think he could have owned at least 2 suits - one for GP and the other for sports cars !

Karim,
At one stage Jo was rumoured to be talking to Ferrari for a works contract in F1 and sports cars.
This move was not in Porsche's best interests,so they 'assisted' to place him in a GP team.
Unfortunately for Jo,the best that could be done was the second tier BRM team.
Also remember this was the start of the era when the top drivers drove FI only.
Both he and Pedro showed flashes of their potential but the front line teams of Lotus,Ferrari,Tyrrell and Brabham
ruled the top podium step in Jo's 1970/1971 BRM years.



HTH
Dennis

[Reza]

I would pay to view these fotos in a museum or gallery, thats how cool this thread is.

[Chuck Miller]

re the patches on Jo's race suit -

The original shoulder patch is likely to be Hinchman,the UK makers of the suit...

Dennis, am I reading this out of context, or misquoting?

Hinchman Racing Uniforms have been a U.S. company since the '30's and in fact have a 'Gasoline Alley' Indianapolis, IN. address.........

[gulf908]

Chuck,

I had always thought of Hinchman as a UK outfit for some reason maybe because most of the GP drivers wore the suits at one time.
The things you learn on this board .....

Cheers,
Dennis.

[62S-R-S]

. . .

[LongRanger]

Don't care much for posed pictures . . . especially of people . . .

. . . which is why I love this one --- on p338 of ‘A French Kiss with Death’

This is theatre



Michael Keyser wrote . . .

‘Early in the production, Derek Bell and Jo Siffert were shooting a sequence at White House when they received a good scare.

Derek was in front, driving one of the 512s, and Jo was behind in his 917. They did several passes to warm up the tires and brakes, then repeated it at racing speed. As they came out of White House and drifted off to the left of the road, Derek saw someone lying smack in the middle of the track with a hand-held camera. Pulling to a stop . . . at the Ford chicane, the two drivers leapt from their cars.

“Christ! Did you see that?” Jo asked . . .

“See it!” Derek said. “I damn near hit whoever the hell it was!”

John Sturges was directing the sequence, and when Derek told him what had just happened he got on the radio and called Steve (McQueen), who pulled up on a motorcycle a minute or two later.

“Who the hell was that out in the middle of the track?” Sturges asked him.

“It was me,” Steve said, nonchalantly. “Why?” (p323)


Whatever his talents, or skills, or charm . . . I can only imagine what people who worked for a living --- or for him . . . would make of McQueen and his behavior. Especially Racers --- like those who drove for the film. Racing is always dangerous --- more so then. Just during the filming, Derek Bell would scorch his face wrecking one of the Ferraris, and David Piper would lose half of a leg crashing his 917. And so, here comes McQueen, through the middle of it all . . .

. . . doing wheelies



"I thought he was an excellent example of someone who'd grown up without parents, with no role model to look up to and see how a person is supposed to behave . . .

. . . we'd be in the pits all set up and ready to go, waiting sometimes for him to show up for two hours. When he did, he'd arrive on his Husky doing a wheelie down pit lane, and say, 'So, what are you all waiting for?' It was all very juvenile." (p355)



Derek Bell and Jo Siffert would give McQueen some comeuppance. During the filming of a sequence through the curves up-and-into the Ford chicane, Keyser writes (p323) . . .

". . . after several runs at medium speed, the three set off in close formation at racing speed. Derek was in the lead, then Steve and Jo. As they approached Whitehouse, Jo pulled smack up on Steve's tail and boxed him to where he was almost pushing him through the curve. On reaching the Ford chicane they pulled their cars to a stop and climbed out.

Steve was visibly shaken . . .

'His face was a white as his Nomex mask,' Derek recalls, chuckling . . ."



And so now . . . this picture.

McQueen is clearly not amused --- or in charge. Mr Siffert is --- with McQueen in the audience . . . arms folded, slouching, pouting . . . sunglasses to hide behind

And the young man on the left, smiling slyly --- his arm in a cast? Mario Iscovich, McQueen's personal assistant, working for him since he was 18. Broke his arm when his coked-up Boss crashed the car they were in . . . then let his Mario take the fall. King of Kool, indeed



But the best part of the image, for me, though . . . is Mr Siffert . . .

. . . his hands --- the center of the picture

No clenching or aggression --- no force . . . only a surprising deftness --- not so much a driver . . . more a fisherman casting, or a conductor

And his smile . . .

. . . next to McQueen's scowl

I wonder how these two got on --- away from the cameras?



Production of the movie 'Le Mans' would continue until late November, '70

Mr Siffert would die at Brands Hatch, 11 months later

[72targa]

>>>>>>>>>>

[larwik]

Cool...That's the good old "Caravelle"...

[Nine17]

Production of the movie 'Le Mans' would continue until late November, '71

Mr Siffert would die at Brands Hatch, the month before

The movie Le Mans was released on June 23, 1971. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067334/...?ref_=tt_dt_dt

I think that I saw it that weekend.

Jo Siffert died in his BRM at a non-championship Formula 1 race Brands Hatch on October 24, 1971, after the movie was in theaters. I had already sat through the movie three times before I saw him driving and hanging out in the paddock at the last race that he ever finished, the Monterey-Castrol Grand Prix Can-Am at Laguna Seca, the weekend of October 15-17, 1971. I'll never forget the first time that I saw Le Mans, and I'll never forget seeing Jo Siffert drive a Porsche 917/10...

-- David

[LongRanger]

You are absolutely correct

Post ammended