JO SIFFERT

Starts Best result 4th (1966)

The two-time world championship grand prix winner was another Porsche ace in the second half of the 1960s. He took 14 world sportscar championship victories (including the classics at Daytona, Sebring, Nurburgring and Spa), still enough to put the Swiss ninth in the all-time winners list.

Siffert’s Le Mans career started well, with two class successes (and two overall topfives) in his first three outings. But he didn’t finish on his remaining four appearances.

If he was unlucky in 1969 and ’71, Siffert had to take some responsibility for the ’70 failure. A missed shift blew his Porsche

917’s engine right in front of the pits and team boss John Wyer…

Siffert’s co-driver on that occasion was Brian Redman. It was a formidable pairing, winning eight races in 908s and 917s in 1969 and ’70. The Englishman remains a Siffert fan. “Team manager Rico Steinemann asked if I’d like to be number one in my own car or if I’d go as number two to Siffert,” recalls the 81-year old. “I knew if I went as number two I would get little time in the car during practice and little publicity when we won, but thought it was worth it.

“Although we had our individual seats, we never changed and I adapted to being closer to the pedals and steering wheel, to save time in pitstops.

“Jo was brilliant. If he had a fault as an endurance driver, although easy on the equipment, he had only one speed: flat-out. We got on really well and never had a cross word – even at Le Mans in 1970!”