My dad and I were 30 feet - 10 metres - away. Can still smell it as I sit on my sofa writing this 51 years later. Jo Siffert was a great driver, more of a sports car expert than an F1 ace, but we consoled ourselves that he would've been killed instantly and not suffered in the searing flames. Whether that was the case or not nobody will know. So many were killed in motor racing back then; a different world with different standards.

@davidrutty6733

Жыл бұрын

That must of be awful for you to witness.

@JeLifeCoach

Жыл бұрын

Geez. That’s tough. So sorry for him and you.

@davidgregory49

Жыл бұрын

I was there also that day with my dad, I was 14 years old and like you remember it like it was yesterday! Really shocking and a great tragedy.

@NO_OPEC_NO_PROBLEM

Жыл бұрын

OMG, RIP JS. Sorry you had to witness this Paul.

@77Sunsetstrip

Жыл бұрын

Did it keep you from racing?

I was there, somewhere in that film, I was 16 at the time and with my friend Graham. We were stood about half way up the hill when it happened. We ran up to the corner and the heat and smell hit you. Something I will never forget, very sad.

Still amazes me how safety crews were so unprepared for these types of incidents

@blaumausfrau

Жыл бұрын

I agree its murder. Did you ever see Roger Williamson's crash at the Dutch Grand Prix? They had like three people around the whole course. They just him burn like a marshmallow. Poor Jo Siffert. The same here. The people than ran these events were MISERABLY prepared. Murder and stupidity

@gravityryder8437

Жыл бұрын

Good grief, murder? Did they strap him in with a gun to his head? What an idiotic comment

@clarenceghammjr1326

Жыл бұрын

@@blaumausfrau even a small hopped up fire truck was affordable too, just greed at play

@SIXITHS

10 ай бұрын

You can't put out a magnesium alloy fire with a 'small fire truck' but no doubt you are an expert on the subject matter...

@seltaeb9691

9 ай бұрын

Different period, pre war days they didn't have safety belts or helmets. Progress takes decades but it was their choice & funeral.

"My husband didn't want to go, he was originally supposed to race in the Japanese Grand Prix on the same date but his Porsche couldn't get there. But Jo also loved Brands Hatch, he especially loved Jackie who lived in Switzerland like us and was a good friend. So he went..." - Simone Siffert

@danparker5023

Ай бұрын

Hi simone, I wasnt born but my dad loved jo as a f1 driver and racing in sportscars

@fabianrocha9924

Ай бұрын

@@danparker5023 I'm not Simone I was just quoting her sorry

We were there that day. The race was ironically a celebration of Jackie Stewart's winning the world championship and no points were at stake. A day to celebrate motor racing. After parking the car, we realized that somehow we had managed to get into the circuit without paying (I assume we had driven past someone who had thought we had tickets) so for the first time at a formula 1 race we treated ourselves to grandstand seats. During the race we suddenly saw a huge pillar of black smoke coming out of the woods, and then no more cars were racing any more. We could hear the cars but it was obvious that they were stopped. Then all the drivers switched off their engines and there was deadly silence. We didn't know what had happened and there was no information on the speakers until later on when I think they said that Seppi Siffert had crashed, but when we saw the burnt remains of the car being towed back, it was obvious that nobody had got out of the car. A day that started so well and ended so badly. EDIT: I wasn't sure whether to say it here or not, because I still find it distressing to think about, but here is some extra information. After races - especially at Brands Hatch where it could take hours to get out of the car parks, we used to walk around the circuit at the end of the day. When we came to the scene of the accident, a kid was shouting that he had found something in the mud and water, and held up Jo Siffert's watch. I simply can't believe that he only had a leg fracture because the watch was one of those diving watches with a face made of thick glass. The watch was completely smashed and the metal strap was bent and broken, so he must have had serious injuries to his arm too. Ironically I hadn't thought about it for years, but the recent debate about drivers wearing jewellery and watches reminded me.

@alejpix

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing!

@HeitorSpecian

Жыл бұрын

Thanks

@avsguy01

Жыл бұрын

A great insight! Much appreciated.

@paulofreire3499

Жыл бұрын

I think the watch is a TAG Heuer. That is the watch he usually use 🇧🇷🤝🏻

@jameseastwood4984

Жыл бұрын

It's always a good idea to share your thoughts. We have Piers Courage in one of our local cemeteries in Brentwood, I have a look in sometimes when I'm walking the dog. My younger brother died at 21, so I've been through the process. Sometimes it can be a good reminder to get on and make the most of your life.

Today, he would have walked away without a scratch. It is sad how Jackie Stewart was criticized for demanding safer cars, safer tracks, better rescue/medical abilities, etc.

@thepsychologist8159

8 ай бұрын

"Today, he would have walked away without a scratch" - Similar to what I say when I see a person injured or die after a motorcycle accident - "If he was driving a car, he would have walked away without a scratch".

@roberthallam6741

5 ай бұрын

Stewart was vilified by people like Motorsport journalist Denis Jenkinson who implied the "small beady-eyed Scot" was a coward.

@gassyirishman2859

3 ай бұрын

Doubtful as formula 1 cars still disintegrate when they hit something, hell I think they just lost another a couple years ago...

@timheidel5849

3 ай бұрын

@@gassyirishman2859 compared to the era of that crash in the video, safety is far better today.

@Shawnsteroz

3 ай бұрын

@@roberthallam6741 I think there was some sort of death mindset left over from WW2, that people willingly signed up to risk their lives and die in these F1 crashes, the tracks surrounded by hay bales and unforgiving Armco barriers. Any sort of effort to make it safer would attract weaker men to race, and dilute the bravery of the atomic playboys. And that was Denis Jenkinson's "worry". Lucky Jackie was unrelenting in his crusade, especially after François Cevert's tragic death.

One of the most infamously striking accidents in F1 😥 Jo Siffert was a great driver and, particularly, one of the best sportcars driver we can remember. What a cruel coincidence that Siffert and Rodriguez died in secondary races with a short time of separation. In a short period of time we were robbed of a whole bunch of motorsport history.

@carloszarate5431

Жыл бұрын

Wow!

@INDIGOBLUE555

8 ай бұрын

So sad indeed...Siffert and Rodriguez had been fiercely challenging each other at the wheel of the 917 Gulf raced by the J.Wyer team,and both had been BRM F1 drivers.

You can see all of the drivers on their cars watching not so far from a distance how their fellow driver is dying. I wonder how many of them closed their eyes. That's impossible to erase from their memories.

I was there that day and still remember the horrific moment we saw the massive plume of black smoke rising over the trees. I was at Clearways at the time. The event was run to celebrate Jackie Stewart's second world championship but this sickening event cast a terrible shadow over what had been a very enjoyable event. Sadly there were many such dark days in that period of motor racing and too many lives were needlessly lost. Thank goodness things have changed so much during the past fifty years

Watching older f1 and indycar races today makes you appreciate the advancement we've made in safety now days. Fatal accidents back then are nothing today. You have to respect any driver that had more than 6 year career.

I met him at Reims. There had a F2 race. He drove a BMW. Later I saw him two times at Spa-Francorchamps. Very great driver with Rodriguez.

@71swissboy

Жыл бұрын

en plus c'était même pas une course à points...je connais son fils, sa femme qui est décédée cet été 2020, il vivait dans le même village que mes parents RIP

Cela fait plus de 50 ans......j'en suis encore retourné .....RIP mon cher Jo

Tragic. RIP Jo

This is how it would still be today without Jackie Stewart's efforts.

@jamesdoust6975

5 ай бұрын

BS, There's no way this would be happening today regardless of what Stewart did. Just two years after Siffert's death Stewart drove past the burning car of Roger Williamson, who died in the car. One driver, David Purley, stopped and tried valiantly to save his friend. No one else, including Stewart stopped to help.

@waynepurcell6058

3 ай бұрын

@@jamesdoust6975 Virtually very racer there that day thought that Purley WAS the driver of the flaming car and had gotten out safely. They were driving and trying to not make the situation worse at that "specific" moment. Shit happens.

I used to race MX with a guy named Milan Garrett back in the mid 70's. He went on to race cars and at some point had bought a March FA car. He got off into the dirt at Laguna Seca on the high speed section of old configuration track, the car flipped a couple of times and he ended upside down back on the tarmac. He said he was stuck in the car for what seemed like an eternity as fuel flowed down all around him from ruptured fuel cell. Scared the s**t out of him and he never road raced again. He did have a nice career racing sprinters though. Passed a few years ago of natural causes. RIP Milan.

Scary similar to Niki Lauda's crash 5 years later. Sad to think, but moments like these saved lives in the future 🙏🏼

@beyonderodeus1273

2 жыл бұрын

he was still conscious and tried to escape the wreckage

I remember reading how the other drivers stopped their cars and could only watch one of their mates dying and there was nothing they could to help him . Rest In Peace Jo Siffert . I used to follow you while in India .

Was there that day, saw the smoke, sad day.

"I saw it was Siffert's car, he was leading the race, then I got close the car was on the "start" of the curve I had time to stop pressing the pedal and start braking and when I got close I saw his head was still moving, his car upside down... _Starts crying"_ - Emerson Fittipaldi in the brazilian documentary "A Era Dos Campeões" "[...] then there was a very bad crash in 1971 in Brands Hatch. Jo Siffert with a BRM flipped I tried-I stopped the car to get him out of the car and his car blew up... He was a friend of mine, I lived in Switzerland too [...] and it was another hard blow..." - Emerson Fittipaldi in an interview

@fiarandompenaltygeneratorm5044

10 ай бұрын

Emerson saw some horrible things. He raced during a savage era. I think other than an incident at Zandvoort, he raced his whole F1 career without any major injuries or incidents.

@miguelelgueta5830

Ай бұрын

@@fiarandompenaltygeneratorm5044 he was close to Siffert and then to Cevert and finally Carlos Pace, all of them died in a couple of years, no wonder why Emo stopped being the driver he was in the early 70's, its like he lost a couple of tenths just by thinking in his friends

I was at the meeting at Brands Hatch that day. I was watching from the bridge that goes over to the country section and was just past mid way over the bridge. The cars came through the section at high speed and the surface both under and just after was pretty bumpy and the cars were bottoming as they climbed an incline to the next corner. As Jo came through his car like the others bottomed and veered violently to the left and hit the dirt bank and turned over and exploded into flames. It seemed pretty clear that something in the suspension had broken, I thought at the rear. I was pretty shaken up with seeing it happen and didn't watch motor racing for quite a while afterwards. I did report at the time what I saw to the authorities. John

@westfieldracer

Ай бұрын

Good comment, thanks

I was there, on a school trip. We were given grandstand places (the school was for pupils who had Cerebral Palsy) so all we could see of the crash was the aftermath but we were in no doubt whatsoever as to the seriousness of the accident. It was still a great day out but severely marred; I remember it like it was yesterday.

So crazy dangerous, no real fire professionals, no safety people, no wonder so many perished

Allways remember Seppi Siffert as Swiss i am. Clay Regazzoni also😢

Magnesium carries its own oxygen. Once it starts burning, you cannot put it out .

@almostfm

2 жыл бұрын

It doesn't "carry it's own oxygen. But when it reaches a high enough temperature, it rapidly attaches to any oxygen in the air. What's more, once it starts buring, the fire is hot enough that putting water on it makes it worse. The heat splits the water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, both of which feed the fire.

@donaldsmartt8532

Жыл бұрын

Probably had to use foam or something?

@Jimmythefish577

Жыл бұрын

There’s no magnesium burning in this incident, magnesium doesn’t burn red/orange. It burns bright white, and it can be extinguished using a class D extinguisher.

@misorodzinak8829

Жыл бұрын

@@Jimmythefish577 but not if it's surrounded by a (most likely ruptured) tank full of fuel. These cars were bombs on wheels.

To think these car were petrol tanks on wheels basically.....these men were brave going out racing knowing this could happen to them.

@kennymackay4134

Жыл бұрын

or stupid

@nigeledgecome110

Жыл бұрын

@@kennymackay4134 really?

I was there that day sitting in the BRSCC stand on the pit straight. I had just told a guest that the worst injury I had witnessed at the track was a broken leg when the huge mushroom of smoke and flame erupted above the trees on South Bank. It was more than the loss of a great driver to me as I had the honour to shake his hand when he won the British Grand Prix in a borrowed Lotus 49 in 1968 when both Graham Hill and Jackie Oliver retired the Team Lotus cars.

I saw Jo Siffert drive the Porsche 917/10 to 5th place finish in the Laguna Seca Can-Am one week before this happened. I believe his nickname was Seppi. Great driver and a shame how he died. Porsche was so distraught over the loss of their #1 driver, they turned their Can-Am project over to Roger Penske

Safety at the time of infancy. Scary to look...

Lorenzo Bandini. Roger Williamson. Seppi. Piers Courage. Peter Revson. Fire was , and can still be a terrible factor in F1 and other forms of motor sport.

@RDeckardN6

Жыл бұрын

@@ShilohRules No, you're wrong. He died because he breathed the toxic fumes of his burning car for too long. His lungs were compromised.

@dusankocisevic6823

9 ай бұрын

Also Henkka Toivonen and Cresto, in Tour de Corse..

@mkay1957

9 ай бұрын

Plus those fukking POS Armco barriers have added to the carnage over the years.

Geez, What a horrible way to go. I hope he went quick. The poor onlookers wanted to help but couldn't.

@gameonsports69

Жыл бұрын

Unfortunately he was trapped in the car so he didn't go quick

There's a Emerson Fittipalti account about this crash, saying he saw the driver still moving his head. Fittiplati broke in tears

@kentcarter835

Жыл бұрын

There is film footage of him in the cockpit when they finally got to him. His was indeed still moving. His head and one hand that was visible. Pretty awful.

@miguelelgueta5830

Ай бұрын

@@kentcarter835 never seen that one

One corner, One mistake , One crash , One life ends... This was the old f1 😥

@mrgobrien

10 ай бұрын

info says he collided with another car earlier and it damaged his car a little but he didn't know - that damage then caused the accident later.

That's horrible. It looked like the more they tried to extinguish the flames, it got even worse.

@timheidel5849

Жыл бұрын

I recall reading one of Jackie Stewart's books and he mentions this crash. The car was made of magnesium...once it catches fire, you really can't put it out. All you can do is let it burn itself out. Putting water or other liquids on the magnesium fire just makes it flash up in flames. Stewart said that they finally threw dirt on it and put a tarp over it. I may have a few details wrong but that is what I recall.

@mellilore

Жыл бұрын

@@timheidel5849 I think the one they buried in sand and covered with a tarpaulin was poor Piers Courage, Zandvoort 1970.

@timheidel5849

Жыл бұрын

@@mellilore Yes. I think you are correct.

@ryand141

2 ай бұрын

Bet they think it'll never happen to them.

It is criminal how underknown and underappreciated Siffert was. Few know, but he was leading the 1970 Le Mans by an extraordinary margin before missing a downshift, ending his run. Siffert was always fast, but extraordinarily unlucky

He was trapped upside down and died from smoke inhalation. Can you just imagine how long it took to choke from smoke, being with your head so close to the ground...

I was shocked. I use to live on his street. I delivered his newspaper.

We were there that terrible day I remember the silence after all the noise of the cars and crowd you could hear the birds it was very strange .the column of smoke over the tree tops and Graham Hill pulling into the pits and throwing his helmet in frustration.

This was a terrible way for Jo Stiffer to go. Back then some of the engine parts were made out of magnesium which is super flammable. Four years later Niki Lauda almost suffered the same fate.

@steaustin8789

Жыл бұрын

Who the hell is jo stiffer?

I was there, a very sad day, a great driver lost.

Scary

Car is on fire. Race keeps going. They have ONE fire extinguisher for this. Jeez.

Al margen de la inseguridad de aquellos autos, la inoperancia de los grupos de rescate daba miedo.

The guy in the fire suit is like "give me the fire extinguisher we need to save Joe"

So where did the thumbnail image come from? It isn’t in the footage , would really like to know where that picture came from.

Y pensar que tantos años después sigue habiendo equipos de seguridad igual de ineficientes.

La seule consolation devant ce terrible spectacle c'est de voir à quel point La sécurité a progressé lorsque l'on pense au crash de romain grosjean qui est sorti des flammes indemne.

It amazes me how often this sort of thing happened, but yet there was never the proper equipment or manpower to do anything about it other than stand and watch.

Rest in peace

Why is there a graphic warning on this video?? You see nothing but a burning car.

@n4s117

Жыл бұрын

Clickbait

@conorcumminsfan524

Жыл бұрын

You know, it's good practice to put at least a graphic warning if the crash is fatal....after all you're watching a driver burning in his car while the marshalls are trying (vainly) to shut the fire down. It would have been a "clickbait" if it was written in the tittle...but he wrote it in the video. RIP Siffert

F1 until 1982 was pure carnage.

Man. That fire must have been a bitch for the Fire Marshal in Asbestos suit backing off.

I was 15 and standing with my friend on the inside bend, something you will never forget and never want to see again.

RIP Jo Siffert 🙏

Such a dangerous sport even now, 2024 but thank God they seem to be few and far between nowdays. 😢

The safety crews were like school nurses

So sad !!

丁度この頃、日本の富士グラチャンで優勝したポルシェ917は元々シファートが旧日本グランプリで走らせていたそのものだったんですよね。

Siffert did not die instantly. Post mortem showed he only had a broken leg.

@lordmatthewanunnahybrid1356

Жыл бұрын

Omg :(

@manuelgonzalez6675

Жыл бұрын

He died of suffocation when breathing the smoke.

@kentcarter835

Жыл бұрын

@@manuelgonzalez6675 he burned to death. As horrible as it is, it is a fact. Protective fire suits in those days were inadequate.

@lwalker8785

6 ай бұрын

@@kentcarter835 As a matter of fact he died of smoke inhalation. I'm not saying he didn't also suffer severe burns.

Wow. Nobody wanted to save a life. They were like yup he’s toast.

@misorodzinak8829

Жыл бұрын

They were probably choking from the smoke. The cars at the time had a magnesium chassis - a highly flammable material that gets even more flammable in contact with water.

@kentcarter835

Жыл бұрын

What would you have done?

@aceman42

Жыл бұрын

@@kentcarter835 all im saying is they were ill prepared for this type of accidents during that time. Not enough marshalls or fire extinguishers and poor effort.

@mrgobrien

10 ай бұрын

that is about as close as an protected person can stand from that type of fire (in britain on november 5 we have back garden fires of branches and old furniture etc - and as a test each year i see how close i can get - and it is a few yards away for just a few seconds before having to quickly retreat - and that is just wood and paper etc burning) - that man in the silver suit could get into the fire but only so long as he could hold his breath for before he too would have to retreat again.

I was there , a very sad day

Don't everyone run to the fire .oh my

C est en son hommage que toutes les Ligiers de course ont ete immatriculées J.S. In those days F1 was very dangerous Jochen Rindt, Francois Cevert , Ronnie Peterson, and so on give their lives fot this passion. Jacky Stewart said ” in sixties sex was safe and race dangerous , in nineties race is safe but sex very dangerous ”

@DL-ls5sy

Ай бұрын

JS = Jo Schlesser

He did not die I’m vain. Many safety features were introduced after his death to make cars safer with better marshalling and equipmemt

Schrecklich wenn man bedenkt das die Konstruktöre die Autos aus Magnesium Bauten da die Wagen leichter und Schneller wurden !! Gelernt wurde erst daraus als einige Fahrer nach Schrecklichen Unfällen in Ihrern Wagen Verbrennen mussten 🥺🙈😭... Heute zu Tage Undenkbar das diese Raketen so an den Start gegangen sind 🙈 damals Starb in jedem 3 oder 4ten Rennen ein Fahrer bei einem Unfall weil die Autos alles andere als sicher waren 🙈🙈 das waren Bomben auf Rädern

3 f-e failed ??? Nice quality control

Just trying to tie in the original description of this video & comments together. So, was it smoke inhalation or being burned alive that did this poor soul in?

@manuelgonzalez6675

Жыл бұрын

He died of suffocation when breathing the smoke.

@kentcarter835

Жыл бұрын

He burned to death. He was still moving when they finally got to him. There is footage of it but it's hard to find.

@nascage

Жыл бұрын

@@kentcarter835 That's what I was thinking. The description says it was smoke inhalation that did him in, but the video says otherwise. Either way, he didn't stand a chance. RIP 🙏🏼

Ridiculous safety team...un-existed

Wasn't it bcuz there was magnesium in parts of the engine that the water just kept the flames exploding so they just let it burn until the truck got there with the dry foam to put it out? Something like 5mins must've felt like an eternity.

It's "BAD" when the guys in aluminum moon suits & fire extinguishers give up on you.

O apelido também não ajudava......

Even the guy in the space man outfit says... Eff me that's hot.

Took ages to put out that fire If was like they were on strike or something

Who was the idiot in the black with stripes that didn't know how to operate a fire extinguisher? Why was there so much confusion?

Ele sabia dos riscos

Always drive within your limits is the best advice.

Did he die instantly? I hoipe so. Or was it a slow, very painful death as his flesh burned away? :(

@gameonsports69

Жыл бұрын

Unfortunately no he was trapped

@atlantic_love

Жыл бұрын

@@gameonsports69 I figured he was trapped. Did he die instantly, or was it a prolonged death?

@manuelgonzalez6675

Жыл бұрын

He died of suffocation when breathing the smoke.

so they had no safety trucks or trained firemen or anything ? in England where they don't let you spit off the curb ? shame on them all . Seppi was cool . I hated to always read in Auto Racing magazine every month of another popular driver being killed . That is where we got our news in the US back in the 60s . In that magazine .

While it is absolutely true that crash rescue and emergency medical teams were woefully inadequate, unless the crash happened directly in front of a track fire marshall or crash truck there was never any real hope of rescuing him or any other driver in a fire of that magnitude and intensity. The fire suits they had in those days were absolutely no match for a 2000⁰ aviation gasoline fire. And they had no respiratory protection what so ever. If there was a fuel tank rupture and fire, the drivers were fatally burned in a very few seconds. And every driver knew that.

jesus wept

Cars made of magnesium. Fire retardant just made the fire more intense. These types of cars were banned later.

@n4s117

Жыл бұрын

BRMs of that era (P153 and P160) had aluminium chassis

So they didn’t even get him out they just let him burn. Took their time getting the fire out.

There's nothing graphic to see, why the pansy warning?

@lorbet2419

9 ай бұрын

Well, KZread has some rules. The video is about a fatal crash so it should be mandatory to put a warning. Better to do this than have the video removed for violating the rules, don't you think?🤷

@Slaktrax

9 ай бұрын

@@lorbet2419 Millennial snowflakes rule society. Sadly.

you think this is bad at a small circuit like brands hatch? try monaco where the fools let lorenzo bandini burn up. shame on the thick-skulled promoters for both events.

Lousy grammar.

Thumbs down.

what a way to go. BBQ'd

Break out the marshmallows kids

@gameonsports69

Жыл бұрын

That's disrespectful

@arbiewolfe3027

9 ай бұрын

@NASCARhighlights2 Idiots tend to be disrespectful...can't really be one without being the other

The Horror

Crash? All I see is a big alcohol fire.