38 years ago on this day, we lost one of our finest. RIP Seppi. Edward
I remember this day vividly. I posted a while ago on the victorious Ford Escort from the 1971 Victory Race Team Managers' race driven by Jack Brabham and team managed by Graham Hill which was at this year's Race Retro at Stoneleigh and it was slightly strange standing beside the car again over 37 years after being next to it at Brands. I think that Tim Parnell drove the "BRM" entry. I remember being in the pits and talking briefly with Seppi during the (very late in the afternoon) "qualifying" on the Saturday. He seemed greatly amused by the antics and asked to look at my race programme to see who was driving!
The whole weekend was bright and sunny. Seppi had qualified on pole of course, next to Peter Gethin. After my usual exploration of the Paddock, and seeing the cars head through the tunnel to the pits, I then watched most of the race meeting, including the Victory Race, from the small uncovered stand on the approach to Paddock Bend and I also remember that Mike Beuttler was sitting next to me. Like the comments mentioned in other posts earlier in this thread, I do recall the sheer silence of the circuit following the accident was total and descended like a cloud. I had never been to a race meeting prior to then where a driver had been killed (I was 18). Word quickly spread that it had been Seppi's car involved. Quite a long time later, an ambulance came round past the grandstands and exited into the Paddock via the ambulance gate next to us in the stand. Everyone stood up, perhaps not sure what to do or say. Later on, the cars were started up and driven back from the scene. I think that some were driven back by the mecahnics. Peter Gethin was declared the winner as the results were taken at the end of the previous lap. It should have been a great celebration but I don't think there was even a ceremony (correct me if I'm wrong). A marshall I knew told me that Gethin had come back through the tunnel in floods of tears.
The TV coverage, of course, I did not see eccept for news items later in the evening. Coverage of the Team Managers' Escort race was commentated by Barrie Gill, so presuambly, Raymond Baxter was introducing the overall coverage. Others will know whether he commentated on the Victory Race itself.
As to the wreck, I remember it being brought back on a recovery vehicle and put immediately into one of the Paddock garages, an operation supervised by Louis Stanley. Shortly afgterwards, I was in the Paddock office when Reine Wissell was on the 'phone relaying the grim news. I note that, again earlier in this thread, that there is some discussion that the wreck still exists in a private collectiuon. personally, although I am a supporter of the recovery of Bluebird K7, I do hope that this element of the Siffert BRM story is untrue.
Truly great drivers - and we ;lost the two finest 917 pilots within a few months of the same year - need to be remembered and long may this Forum continue to do that. For those of us who were at Brands that day, I am sure that this tragic event had a significant impact on our perception and understanding of motorsport.
Edited by Pullman99, 26 October 2009 - 07:42.