49 replies to this topic

[Kpy]

Johnny Servoz-Gavin died in hospital in Grenoble yesterday.
RIP

[Twin Window]

Oh dear... how sad.

I met him just the once, at the GFOS in 1998 (or '99) and I was chuffed to do so.

[David M. Kane]

God bless Johnny, I always thought he was a very interesting gentleman. Not many guys in F1 have their egos sufficiently in check to walk away.

Plus there is something about a Frenchman named Johnny, I think that is way cool.

[macoran]

Originally posted by David M. Kane

Plus there is something about a Frenchman named Johnny, I think that is way cool.

I believe Johnny was only a nickname which stuck.

Georges Francois his real name ?


RIP Johnny

[Paul Taylor]

That's very sad, RIP. Do you know what the cause of death was?

[scheivlak]

Originally posted by macoran


I believe Johnny was only a nickname which stuck.

Georges Francois his real name ?


RIP Johnny

Georges-Francis according to http://www.grandprix...drv-sergeo.html

He really gave us some memorable drives.

RIP....

[bigears]

Only his drive at the 1968 Monaco GP comes to mind.

Rest in peace.

[macoran]

Originally posted by bigears
Only his drive at the 1968 Monaco GP comes to mind.

Rest in peace.

You slept through Monza 1968 ?

[scheivlak]

http://www.f1-photo....mePage=picture

[FLB]

Et merde...

[macoran]

Originally posted by FLB
Et merde...

apparantly you stopped French lessons in kindergarten ?

[bigears]

Originally posted by macoran


You slept through Monza 1968 ?

Well, I wasn't born at the time!

I only remembered about his drive at Monaco from an article in a Motorsport magazine a few years ago.

[macoran]

my apologies
I'll see if I have a race report for you

[FLB]

Originally posted by macoran


apparantly you stopped French lessons in kindergarten ?

Euh... non, pas très exactement. Je suis francophone

One of my prized possesions:

[kevthedrummer]

RIP Johnny. A talented driver, you will not be forgotten here.

[JacnGille]

awwwwwwwww

[Arturo Pereira]

oh, what a sad new

[rudi]

The very last poet, in a racing car and in life.

[philippe7]

....pour FLB et les autres francophones :

http://memoiresdesta...s.html#comments

PS : oups, sorry, en relisant MdS je m'aperçois que FLB ( François Luc ? ) y écrit aussi apparemment ;)

[Scuderia CC]

It's a very sad news...

[Scuderia CC]

http://www.ultimatec...61&d=1140355792
Johnny Servoz-Gavin - Matra MS5 au Grand Prix de Monaco 1967

http://www.ultimatec...37&d=1140358315
Johnny Servoz-Gavin - Matra MS10 au Grand Prix de Monaco 1968

[Nanni Dietrich]

I'm so sad, today.



I saw Johnny when he won at Vallelunga the 1969 European F.2 Championship! And at Monza, when he won the final sprint against Jacky Ickx' powerful Ferrari for the second place.
One of my idols.

[Hieronymus]

An enigmatic man…and I understand also a good sculptor in his day.

[Stephen W]

Monaco 1968 and the youthful Servoz-Gavin's enthusiasm got the better of him. Pity the car couldn't cope with the harsh treatment as he was lightning quick.

A sad day indeed for all motor racing fans when a driver held in so much esteem slips away.

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

Shockking news. I'm very saddened.

[Keir]

Johnny was one of those racers who epitomized "COOL" !!

When he retired from F1 during practice for the Monaco GP in 1970 he was quoted as saying, "Now I will have more time for my women!"

..... and so should we all !!

[Scuderia CC]

Johnny Servoz-Gavin - Matra MS5 au Grand Prix de Monaco 1967


Johnny Servoz-Gavin - Matra MS10 au Grand Prix de Monaco 1968


Johnny Servoz-Gavin - Matra MS84 au Grand Prix du Mexique 1969

[philippe charuest]

Originally posted by FLB

Euh... non, pas très exactement. Je suis francophone

One of my prized possesions:

for his literary quality probably the best f1 driver auto-biography ever written .if its not indiscret is it possible to know what was the context when the book was signed

[macoran]

Originally posted by Keir
Johnny was one of those racers who epitomized "COOL" !!

When he retired from F1 during practice for the Monaco GP in 1970 he was quoted as saying, "Now I will have more time for my women!"

..... and so should we all !!

It'll get very empty here at TNF then !

[Twin Window]

Johnny kindly signed this 12 x 16 print for me at the GFOS in 1999.

[SEdward]

Anyone who walks away from a career in F1 to spend much of the rest of his life wandering around the Mediterranean in a horse-drawn caravan is pretty cool in my books. Wasn't his retirement precipitated by an eye injury?

Didn't Jonathan Williams do something similar?

Banging the wall at the Monaco chicane in 1968 was probably the defining moment of JSV's career.

May he rest in peace.

Edward

[philippe charuest]

theres not much pictures of his f3 days i dont thinq that i ever saw a single picture of his brabham bt15 that he race in 65 ,and what about Tico Martini is he still alive

[brooster51]

Sad to hear. To have led the life he did. RIP

[Udo K.]

Eifelrace 1967:

[Barry Boor]

This is terribly sad news. Thank you for alerting us to it, kpy.

I was ready to adopt Johnny as a new hero after Dan retired but he walked away too soon.

[Richard Jenkins]

Very, very shocked & saddened to hear this, not least as he was no age at all. I guess it was heart-related, as he had problems before?

Nonetheless, a great talent & a very nice man.

I am also surprised Autosport don´t have the news on the site!

Nonetheless, RIP.

[kayemod]

Originally posted by Richie Jenkins
I am also surprised Autosport don´t have the news on the site!

Nonetheless, RIP.

Yes, odd that, as they put an obituary in the magazine yesterday.

[Greatest]

It's only after a few days I'm able to 'salut' him, I was so stunned about the news... R.I.P., Johnny!!!

[Fiorentina 1]

Originally posted by SEdward
Anyone who walks away from a career in F1 to spend much of the rest of his life wandering around the Mediterranean in a horse-drawn caravan is pretty cool in my books. Wasn't his retirement precipitated by an eye injury?

Really! Tell me more, I know very little about him and would love to know more.

Cheers

[philippe7]

Well, there is still a lot of mysteries and controversy about Servoz-Gavin's sudden decision to retire after he DNQ'ed at the 1970 Monaco Grand Prix . He had indeed suffered a serious eye-injury a few months before, during a cross-country rallye called the "Rallye Infernal" in which he was participating in an open-top Jeep , and got struck by a branch in the eye. Strangely, this injury was minimised in the original official media reports , probably under pressure of his sponsors ( Elf ) who didn't want his new employer ( Ken Tyrrell ) to have any second thoughts about his driver's capacities.....and strangely enough, this eye injury was all of a sudden brought back to fore and used as the official reason for Johnny's retirement when it was announced.....

The fact is that Johnny was a very flamboyant man who lived a rather wild lifestyle, making up by sheer talent what he was maybe losing through lack of discipline ......he had a difficult start to the 1970 season, which should have been his big break as official N°2 driver to World Champion Jackie Stewart .....the March 701 was , as we all now know, a rather difficult car that even JYS had difficulties with, the eye injury probably did hamper Johnny's ability, all of a sudden this man, who so far had seen success in all fields naturally coming to him, suddenly found himself struggling , and just decided he had had enough.....

The mystery surrounding his retirement was also deepened by the way in which he chose to disappear from the limelight , and the "gipsy" lifestyle he led after that. Lived for many years in a "péniche" on the Seine, then on a sail boat in the mediterranean.....it is while living on this last boat that he suffered a very bad accident, a gas-bottle explosion that set fire to his boat and left him severely burned, to the extent of having three or four heart failures while in hospital in the following hours, which he survived but left him with a permanent weak heart condition which, probably, led to his early death.

He did do a very short comeback in saloon car racing around 1982, at least one test organised by Jean-Pierre Beltoise in which, so the story goes, he proved extremely quick, but his heart condition prevented him from pursuing the experiment . He had done a well publicised public appearance during the 2002 "Blue Days" at Le Mans, a historic meeting organised to celebrate Matra, Alpine, their drivers and generally french auto racing of the 60-70's , and he was apparently deeply touched by the warm reception he got from the professionals and general public on that occasion.

His retirement in 1970 was the end of his career, and a loss for french racing.....but , "any evil brings a good" as we say in French, and his departure opened the door for François Cevert to start a F1 career earlier, and in better conditions, than he probably would have done otherwise.....

[Fiorentina 1]

Merci Philippe!

[Paul Taylor]

Any confirmation about Johnny being the driver of the 'Ferrari' (I doubt it's a Ferrari, the engine note doesn't match the car's movements) in the film "C'etait un Rendezvous"?

[rudi]

The driver was Claude Lelouch himself.
The car a Mercedes 300 6,9l.

[macoran]

This pic of Johnny and some editorial on the site:

http://memoiresdesta...hautetfort.com/

[philippe7]

Merci Marc. To get directly to the article and the comments, it's better to use that link :
http://memoiresdesta...n-est-plus.html

[Bruno]

Originally posted by macoran


This pic of Johnny and some editorial on the site:

http://memoiresdesta...hautetfort.com/

Ken Tyrrell ? ? ? or not Ken Tyrrell! ! !

[macoran]

Originally posted by philippe7
Merci Marc. To get directly to the article and the comments, it's better to use that link :
http://memoiresdesta...n-est-plus.html

I agree for the obituary part, but then do scroll up for some actual racing editorial of the day about an F2 race with Johnny.

[eldougo]

Thanks Macoran for that great site,some wonderfull pic of driver that are ageing along with myself. ..........


___________________________________

Originally posted by macoran


This pic of Johnny and some editorial on the site:

http://memoiresdesta...hautetfort.com/

[philippe7]

Originally posted by macoran
I agree for the obituary part, but then do scroll up for some actual racing editorial of the day about an F2 race with Johnny.

Yes, but it's just that the site may (?) not be too easy to navigate, specially for non-français speakers ;)

The reims F2 story is here........

http://memoiresdesta...sque-blanc.html

[charles r]

Perfection.