Crazy Swiss

November 10, 2005 9:54 AM

Speaking, as we were, of F1 drivers, fans should take note that Live Fast, Die Young, a documentary about Swiss driver Jo Siffert has recently been released overseas. Siffert died in a crash in 1971, and fifty thousand people turned out for his funeral. Can't see the film (and if you're in the U.S., chances are you can't)? Check out the soundtrack, by the always fantastic (though apparently website-less) Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited. Samples here.
posted by schoolgirl report (11 comments total)

I always enjoy it when what should have been a great comment on a previous thread is made into its own completely separate FPP, but I don't think I've seen it happen directly follow the originating thread before.
posted by spock at 10:18 AM on November 10, 2005

Well, I felt it was FPP worthy given the additional info re: the soundtrack. But hey, thanks for snarking!
posted by schoolgirl report at 10:27 AM on November 10, 2005

This guy was really amazing, if I remember correctly he was a playboy race car driver, someone who was just as fast as he was wealthy. Wish the film was in english. Who knows, maybe some dubbing in the future? This sounds like it will be really interesting.
posted by mk1gti at 10:34 AM on November 10, 2005

I always enjoy it when a perfectly good FPP gets snarked upon because it would have made a somewhat tangential comment in a previous thread. Especially when it's the first comment!

I wouldn't mind seeing this film, actually. There were a hell of a lot of racing drivers killed before safety equipment and materials science in F1 reached their modern stage, and what's remarkable is that many F1 drivers apparently opposed more stringent safety regulations--Jackie Stewart was allegedly nicknamed "Jock McArmco" for championing better trackside barriers, for instance.

Even modern-day F1, in spite of millions of dollars being spent on safety engineering, isn't exactly risk-free. Just ask Alex Zanardi.
posted by arto at 10:45 AM on November 10, 2005

Alex Zanardi didn't crash in a F1, but in one of these strange american ChampCar cars which are about 15 years behind F1-Cars, regarding technology and safety.
posted by ralle at 11:58 AM on November 10, 2005

ralle: I'm certainly not up to speed on F1 vs ChampCar safety technology, but the nastiness of that accident (Tagliani was doing almost 200mph when Zanardi came into his path) makes me think that his fate wouldn't have been much better in an F1 car. The real difference is that F1 doesn't have high-speed banked ovals.

Schumacher broke his leg in a much more tame one-car accident one or two years earlier. Not that his accident is comparable to Zanardi's, but I point it out because, as good as they are, the F1 cockpits aren't invincible.
posted by mullacc at 1:13 PM on November 10, 2005

Released overseas? That sort of depends where you are, doesn't it?
posted by salmacis at 4:20 PM on November 10, 2005

Right, sorry, should have said "in Europe."
posted by schoolgirl report at 6:27 PM on November 10, 2005

I remember when Jo died ... it seemed like it came right at the end of a really bad string, and it seemed like we were over it, and then bang, there went another one.

The late 60s and early 70s were, to my eyes, much more worse than the 50s as far as risks were concerned (with the possible exception of American dirt track racing, which was amazingly deadly in the 50s).

Anyway, everybody liked Jo. He was an honest to god, pulled himself up by his own hard work story.

And his crash was the the incident that finally put Rob Walker (another great guy) out of racing as a car owner ... and that was quite sad, Rob was really the last of the privateer gentlemen in the sport ... sure is different now.

And, ralle, you bet your ass Zanardi crashed in a F1.

When he was driving for Lotus I saw him lose it so bad through Eau Rouge/Radillion that the car looked like a pinball as it bounced THREE times from guardrail to guardrail to guardrail, and came apart in a cloud of composites and metal.

The crash that cost him his legs happened after his F1 career (such as it was)
posted by Relay at 7:50 PM on November 10, 2005

thanks for the post. f1 racing old and new is really cool.
posted by specialk420 at 2:20 PM on November 11, 2005

I remember seeing Jo Siffert race when I was a kid at the Canadian and US GP's...as well as Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jackie Ickx, John Surtees, and later Jody Schecter and Gilles Villeneuve. It was amazing. Those were the days, going to F1 races when I was 10 years old!
posted by philmas at 4:20 PM on November 11, 2005