Who will be lucky?
10/22/2024
From 1964 to 1971, Swiss driver Jo Siffert drove exactly 82 races for Porsche. He was at the wheel for the first triumph of the Porsche 917 - a model that was to change the brand's image from the ground up.
With a unique Porsche 911 GT3 RS "Tribute to Jo Siffert", Porsche is paying tribute to the Swiss racing driver who died far too early and at the same time commemorating that very first victory of the legendary 917 almost 55 years ago.
In 1968, the FIA surprisingly changed the regulations for the one-make world championship and the engine capacity limit was raised to five liters - in addition, the number of cars required for homologation was reduced to 25. The three-liter Porsche 908 was no longer competitive.
A new five-liter car was needed - the 917. Its track record remains legendary to this day: after the Sports Car World Championship in its first year of use in 1969, Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood achieved the coveted triumph at Le Mans in 1970. Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep were able to repeat this greatest motorsport success for Porsche to date in 1971. George Follmer dominated the North American CanAm series in 1972 and Mark Donohue in 1973 with the 917/10 and 917/30 turbo versions with over 1000 hp as a further development of the 917.
"We owe the 1969 World Sports Car Championship in large part to Jo Siffert. He was clearly the fastest man in our team," recalled former chief race engineer Peter Falk of the Swiss in 2018. Porsche won seven out of ten races this season.
Siffert took five of these victories together with Britain's Brian Redman and one with Kurt Ahrens - the one on August 10, 1969 at the opening race of the new race track in Zeltweg. "Our victory in Zeltweg was the start of the 917's success story and it was a great pleasure and honor for me to share the cockpit with Jo," says his companion Ahrens.
There was also a Swiss double victory with Herbert Müller in second place in the Lola T70. Just one year later, Siffert celebrated one of his greatest ever successes at the same venue, winning the Austrian Grand Prix.
This was the first of many racing successes for the 917, which was initially considered difficult to drive due to its high speeds and aerodynamics.
The one-off 911 GT3 RS "Tribute to Jo Siffer" was built by the experts at Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur as part of the special request program. From August 2024, the vehicle will initially be on display in Swiss Porsche Centers before being one of the highlights at the Auto Zürich trade fair (November 7-10, 2024) . The buyer will then be drawn at random from all interested parties.
Joseph "Jo" Siffert enjoys cult status in Switzerland even 50 years after his death. Born in Fribourg, he was an extremely talented, charismatic racing driver. Siffert lived his love of motorsport to the full: he contested a total of 298 races in eleven years. Sometimes he took part in several competitions on the same weekend. "Jo Siffert, together with Kurt Ahrens, heralded the success story of the 917 with his victory at Zeltweg in 1969.
Jo Siffert's family was closely involved in the development of this very special 911 GT3 RS. In addition to his son Philippe, who drove Formula Ford and Formula 3 races himself between 1991 and 2003, his grandson Jérémy Siffert also accompanied the project workshop in Zuffenhausen.
"Witnessing the creation of this Porsche in honor of my father was extremely exciting," says Philippe Siffert. "With a lot of love for historical details and craftsmanship at the highest level, the employees of Porsche Sonderwunsch Manufaktur have transformed an already rare 911 GT3 RS into an absolutely unique piece - Jo Siffert spirit included."
Incidentally, the picture above is from the 1000 km race in Spa Francorchamps, which Jo Siffert won together with Brian Redman. The viper green already covered the entire nose of the car, whereas in the first race in Austria it only flanked the fenders, as now shown on the 911 GT3 RS.
