In the glory days of the 917, one of my favorites was Jo Siffert. An accomplished F1 driver, he found the big sports cars a good fit as well, and slipped easily back and forth during the season. Having piloted a 906 at Sebring in 1966, he had been in a 910 in 1967 , and won that race outright in a 907 with Hans Hermann in 1968. A 908 he shared with Brian Redman had been his mount for many other wins in 1968, and he and Ahrens won the Austrian 1000 in a 917 that year as well. As the 917 evolved, arguments raged (and still do!) as to whether Siffert was faster than Pedro Rodriguez, who was responsible for a number of 917 victories.
Jo Siffert Framed by 917, Sebring 1971
This shot came from a fortunate moment in the Sebring pits when Siffert was briefly framed by the raised rear deck of the 917. Like Siffert himself, it is one of my favorites. Unhappily, both he and Rodriguez were dead by the end of 1971 from fiery crashes, neither in a Porsche.
About Leonard Turner and “The Last Turn”
With a background in photography spanning more than 5 decades, Leonard Turner was Porsche Panorama’s chief photographer for some 40 years, shooting several hundred covers for the magazine and countless feature spreads involving racing, new car introductions, portraits, technical illustrations, and a plethora of other topics. In the course of doing this, he has traveled widely over the United States and Europe, visiting the Porsche factories and shooting at many venues, including a portfolio of the world’s greatest race tracks.
Leonard’s photographs have been published in many books including Porsche: Portrait of a Legend; Porsche Specials; Porsche, the 4-Cylinder, 4-Cam Sports & Racing Cars; Sebring, the Official History; Carrera RS; and Porsche: Prototype Era 1964 to 1973. His magazine credits, other than Panorama, include Autoweek, Road & Track, Automobile, Christophorus, and Excellence.
It was with this background in mind that we asked Leonard to open up his archives to share with you here on FLATSIXES.com. His personal files, both digital and film, contain tens of thousands of images of Porsches, Porsche people, and events they shaped and which shaped them. Our plan is to share one of Leonard’s images with you every other week, and the story behind it, in this newest feature, “The Last Turn” here on FLATSIXES.com.
View Comments (19)
Oh what a great picture from Jo Siffert by Leonard Turner. I applaud your idea of posting his work every other week. One question though: Would you consider selling large hard copy prints of Mr. Turner's amazing work through Flatsixes.com? I know I and perhaps my brother would be interested for sure.
Hi, Jack,
That will be up to Leonard. We'll be sure to run the idea by him. Thanks for your input and for reading!
Me too! Love that shot!
My brother and I saw 'Seppi' race his 917-10 at Laguna Seca in 1971,... then being a new 911 owner (a 1968) I was impressed at his smooth, persistent driving against the big block Chev. McClarens.
Only a week later Jo Siffert was gone. His 917-10 sat at Riverside a week later in tribute to him-even in it's sponsors awful day-glow STP red.
Only a year later the 917-10K of Mark Donohue/Penske was wining on every track!
THANK YOU for Turner's amazing camera eye as it sutured memories I thought long gone..........
Godspeed
Leslie Rice
What a wonderful photograph by Leonard Turner. But then, he is a Master.
Ah ... why not a photo every week? :-)
David
Hi, David,
If Leonard's work is as well received as we think it will be then we may try to go weekly. We'll have to see. thanks for commenting!
What a great feature! We are all very fortunate to have Leonard share some of his wonderful images.
Hello,
What are the chances, if any, for a slightly larger verison of the photographs so that I and I am sure many regulars would live to have them as Wallpapers.
It's possible, but no promises. What size/resolution do you use?
Pepper Girl,
You didn't ask me but a JPEG Image or jpg sized at 1920 x 1080 would make a great Wallpaper on both Mac and WIndows platform computers. Average weight would be 975 KB. Which is to say it is not heavy for any computer.
A Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) similar to "Seppi's" The Last Turn photo would be ok, if only could be larger than what it is (193 KB).
Hope this helps!
Thanks, Jack. It does!
Glad and you are welcome!
Welcome, Dr. Turner.
Looking forward to seeing your work once again...
Great idea for a feature - every other week is fine if that give Leonard more time to fine tune his commentary supporting the photo. Where does one start when there are so many? ;-)
Any word from Leonard Turner on whether he would be willing to sell copies of some of his prints?
Hi, Dan,
Leonard should be seeing these comments and responds from time to time. Hopefully, you will hear from him at some point in the near future...
Thx for the quick response.
A very memorable photo of "Quick Vic" at Sebring!
It’s Seppi.