'His Chevron B25 suffered a puncture sending him crashing into the guardrail': The Editor
The face of F1 is changing, and some fans have no place in the sport
Later this month at a small ceremony in Bourne, Lincs, the home of BRM, a memorial to Jo Siffert will be unveiled. The Swiss driver was killed on October 24, 1971 at Brands Hatch while competing in the Rothmans World Championship Victory Race, driving a BRM P160. Remarkably until now there has been no permanent memorial to him.
Siffert is deserving of a memorial but he is not alone in not having one until now. Readers of Motor Sport will remember Gerry Birrell. The charismatic Scotsman was just short of his 29th birthday – and tipped at the time as a candidate for a future F1 seat with Tyrrell – when he was killed in a crash at Rouen in the summer of 1973 during a Formula 2 practice session.
His Chevron B25 suffered a front left puncture while approaching the Virage des Six Frères, one of Rouen’s famous high-speed, downhill sweeps, at more than 100mph, sending him crashing head-on into a guardrail that had not been correctly secured.
The incident robbed motor sport of a great talent and a potential F1 star. But over the years his memory has faded, despite a commemorative event reported in this magazine in 2017.
As we approach the 50th anniversary of his death next year, I was contacted by Mike Mitchell, an old sparring partner of Birrell’s who now lives in France. He is raising funds to create a memorial and says he feels strongly that the lives of drivers lost in one of racing’s most perilous eras should not be forgotten.
“There is no memorial to him, nor indeed to any of the others who died there, and with the 50th anniversary I have been working towards having a memorial stone erected at the place where he died,” he says.
“As I live in France it seemed to me that I am best placed to deal with this. Originally this was to commemorate just Gerry, but it has grown now to commemorate all six fatalities at Rouen-les-Essarts.”
He has promises of contributions from several parties including Chevron Racing Cars, Motorsport UK, the Scottish Motor Racing Club. In addition Hugh Chambers at MSUK has written to Nicolas Deschaux, president of the FFSA (France’s motor sport federation), asking for its support.
Mitchell adds: “The mayor of Orival, in whose commune the remains of the old circuit lie, has been very supportive and has promised to ensure that all the necessary permissions will be sorted and also that his cantonnier [road maintenance official] will dig the hole and deal with the erection of the stone.”
Mitchell has also attempted to investigate the circumstances of Birrell’s racing accident. “It was surrounded by rumour and controversy that has never been properly cleared up and I have written to the Tribunal Judiciaire in Rouen to ask for a copy of the police report, which will certainly have been prepared after the accident.” So far progress on this has stalled but his priority remains ensuring a fitting memorial is erected.
As modern racing evolves and, mercifully, deaths become ever rarer, it is important that we don’t forget the sacrifices made by those who raced in earlier eras. Readers who wish to help or find out more should email us here at Motor Sport and we will be happy to forward your correspondence. We hope to bring you more news about the memorial as it progresses into next year.
Congratulations to Stoffel Vandoorne who has won the 2021/22 FIA Formula E World Championship after finishing second in the Seoul ePrix double-header with his Mercedes-EQ Formula E team.
The former McLaren Formula 1 driver beat Mitch Evans to second despite the Jaguar driver finishing the season with the most wins (four). Vandoorne took eight podiums, however, and finished in the points in all but one race. His Mercedes team, with 2020/21 championship winner Nyck de Vries in the second car, secured the Team World Championship ahead of Venturi Racing.
That means back-to-back championships for Mercedes during its final season in the category before its team is taken over by McLaren for 2022-23.
Intriguingly, this result means that Vandoorne is now part of an exclusive group comprising only two other drivers – the bow tie-sporting Mike Hawthorn and the Finnish hard-charger Keke Rosberg – in having secured a world championship with only one win through the season.
Hawthorn’s single win in 1958 came at the French Grand Prix at Reims, and of course he was the beneficiary of rival Stirling’s Moss’s sportsmanship at Porto which helped him clinch the title. Rosberg’s single-win world title came 40 years ago during an epic 1982 Formula 1 season. He triumphed in the Swiss Grand Prix (held at Dijon, France) – the last time such a race was run.
Vandoorne’s victory came after a dramatic 2021/22 Formula E season that saw nine different winners from 16 races. Not bad, but not quite as competitive as that 1982 F1 season that produced 11 different race winners from seven teams, and a run of nine different winners in as many races. Incredible statistics given the recent dominance of just two teams in contemporary Formula 1.
Joe Dunn, editor
Follow Joe on Twitter @joedunn90