Philippe Siffert thinks about his father Jo
10/24/2021
There are events when time stands still. And everyone can still remember the exact moment later. October 24, 1971 was such a date. The (Swiss) racing world held its breath and fell silent: on Sunday afternoon, Jo "Seppi" Siffert died in a fatal accident in a non-championship Formula 1 race at Brands Hatch - on the very circuit where he had celebrated his first major victory three years earlier.
Several reports on Jo Siffert have already been published on zwischengas.com, shedding light on his life and achievements:
- Jo Siffert, the exceptional Swiss talent
- Jo Siffert - Death at the peak of his career
- Mario Illien, Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Piëch, Klaus Bischof, Jacques Deschenaux and Paul Blancpain on Jo Siffert
The year of birth and the year of death are identical, with just nine months between them: Philippe and Jo Siffert. The racing driver's son was born on January 28, 1971. At the end of October, he was still too young to understand what had happened when his father had a fatal accident in a Formula 1 race at Brands Hatch.
"I have no real memory of my father. I only ever heard a lot of stories about him. For many years, a photo of the Formula 1 March Cosworth adorned my childhood bedroom. And at school, people always said 'ah, the son of Siffert' when it came to me," Philippe recalls. Within the family, people didn't talk too often about his father, who had been killed in an accident. Over the years, he wanted to find out more "about Jo Siffert as a person - everything is known about the racing driver anyway," he explains.
At the age of 19 ("far too late", as he says), he launched his own racing career. He was fascinated by the technology of cars and racing cars from an early age, so it was almost logical that his path led to motor racing. He puts the fact that he ended up in a technical profession and also raced down to his DNA. "If my father had been a concert pianist, I might have become a pianist too," he philosophizes. Formula Ford, Formula 3, touring cars and a stint in a Porsche 911 at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans were his stations in a career spanning almost ten years.
"The name Siffert certainly helped me to open a few doors. But it was often the case that everyone thought they were facing a millionaire - which was far from the case," he recalls. Like his father at the start of his career, Philippe was chronically underfunded. "There were years when I could only just afford one race financially," he sums up. Not a good starting point for a great career. "And right from the start, the pressure to be immediately successful was gigantic," he recalls and continues: "I neglected to set up professional structures, one of the prerequisites for success". He pulled the ripcord at the age of 32. "I became a father at the time and my priorities shifted," he explains.
Today, the fifty-year-old works successfully in the automotive industry. At the same time, he has built up a watch and clothing label called "Jo Siffert". And this is where the business acumen that he probably inherited from both his grandmother and his father is evident.
After the short photo shoot with the Porsche 917, he asks with a disarming smile to take photos of him in his "shop-in-shop" - where the watches and clothing of the 'Jo Siffert' label are presented. His grandmother used to comment on her son's successful business negotiations with "he learned that from me"... Philippe Siffert has been building up a second mainstay here for 15 years now. "It's not about making a bit of business in a hurry. I want to bring high-quality and carefully designed watches and clothes onto the market with the 'Jo Siffert' label," he explains.
As part of the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of Jo Siffert's death, the Swiss Viper Museum in Givisiez near Fribourg is showing a permanent exhibition of cars driven by Jo Siffert. Philippe Siffert realizes that his father's legend is unbroken. He is amazed: "Two thirds of the visitors are under 65 years old, one third is over that age. We actually initially assumed that the ratio must be the other way around and that it was mainly older people who still remember my father.
And he is delighted to report over 4,000 visitors to the carefully curated exhibition: "That's a lot; if we didn't have coronavirus measures, there would be many more". He attributes the myth of his father to the tragic accident at Brands Hatch. "To achieve such a status among the population, you have to die first," he says sarcastically. His father combines important criteria for an idol. "He was young when he died, very successful, at the peak of his career, very charismatic and yet always remained modest," says Philippe.
He is still in contact with Derek Bell and his son Justin and Heini Mader from his father's circle. Then the conversations mainly revolve around his father - where the last word has still not been spoken. The fact that Philippe Siffert has moved out of his father's shadow and into his own life is illustrated by a sentence from his son Jeremy. When asked about his grandfather's idol character, the youngster answered "I have my father as a role model, I don't know my grandfather...".
Profile of Philippe Siffert
This year, the father of two sons (Jeremy and Julien) and a daughter (Michelle) turned 50. He lives in a suburb of Fribourg, has been married to Silvie for 20 years and works in the automotive industry. He was fascinated by all things technical from an early age. His original career aspirations were to become a mechanical or automotive engineer. After completing a mechanical apprenticeship, he now also supervises the production of Jo Siffert watches and clothing. Siffert has continued his education in marketing and IT. He considers his family "the most important thing in my life" and is looking forward to actively accompanying his children into the age of adulthood. Of course, he still has an affinity for cars. His first car, an Alfa Romeo 33, has long since been replaced; today he drives an Alfa Romeo Stelvio and proudly points out that his father ran a dealership for the Milanese brand in Fribourg.
