48 replies to this topic

[D28]

My buddy took some nice shots of Seppi in the 70s, I will try to post them here, The quality is poor as I never did have the negatives. He was a personal hero of mine and quite a few others.

 

I have some period shots of Mosport again just from prints, I can post, all photos R Miller

 

 

Winner at the Glen 6 Hr 1969

 

 

The rest of the Porsche team at the Glen 6 Hrs.

Vic Elford, Brian Redman, Seppi, Richard Attwood, Joe Buzzetta and Rudi Lins 

 

 

Seppi in the BRM  Canadian GP Mosport 1971

Edited by D28, 23 June 2020 - 13:09.

[Dave Ware]

Gaw damn, yes, keep 'em coming.  Image quality doesn't matter.  Those are great photos. 

 

I admired Siffert for a variety of reasons, one being that he pulled himself up from a humble financial environment (not even middle-class if I understood things correctly) to the pinnacle of motorsport.  That alone is pretty special, even in those days. 

[1969BOAC500]

Thank you for posting the photos. Always a special driver to me ; he won the first race I ever attended, I saw him in the 917 at Brands in 70 and 71, and I was at the tragic race there in October of that year. A great figure from a vanished era of motor sport.

[John Ginger]

Thank you and please don’t worry about quality, after all a picture paints many words
I was at the Brands HSCC meeting a few years back and Jo’s son was racing, I had a walk out to Hawthorn bend, very poignant

[Michael Ferner]

Gaw damn, yes, keep 'em coming.  Image quality doesn't matter.  Those are great photos. 

 

I admired Siffert for a variety of reasons, one being that he pulled himself up from a humble financial environment (not even middle-class if I understood things correctly) to the pinnacle of motorsport.  That alone is pretty special, even in those days. 

 

Seppi rules!

[E1pix]

Yep, Jo really was one of so very few. Saw him in the STP Can-Am Porsche maybe two months before he was gone, think he took an impressive 2nd (great engine disparity).

I agree, the photos are great!

[E1pix]

... but that said, I’m toying with Dave a moment. :-) ;-)

Image quality doesn't matter.

Edited by E1pix, 21 June 2020 - 19:00.

[D28]

Yep, Jo really was one of so very few. Saw him in the STP Can-Am Porsche maybe two months before he was gone, think he took an impressive 2nd (great engine disparity).

I agree, the photos are great!

Yes indeed 2nd to Peter Revson in the McLaren M8F. Always a contender whatever the disparity might be.

[SKL]

If you note my avatar you know how I feel-   more pix please.  I too was lucky enough to see him at Road America in the STP 917.   I still remember exactly what I was doing when I heard of his accident and outcome.  I was a freshman in med school in Iowa City studying with the TV on in the background.  A late newscast came on with the news...  I was crushed.

[SKL]

Not mine, but does it get any better than this??

[E1pix]

No.

[68targa]

Great pics to remind us of him.  I was not at Mosport or the Glen (sadly) but was at Brands in 1968 and saw him win the British GP, what a day when it all came right for him and Rob Walker. One of those feel good moments.

[SKL]

My BIL took this at the Daytona 24 either in '70 or '71.  Maybe someone can figure out the correct year.  I unfortunately wasn't there to watch until 1972...

[kyle936]

My BIL took this at the Daytona 24 either in '70 or '71.  Maybe someone can figure out the correct year.  I unfortunately wasn't there to watch until 1972...

It would be '70 - Seppi wore a full face helmet by Daytona '71...

 

 

Remember when a full face helmet was known only as a Bell Star? There's nostalgia for ya... 

[Dick Dastardly]

For those who haven't seen it, there is a 2 DVD Box set  "Jo Siffert: Live Fast: Die Young"...well worth watching 

[SKL]

Thanks Kyle-  kinda figured that was '70 from the helmet as well.  I remember Dan Gurney was the first to wear a full face Bell star in a race... 

[E1pix]

Debuted at Indy back in ‘68, I think...

(maybe ‘twas ‘69...)

((Edit: Google says ‘68))

Edited by E1pix, 23 June 2020 - 04:30.

[Tim Murray]

Here’s an earlier thread on the subject:

Full-face helmets

The consensus was that Dan Gurney was the first to use a full-face helmet in top-level racing (at the Indy 500 and then in practice for the Dutch GP in 1968). However, drivers such as Frank Smith and Swede Savage had used them before this in lower-category racing.

[10kDA]

Flat track motorcyclists were using them before the car guys as well. I believe Bell had motorcyclists in mind with the product line. Bell's first version had a fixed face shield, no flip-up. And I think Dan's first use of a Bell Star was at the pre-500 road race at Indianapolis Raceway Park but my memory may not be totally reliable on this.

[Seppi_0_917PA]

Wonderful thread! I'm reluctant to continue it down the full-faced-helmet rabbit-hole but recently someone posted a link to this video of the 1969 Texas Can Am. I noticed a few short shots of Jo wearing a white full face helmet:

https://texasarchive.org/2010_00681

 

It must have been practice sessions because definitely he wore his normal open face during the race.

I did a little more web searching and only found this:

https://www.gettyima...photo/870147534
 
(Is that Richie Ginther leaning in driver's side?)

 

So maybe this was his first time trying a full-face?

[E1pix]

What a fabulous video!

 

Anyone using the best song at Woodstock gets my vote, regardless, Thanks for posting it!     

 

 

 

(WARNING: Off-topic, vid of song for the unknowing: 

Edited by E1pix, 23 June 2020 - 19:52.

[D28]

What a fabulous video!

 

Anyone using the best song at Woodstock gets my vote, regardless, Thanks for posting it!     

 

I'm impressed you can ID the song! I am having trouble ID ing Richie Ginther. 

Edited by D28, 23 June 2020 - 20:14.

[E1pix]

Haha.

 

I sent you a PM, by the way. 

[Dave Ware]

What a fabulous video!

 

Anyone using the best song at Woodstock gets my vote, regardless, Thanks for posting it!     

 

 

 

(WARNING: Off-topic, vid of song for the unknowing: 

If that was the best song at Woodstock it's only because Joni Mitchell wasn't there.  

[E1pix]

Tomato, potato. 

[D28]

If that was the best song at Woodstock it's only because Joni Mitchell wasn't there.  

I might have to agree in support of my fellow countrywoman. And she did play a D-28 at the time, so settled!

Edited by D28, 24 June 2020 - 22:51.

[Dave Ware]

Of course I had to look it up.  Learn something new everyday.

 

https://www.martingu...rd-series/d-28/

[Michael Ferner]

Aren't y'all forgetting about Richie Havens here?
 

Edited by Michael Ferner, 25 June 2020 - 08:40.

[E1pix]

NEVVAH!!!

;-)

[2F-001]

Straying ever further off topic... I saw Santana and Ritchie Havens play like in the 70s... but not Joni, sadly...

 

(Some iteration of Santana played at the Silverstone Classic, I think - to get us back to racing...!) 

[E1pix]

See?

 

Carlos Rules. 

[10kDA]

What a fabulous video!

 

Anyone using the best song at Woodstock gets my vote, regardless, Thanks for posting it!     

 

(WARNING: Off-topic, vid of song for the unknowing: 

 

 

If that was the best song at Woodstock it's only because Joni Mitchell wasn't there.  

 

 

Aren't y'all forgetting about Richie Havens here?
 
 

 

I'm up in the air about this subject. So much great stuff. I had an ex who was at Woodstock. She told me how Johnny Winter's set lit up the place. I could never find a bootleg of it though. A Giggle search has turned up an audio-only clip of Johnny & band at Woodstock, with brother Edgar joining in (vocals, sax, Hammond) on "Tobacco Road" and after hearing it now it's near the top of my Woodstock list. It's not in the movie and it's not on the soundtrack, why? I'll never know.

 

Also near the top of my list is this phenomenal performance by Ravi Shankar:

 

 

I saw Seppi at Elkhart Lake in '69 and '71. He had become one of my favorite drivers as a result of Rob Walker's GP reports in Road & Track, which made a pair of almost unimaginable avocations - Privateer team owner and GP driver - seem like they were being performed by regular people, as natural as could be, though I was completely aware they were not exactly "regular" people at all. Great pics, thanks for posting.

[E1pix]

This makes me miss the music thread on Paddock Club.

 

Hopefully D28 doesn't hate music.   

 

 

Today is the day I finish years of color photo prep. My first film scan was December 26, 2002, so technically this is the end of what I started then. Feeling nostalgic to be honest, but frankly it's been brutal to constantly be mired in image memories of a past life so finishing may do much good in a lot of ways.

 

With that, I've been running favorite links in my YouTube folder. I played this as a longtime fave I rarely hear, and though I mostly let it be the background by the end of it I realized I was tearing up.

 

The lyrics make it clear why, as being here has been an out-of-body experience since March. I sincerely hope we survive it:

[D28]

I do like music. Though partial to the acoustic variety I try to keep a somewhat  open mind!

[john aston]

I might have to agree in support of my fellow countrywoman. And she did play a D-28 at the time, so settled!

No- one better - I belong to the school that regards Dylan as the male Mitchell . I live in fear of her lawyers as my website is named after a Joni song , Refuge of the Roads , from what I feel is  her best album , Hejira .

[doc knutsen]

I'm up in the air about this subject. So much great stuff. I had an ex who was at Woodstock. She told me how Johnny Winter's set lit up the place. I could never find a bootleg of it though. A Giggle search has turned up an audio-only clip of Johnny & band at Woodstock, with brother Edgar joining in (vocals, sax, Hammond) on "Tobacco Road" and after hearing it now it's near the top of my Woodstock list. It's not in the movie and it's not on the soundtrack, why? I'll never know.

 

Also near the top of my list is this phenomenal performance by Ravi Shankar:

 

 

I saw Seppi at Elkhart Lake in '69 and '71. He had become one of my favorite drivers as a result of Rob Walker's GP reports in Road & Track, which made a pair of almost unimaginable avocations - Privateer team owner and GP driver - seem like they were being performed by regular people, as natural as could be, though I was completely aware they were not exactly "regular" people at all. Great pics, thanks for posting.

Jayseez, the gold that's dug up on TNF!  I was lucky enough to get to se both Edgar and Johnny perform live in the Seventies. "People keep asking me...um...where's your brother?"

[Michael Ferner]

" It's not in the movie and it's not on the soundtrack, why? I'll never know."

 

 

Some of the artists did not agree with the contractual terms of publishing, I think it was. We missed out on quite a few good acts, like Mountain, CCR or The Band, and maybe a few others where I'm not really sure they are on either the records or the movie. Others got short shrift, like Janis, Arlo Guthrie or Tim Hardin, iirc.

[Rob Ryder]

Sorry, but I was not at Woodstock and don't know what a D28 is  ....



I was in the paddock before the 1971 Victory Race though .. so soon Jo.

Edited by Rob Ryder, 26 June 2020 - 17:40.

[doc knutsen]

" It's not in the movie and it's not on the soundtrack, why? I'll never know."

 

 

Some of the artists did not agree with the contractual terms of publishing, I think it was. We missed out on quite a few good acts, like Mountain, CCR or The Band, and maybe a few others where I'm not really sure they are on either the records or the movie. Others got short shrift, like Janis, Arlo Guthrie or Tim Hardin, iirc.

We did get Crosby and Stills together, including Suite: Judy Blue Eyes which surely was a high point of the whole experience...including the "a little less top end on the guitar, please"... I thought Arlo Guthrie got his fifteen minutes in the sun, including his intro dealing with the closure of the freeway...

Lovely, lovely memories.

[SKL]

Thanks for getting back to the topic RR...

[E1pix]

Transparency: My fault!

[kyle936]

And there was me (genuinely!) thinking D28 was Jaguar D-Type Chassis 028. Shows how much I know about guitars, and D-Type Jaguars! 

[kyle936]

Wonderful thread! I'm reluctant to continue it down the full-faced-helmet rabbit-hole but recently someone posted a link to this video of the 1969 Texas Can Am. I noticed a few short shots of Jo wearing a white full face helmet:

https://texasarchive.org/2010_00681

 

It must have been practice sessions because definitely he wore his normal open face during the race.

I did a little more web searching and only found this:

https://www.gettyima...photo/870147534
 
(Is that Richie Ginther leaning in driver's side?)

 

So maybe this was his first time trying a full-face?

That was very well spotted - I watched the video when it was posted by group7 on the 'Unearthed on YouTube' thread and didn't spot either the 917 PA or Seppi - perhaps because Seppi was 'in disguise'!

 

I think it most likely is Richie Ginther leaning in and talking to Seppi in the photo - you'll know, of course, how much he helped to sort and develop the 917 PA.

 

In Peter Morgan's 917 book, Helmut Flegl, Porsche's race engineer whose job it was to look after the 917 PA in North America, said that Richie's suspension settings were a long way away from Porsche's but that he learned an awful lot from Richie - apparently Porsche hadn't even looked at tyre temperatures, for example.

 

AFAICT this is Richie at the wheel of the 917 PA - IIRC Doug Nye posted the photo many moons ago on the '1969 Porsche 917' thread, and I downloaded it then:

 

 

The fact that the spoilers are still bare aluminium (I think they were subsequently painted blue) might help to narrow down where the photo was taken.

[kyle936]

As for Seppi's Bell Star full face helmet, I did a bit of digging (in the middle of the night - you know how it is!) and he still wore his open face helmet at Daytona and Sebring in 1970, and in the 1970 South African Grand Prix on 7 March.

 

 

First time he wore the Bell Star, painted up, in sportscars, was at the BOAC 1000 Kilometres at Brands Hatch on 12 April...

 

 

...then, in Formula 1, at the Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama on 19 April, although he (ridiculously) 'failed to qualify' because the field was restricted to 16 runners...

 

 

...except, circumstantially, there's every possibility that he wore the Bell Star at Thruxton for the Formula 2 race on 30 March, but I can't find any evidence. 

 

This is a job for... 

[Seppi_0_917PA]

AFAICT this is Richie at the wheel of the 917 PA - IIRC Doug Nye posted the photo many moons ago on the '1969 Porsche 917' thread, and I downloaded it then:
 

 
The fact that the spoilers are still bare aluminium (I think they were subsequently painted blue) might help to narrow down where the photo was taken.

That is Laguna Seca, quoting myself...
 

From Jeanne Beeching's "The Last Season" about the 1969 Can Am - Friday practice at Laguna Seca:

"Siffert and Motschenbacher had raced in Japan two days earlier and would not arrive in Monterey until the morrow—so Porsche team manager, Richie Ginther, shook down the Porsche 917PA—and as he took the Porsche out of the pits for the first time, he was cheered and waved at the whole length."

She also wrote that Thursday before the Riverside Can Am: "Siffert's Porsche 917PA had been fitted with a redesigned nose section and Richie Ginther drove the practice session to sort out the handling".

I also have that photo saved

[68targa]

I have this photo from Thruxton Easter Monday meeting 30 March 1970 when he drove  a Porsche 917 (David Piper's I think) into 1st place during the support race for the F2's.   It is rather blurred since I have cropped it quite heavily but it does show Seppi with a full face helmet

 

 

edit to restore photo

Edited by 68targa, 19 March 2024 - 20:44.

[E1pix]

Thanks for the great images and memories, Guys.

[2F-001]

I have this photo from Thruxton Easter Monday meeting 30 March 1970 when he drove  a Porsche 917 (David Piper's I think) into 1st place during the support race for the F2's. 

I have a memory of that race being televised... does anyone else in the UK (and old enough) recall that?

[68targa]

Yes it was. The BBC with Murray Walker.  I missed it on the telly since I watched it live at the circuit   

here is the listing from Radio Times for 30th March 1970.  They mixed it up with the horses and may well have shown the Sports cars as well as the F2's.

 

 

13.30: Holiday Grandstand Introduced by Frank Bough

1.40; 2.5; 2.45; 3.20* Racing from Kempton Park
1.45 The Rendelsham Stakes (5 furlongs)
2.15 The Coventry Stakes (1 mile)
2.55 The Queen's Prize Handicap (2 miles)
3.30 The 1,000 Guineas Trial Stakes (7 furlongs)
At 4.25 a recording of the Irish Grand National run at Fairyhouse this afternoon

1.50; 2.20; 3.0; 4.30* Motor-Racing from Thruxton
The W. D. and H. O. Wills Trophy International Motor-Race Meeting: featuring the International race for Formula II cars.
(Organised by the British Automobile Racing Club)

3.45* Rugby League: Castleford v Featherstone Rovers

4.55* Results Service
Latest football scores, racing results, and news throughout the afternoon.
Timings are subject to alteration in order to keep up to date with events

Contributors

Presenter: Frank Bough
Commentator (Racing): Peter O'Sullevan
Commentator (Racing): Clive Graham
TV Presentation (Racing): Fred Viner
Commentator (Motor Racing): Murray Walker
TV Presentation (Motor Racing): Brian Johnson
Commentator at Castleford (Rugby League): Eddie Waring
TV Presentation (Rugby League): Ray Lakeland
Grandstand presented for television by: Brian Venner
Editor: Alan Hart