50 years on… Remembering Jo Siffert

“As soon as the race ended I ran through the tunnel into the pitlane. I saw Rob Walker walking towards me with tears down his face.”

Former Autosport editor Simon Taylor was at the 1971 World Championship Victory Race at Brands Hatch when Jo Siffert was killed. Although the 35-year-old Swiss was a BRM driver, Taylor knew that there was a special relationship between Siffert and the successful privateer team boss.

“I didn’t know ‘Seppi’, as everyone called him, but people who knew him well adored him,” adds Taylor. “Rob was able, because he was an extraordinarily nice man, to have wonderful relationships with his drivers. But with Siffert there was real affection. It was a very special relationship.”

Siffert had driven for Walker’s team between 1965 and 1969, and it was perhaps fitting that he should forge his Formula 1 career as part of a privateer squad, given his own hard work to get into motorsport.

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