From Lipstick To Lap Charts

From Lipstick To Lap Charts

17^th July 1971. The British Grand Prix at Silverstone. It was 7.30 in the morning. My prayers from the night before had been answered. The day had dawned sunny and promising…. The paddock was already beginning to come alive with the noise and excitement of the Grand Prix Circus. Heavy eyed mechanics, who had been working on the Formula One cars overnight in readiness for the race, began to emerge from their garages, each man eager to swap his spanner for a hot steaming mug of coffee offered by the nearby catering vendors.

I stood watching, momentarily filled with pride as the engines of the Yardley sponsored BRM P160's burst into life. They sat like fat creamy butterflies, gleaming in the sunlight anxious to take flight. These supreme cars, the drivers and the unique combination of their achievements were, unbeknown to me at the time, beginning to play a huge part in my life…

It was an invitation to watch a friend racing his saloon car that started it all. My partner at the time was an amateur photographer, and was asked to go along to take some photographs. I wasn't keen, but thought it would make a good day out, so went along….I've been hooked ever since!

I soon realised that race drivers love pictures of themselves purely for the fact that it gives them a lot of feed back information about their driving. I also picked up on the fact that at each race weekend I could show them the previous race photo's, making considerable and unexpected profit for my partner!

My job at this time was as a beauty consultant running a top account for Yardley Cosmetics. I spotted an advert in their monthly news letter for Yardley sponsored race jackets. As I seemed to be spending most of my spare time on various race circuits I telephoned our sales manager and ordered a couple. This telephone conversation turned out to be a little more exciting than I had thought possible. After quizzing me on my interest in motor sport I was asked to go their head offices for an interview to join the promotion team in a new venture promoting Formula One. I didn't need asking twice…I was in!

My first big race was at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1971. I arrived resplendent in white hot pants with the Yardley B.R.M. logo to the fore. I soon learned that the Formula One scene even in those days was a whole different ball game to the club racing that I had been used to. We set up merchandising booths all over the circuit selling everything from cosmetics to cufflinks. Those of us who could drive hopped onto little motor scooters stacked to the hilt with decals, posters, perfumes and photo's. We charged around the circuit on a ‘stop me and buy one’ principle which proved very successful providing you weren't pulled off your scooter in the scrum!

The drivers for B.R.M. at that time were the Swiss, Jo Siffert and New Zealand's Howden Ganley. Sadly our previous lead driver Pedro Rodriguez had been killed a few days earlier in a sports car race in Germany and although great sports car rivals on track, Jo and Pedro had great respect for each other. Jo came to Silverstone with the awesome task of taking over from Pedro as lead driver in the Yardley B.R.M. team. At around midday we used to organise the drivers to come over to the main Yardley booth to sign posters for the fans. Jo was the first driver I worked with on this with at Silverstone and found him to be a great guy with much humour despite his limited English; we always seemed to get by. I posed for several shots with him at Silverstone; he was in great form as he had boosted the team moral by lining up on the front row of the grid alongside Stewart in the Tyrell 003 and Regazzoni in the Ferrari 31282. The race proved promising as Jo slotted himself into 2^nd place behind the menacing Tyrell of Jackie Stewart. All racing drivers once they have reached the pinnacle of Formula One are excellent drivers, but Jo Siffert seemed special somehow. Whether it was his aggressive and exciting style of driving or apparent easy manner with which he approached the sport, I don't know, but there was always this amazing feeling of apprehension and excitement that stirred within me whenever he went out on the track. I just had to watch him whatever else I was supposed to be doing at the time!

All through the season there seemed to be a problem with tyres causing severe vibration. This race was no exception. Jo managed to stay in touch with Stewart until the vibration shook the car's rear wing out of its pre-set position. This caused the cars handling to deteriorate and although Jo carried gamely on with fists full of opposite lock through the corners, the engine started to cut out bringing him into the pits to have a new mounting bracket fitted to secure the coil that had worked loose. He re-joined at the back of the field and was placed ninth, a bitter disappointment after such a gallant drive. Jo continued the season finally finishing in 4^th place for the drivers championship with the Yardley B.R.M. taking 2^nd place in the constructors championship.

The race weekend for the 'Race of The Champions', in honour of the new world champion Jackie Stewart started well. Jo secured pole position and although this was possibly not the best position at Brands Hatch as it was slightly lower on the track and into a slight dip, both Jo and the Yardley B.R.M. team were buoyed up and raring to go! Jo came over to do some autograph signing for us and some photo shots and I accompanied him as always. I had some great shots of him taken at Silverstone and he was more than happy to sign them for me. About an hour before the race we took photos of him as he went off to change into his race suit arranging to see him in the pit line up later for some in-car shots.

During lunch time Jo sat calmly but pensively thinking out his strategy. This is my absolute favourite photo of him and one of the last taken. You can clearly see his 'Ring of Nurburg' which is a memento given to every driver who mastered this circuit. Jo received this in 1960…and the ring never left his finger. Jo was also the first Formula One driver to wear a Heuer watch and this is also shown with its unique white face to the fore in the same photograph.

I met Jo as arranged down in the holding area before the cars went down to the grid. We chatted about the race and strangely enough we talked about the reason for having his blood group on his helmet.

“I have this if there is accident and am not awake, then they can tell” said Jo in his broken English.

I wished him luck and set off to watch the race at Paddock Bend. It had been a great day so far. Everybody was in good spirits especially the drivers, Yardley took their best profit of the year selling on track, and I was looking forward to the race. My partner left me to go and take photos at Hawthorn Corner and I joined my colleagues at Paddock Bend. Jo did not make a good start, finding it difficult to get the car out of the dip and getting a wheel on the grass as the young Swede Ronnie Peterson took advantage of Jo's mistake and stormed through. Jo dropped to 10^th place but in his formidable style climbed up the field to take 4^th place on the 14^th lap. It had been thrilling up to that point when on the 15^th lap he started to lose time. I eagerly waited for him to come down into Paddock Bend but a plume of black smoke coming up from the long lefthander behind the pits took my attention. I held my breath as one Yardley B.R.M. came into view… it was Peter Gethin, followed shortly by another…Howden Ganley.

The air stood still, and so did my mind as all the cars came into view and the race was stopped… Jo Siffert was not amongst them and I knew in that moment that we were facing a tragedy. The roar of the crowd changed into a deafening silence as I watched in disbelief. The black smoke got thicker and thicker and Brands Hatch that day became a shrine to Jo Siffert. My partner had been at Hawthorn Bend and was now walking towards me his face deathly white. He had witnessed a horrendous accident with a massive fire ball coming down to rest in front of him with the added shock of finding it to be Jo. He was slumped in the car, asphyxiated immediately…. with only a broken leg. Horrified, he had been unable to take any photographs as we had great respect for him. The images I have of Jo today are how he should be remembered. I thought I would never recover from that day and seriously considered my future in the Yardley promotion team. Time moves on and of course my love of motor racing and working within it has stayed as strong as ever.

Brands Hatch is my local circuit and I consider Jo to be a part of it. I spend a lot of race weekends there and am happy to revive my memories of a great race driver… Jo Siffert.

Sue Lehmann

From Lipstick To Lap Charts

17^th July 1971. The British Grand Prix at Silverstone. It was 7.30 in the morning. My prayers from the night before had been answered. The day had dawned sunny and promising…. The paddock was already beginning to come alive with the noise and excitement of the Grand Prix Circus. Heavy eyed mechanics, who had been working on the Formula One cars overnight in readiness for the race, began to emerge from their garages, each man eager to swap his spanner for a hot steaming mug of coffee offered by the nearby catering vendors. I stood watching, momentarily filled with pride as the engines of the Yardley sponsored BRM P160's burst into life. They sat like fat creamy butterflies, gleaming in the sunlight anxious to take flight. These supreme cars, the drivers and the unique combination of their achievements were, unbeknown to me at the time, beginning to play a huge part in my life… It was an invitation to watch a friend racing his saloon car that started it all. My partner at the time was an amateur photographer, and was asked to go along to take some photographs. I wasn't keen, but thought it would make a good day out, so went along….I've been hooked ever since! I soon realised that race drivers love pictures of themselves purely for the fact that it gives them a lot of feed back information about their driving. I also picked up on the fact that at each race weekend I could show them the previous race photo's, making considerable and unexpected profit for my partner! My job at this time was as a beauty consultant running a top account for Yardley Cosmetics. I spotted an advert in their monthly news letter for Yardley sponsored race jackets. As I seemed to be spending most of my spare time on various race circuits I telephoned our sales manager and ordered a couple. This telephone conversation turned out to be a little more exciting than I had thought possible. After quizzing me on my interest in motor sport I was asked to go their head offices for an interview to join the promotion team in a new venture promoting Formula One. I didn't need asking twice…I was in! My first big race was at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1971. I arrived resplendent in white hot pants with the Yardley B.R.M. logo to the fore. I soon learned that the Formula One scene even in those days was a whole different ball game to the club racing that I had been used to. We set up merchandising booths all over the circuit selling everything from cosmetics to cufflinks. Those of us who could drive hopped onto little motor scooters stacked to the hilt with decals, posters, perfumes and photo's. We charged around the circuit on a ‘stop me and buy one’ principle which proved very successful providing you weren't pulled off your scooter in the scrum! The drivers for B.R.M. at that time were the Swiss, Jo Siffert and New Zealand's Howden Ganley. Sadly our previous lead driver Pedro Rodriguez had been killed a few days earlier in a sports car race in Germany and although great sports car rivals on track, Jo and Pedro had great respect for each other. Jo came to Silverstone with the awesome task of taking over from Pedro as lead driver in the Yardley B.R.M. team. At around midday we used to organise the drivers to come over to the main Yardley booth to sign posters for the fans. Jo was the first driver I worked with on this with at Silverstone and found him to be a great guy with much humour despite his limited English; we always seemed to get by. I posed for several shots with him at Silverstone; he was in great form as he had boosted the team moral by lining up on the front row of the grid alongside Stewart in the Tyrell 003 and Regazzoni in the Ferrari 31282. The race proved promising as Jo slotted himself into 2^nd place behind the menacing Tyrell of Jackie Stewart. All racing drivers once they have reached the pinnacle of Formula One are excellent drivers, but Jo Siffert seemed special somehow. Whether it was his aggressive and exciting style of driving or apparent easy manner with which he approached the sport, I don't know, but there was always this amazing feeling of apprehension and excitement that stirred within me whenever he went out on the track. I just had to watch him whatever else I was supposed to be doing at the time! All through the season there seemed to be a problem with tyres causing severe vibration. This race was no exception. Jo managed to stay in touch with Stewart until the vibration shook the car's rear wing out of its pre-set position. This caused the cars handling to deteriorate and although Jo carried gamely on with fists full of opposite lock through the corners, the engine started to cut out bringing him into the pits to have a new mounting bracket fitted to secure the coil that had worked loose. He re-joined at the back of the field and was placed ninth, a bitter disappointment after such a gallant drive. Jo continued the season finally finishing in 4^th place for the drivers championship with the Yardley B.R.M. taking 2^nd place in the constructors championship. The race weekend for the 'Race of The Champions', in honour of the new world champion Jackie Stewart started well. Jo secured pole position and although this was possibly not the best position at Brands Hatch as it was slightly lower on the track and into a slight dip, both Jo and the Yardley B.R.M. team were buoyed up and raring to go! Jo came over to do some autograph signing for us and some photo shots and I accompanied him as always. I had some great shots of him taken at Silverstone and he was more than happy to sign them for me. About an hour before the race we took photos of him as he went off to change into his race suit arranging to see him in the pit line up later for some in-car shots. During lunch time Jo sat calmly but pensively thinking out his strategy. This is my absolute favourite photo of him and one of the last taken. You can clearly see his 'Ring of Nurburg' which is a memento given to every driver who mastered this circuit. Jo received this in 1960…and the ring never left his finger. Jo was also the first Formula One driver to wear a Heuer watch and this is also shown with its unique white face to the fore in the same photograph. I met Jo as arranged down in the holding area before the cars went down to the grid. We chatted about the race and strangely enough we talked about the reason for having his blood group on his helmet. “I have this if there is accident and am not awake, then they can tell” said Jo in his broken English. I wished him luck and set off to watch the race at Paddock Bend. It had been a great day so far. Everybody was in good spirits especially the drivers, Yardley took their best profit of the year selling on track, and I was looking forward to the race. My partner left me to go and take photos at Hawthorn Corner and I joined my colleagues at Paddock Bend. Jo did not make a good start, finding it difficult to get the car out of the dip and getting a wheel on the grass as the young Swede Ronnie Peterson took advantage of Jo's mistake and stormed through. Jo dropped to 10^th place but in his formidable style climbed up the field to take 4^th place on the 14^th lap. It had been thrilling up to that point when on the 15^th lap he started to lose time. I eagerly waited for him to come down into Paddock Bend but a plume of black smoke coming up from the long lefthander behind the pits took my attention. I held my breath as one Yardley B.R.M. came into view… it was Peter Gethin, followed shortly by another…Howden Ganley. The air stood still, and so did my mind as all the cars came into view and the race was stopped… Jo Siffert was not amongst them and I knew in that moment that we were facing a tragedy. The roar of the crowd changed into a deafening silence as I watched in disbelief. The black smoke got thicker and thicker and Brands Hatch that day became a shrine to Jo Siffert. My partner had been at Hawthorn Bend and was now walking towards me his face deathly white. He had witnessed a horrendous accident with a massive fire ball coming down to rest in front of him with the added shock of finding it to be Jo. He was slumped in the car, asphyxiated immediately…. with only a broken leg. Horrified, he had been unable to take any photographs as we had great respect for him. The images I have of Jo today are how he should be remembered. I thought I would never recover from that day and seriously considered my future in the Yardley promotion team. Time moves on and of course my love of motor racing and working within it has stayed as strong as ever. Brands Hatch is my local circuit and I consider Jo to be a part of it. I spend a lot of race weekends there and am happy to revive my memories of a great race driver… Jo Siffert. Sue Lehmann