89 replies to this topic

[Twin Window]

It's now just a few hours short of twenty years since that dreadful event during the night in la Sarthe.



I can scarcely believe it...

[ghinzani]

I cant begin to imagine what you felt then, and are feeling at present Twinny. Only the good die young..

[René de Boer]

Gone but not forgotten

[Tim Murray]

At some time in the late '70s (it may have been a support race at the 1977 TT) I watched my first Formula Super Vee race. They didn't happen very often in the UK, and I didn't recognise any names or know anything about any of the drivers. But I had to have someone to support, so I picked Jo - no idea why, maybe I just liked his driving style.

From then on of course he was one of 'my' drivers, and I followed his career with interest. However, I didn't know much about the man himself until this thread came along, so thanks to all, especially Twinny, for letting me in on what a great bloke he obviously was.

RIP Jo.

[chofar]

A friend and I were sitting above the Kremer pits that awful night. It was my first international race as a spectator. Many feelings are still vivid.
Notably, Hans Stuck was the only one to mention Jo on the podium. And from what I recall, his death was only mentioned one time by the speaker, early on Sunday morning, as the sun was painfully rising.

A very sad day.

[Amazin]

Hey everybody, I just found this video about Jo Gartner, apparently it is a TV Commercial run by Kenwood, one of the (or the main) sponsors of Jo's Kramer Porsche at his last race. I can't understand what they say or what it's written as it's in Japanese, but seems like a homage to him.



If anyone can translate it to english, please do so, I would love to know what they say about Jo Gartner.

Thanks!

[rdmotorsport]

Did you know that jo and his EMCO F2 team did the first pit stop(and prob the only one)for refuelling in a F2 race?

It was the international F2 race at Zolder in I think 1983 when I was there entering in the supporting F3 race and an ex Theodore colleage of mine now working for Jo kind of roped me in to assisting in this mad idea of refuelling in the race,anyway amazingly so it actually worked which surprized me because the fuel was kept in a larger drum under pressure but at least I managed to get my face in the photo Autosport produced the following Thursday!

Jo retired from the race shortly after the pitstop but his team mate Mr.Chauvet did manage to finish and at a fairly respectable place.

My March 803 spewed bits of the valve gear through its exhurst system so that was that!

My memories of Jo were of a fun loving and talented man.


Rodney Dodson.

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by Amazin
Hey everybody, I just found this video about Jo Gartner, apparently it is a TV Commercial run by Kenwood, one of the (or the main) sponsors of Jo's Kramer Porsche at his last race. I can't understand what they say or what it's written as it's in Japanese, but seems like a homage to him.



If anyone can translate it to english, please do so, I would love to know what they say about Jo Gartner.

Thanks!

That link came up with a Commodore 64 game (very 'in-period' tho!) - however heres the link to the Kenwood video

[Amazin]

Oh I'm sorry, I just corrected the link on my post! Thanks!

Carlos
PS: Yeah the C64 game sort of fit that time-period ;)

[taylov]

I was glad to see this thread has been re-visited. I still remember staggering off to buy the first edition paper on Sunday morning at Le Mans in 1986 and my horror in learning that it was Jo's accident that had been the reason for the safety car being out the previous day.

Now some 22 years later I prefer to remember another day in 1986 -when Jo had driven the Kremer Racing Porsche 962 in the Interserie races on Easter Monday at Thruxton. A win in the first round on a damp track was followed by second place to James Weaver in Richard Lloyd's 956 in the second race.

The snapshot I took at the chicane that day - with all of its technical failings - remains one of my favourites to this day.



Tony

[ghinzani]

Twinny, anyone - do you have any info about the Toleman he bought from the works at the begining of 1981? It was car Toleman had converted to take the prototype Hart F1 engine and Brian Henton described it as the quickest thing he ever drove. Unfortunately it had trouble stopping! Id like to know what chassis it was and where it ended up if anyone has that info.

[Roger39]

Please forgive me if this is the wrong place to raise this issue. As a fellow South African I was reading about Sarel van der Merwe and its been mentioned that he came in to the pits a lap early when Jo took over and had his fatal accident a lap later. Does anyone have any backround into this, did Sarel make a mistake or was he called in? Also by "a lap later" does that mean that it should have been Sarel's last lap when the suspension broke?

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by taylov

Now some 22 years later I prefer to remember another day in 1986 -when Jo had driven the Kremer Racing Porsche 962 in the Interserie races on Easter Monday at Thruxton. A win in the first round on a damp track was followed by second place to James Weaver in Richard Lloyd's 956 in the second race.

We had a great night out that evening!

Ghiz and Roger; I'm afraid I don't recall any details regarding your queries.

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by Twin Window


We had a great night out that evening!

Ghiz and Roger; I'm afraid I don't recall any details regarding your queries.

Not in Andover surely??!!

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by ghinzani


Not in Andover surely??!!

Haha - no, in Teddington!

[LDS]

I've found a bunch of F2 pics that I took at Donington in 1980 I believe. Hope Twinny enjoys this one ..


By null at 2011-02-09

[Twin Window]

A lovely shot!

But more like 1982, I would say...

[LDS]

82? Ah well thats old age for you... Given the number of the car in this shot, would this be Jo's team mate? Driver is unknown to me.

By skrommie at 2011-02-09

[paulsenna1]

82? Ah well thats old age for you... Given the number of the car in this shot, would this be Jo's team mate? Driver is unknown to me.

Yes, Oscar Pedersoli.

[Arjan de Roos]

On that faithful morning Kremer forfaited their second car (Yver/Striebig/Cohen-Olivar). Some cars retired shortly after or during the long pace car period. One was the Joest #7 car due to, officially, gear bearing failure. But Ludwig brought the car in pit, stepped out, no one lifted the hood and Klaus walked away. Was this a masked reason for retirement? Was Klaus close to Jo too?

[Rivage]

Never posted anything before.
But I met Jo a few times and still regard him as my all time favorite.

In ten days it's 25 years ago since Jo lost his life. Are there any other fans going to Le Mans and somehow feel the need to remember him in a suitable way.
Maybe some sort of gathering is an appropiate way of keeping the memory alive.

As TW wrote 7 years ago: gone but not forgotten.

[Twin Window]

Twenty-five years ago today a bright light was extinguished. The loss was not only motorsport's but mankind's as a whole.

You will never be forgotten my friend...

[Ray Bell]

Twinny... would there be any prospect of you reposting the pics...

I don't recall ever reading through this thread, but I must have done when it was first forming. Re-reading it now has shown me that Jo really did make an impression with those who got close to him.

[Rivage]

Some pictures I took in Zandvoort, 1984 : http://autosportfoto...b.nl/jo-gartner

[Phil Mackley]

Some pictures I took in Zandvoort, 1984 : http://autosportfoto...b.nl/jo-gartner

Excellent pictures Rivage, and great memories of such a talented driver.

[ghinzani]

Some pictures I took in Zandvoort, 1984 : http://autosportfoto...b.nl/jo-gartner

very nice pictures, they tell so much, especially the slightly greasey white overalls! Nice site too, bravo!

[Alan Cox]

Found this nice pit-lane shot of Jo in his F2 March at Silverstone 1984
http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

[Twin Window]

A nice photo, with Doris linked-up on the intercom!

In spite of the caption, however, I believe it's in fact 1983...

[Tim Murray]

The numbers match for 1984. At the 1983 International Trophy he was #24. The car is a Spirit 201B.

Edited by Tim Murray, 14 August 2011 - 22:00.

[Twin Window]

You're quite right, Tim - total brain-fade on my part!

At Silvertone '83 the cars looked pretty different too, with a lot more red & maroon in the colour scheme.

[Twin Window]

Twenty-six years ago today I was a broken man.

Never forgotten, always young.

[Twin Window]

Thinking of you, my friend.

As are many others. Always remembered.

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

RIP, Jo. 

 

Not to be flippant in the least but as long as there is TNF, he will be forever remembered, Stu.

 

[Twin Window]

Quite.

And long may that continue!

[StephenBell]

Guys like this will never be forgotten. I didn't see him race. Never witnessed his career, and am only just finding things out about him. I am however, a motor racing addict and have been since I was stuck in front of a telly on a sunday in 1976 to watch my first F1 race as a 1 year old. Names like Jo's have a habit of coming to the fore. They get kept alive and brought to people like me, who will at least keep their names alive for a generation longer. The importance of human memory. Often under appreciated. Once it's gone, its gone.

Thats why this thread struck me as important. I really admire TW's dedication to his friend's memory. It filled me with emotion reading this thread and I never knew Jo Gartner.

I'm here because I was watching the full re-run of the 2013 Le Mans race (yes, I am THAT sad and that much of an addict). It was the year we lost Allan Simonsen ( During this footage, Jo's name is mentioned several times, for obvious reasons. For this reason I was compelled to look Jo up. I now know a lot of things about this man. I feel like I want to know him better.

This is just a simple example, a demonstration of how these guys never die. They will always be with us, as long as there is memory.

Kudos to TW for this thread.

[BT 35-8]

Twinny ,

 

You may be pleased to know that the Spirit 201 is alive and well in Australia run by Chris Farrell in historic motorsport .

The car here is the ex F1 car converted to F2 BMW spec. by the factory and ended up in the USA and bought over here

approx. 8 years ago.

[alfredaustria]

Jo Gartner's grave today - june 1st 2019:

 

american express near me

[DN5]

The photo is very respectful.

 

RIP Jo

 

NB I was at the race and didn't fully recognise the serverity of everything until the papers the following morning (such a different world then .....)

[F1matt]

RIP Jo, a tough few weeks for Motor racing. 

[GMiranda]

Oh yes, for sure! Would love to learn more about him.

Always having had a sweet spot for Austrian drivers (what is that between Dutch and Austrians, something like small countries with that big neighbour?), I was a strong supporter of Jo, one of my childhood heroes. The news of him being killed at Le Mans was a terrible moment to me.

Same for Roland Ratzenberger, BTW. I know that two young motor sport fans from Austria are working on a book about his life and career. Something like that would probably be a fitting tribute for Jo, too.

Do you know if they're still working on the book?