Johnny Servoz-Gavin

[Nordic]

Johnny Servoz-Gavin died at the weekend.
 
Johnny Servoz-Gavin had four attempts at the race retiring each time always in a Matra. In 68 he shared with Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Beltoise the two years before,
For the 69 race he was paired with Herbert Müller.

His F1 career was short, he belived he had an eye injury and after failing to make the grid at Monaco he walked away and toured the med in a horse drawn van for a while.

[Fax]

Had not heard about that Nordic.  Sad, but ironic he should pass away over Monaco weekend, where he had his fleeting moment of glory.  Subbing for the injured JYS in the Tyrrell squad he led the '68 Monaco GP for a handful of laps before clipping the barriers at the chicane and breaking the rear suspension of the Matra. Injured his eye in a off season rally accident over the winter of 69/70 and when paired with JYS at Tyrrell early in 1970 he looked off the pace.  Retired from the sport after Monaco, opening the door at Tyrrell for another young Frenchman, Francois Cevert. Was terribly burned in a boating accident in the late eighties but recovered.  he's one of the great "What If's" of racing history.
Fax

[hgb]

Only 64 years, RIP Johnny.

http://www.gpracing.net192.com/drivers/careers/535.cfm

[Fax]

Here's another brief bio, he passed away on May 29th.  They mention that he's been rumured to have been the driver in Rendevous.
Godspeed Johnny,
Fax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges-Francis_Servoz-Gavin

[rory]

He drove his ear-splitting 1969 matra at Goodwood Festival of Speed 6, maybe 7, years ago, and, although his English was as limited as my French is, he came across as a great guy.  After lots of 'charade' style translation he explained that he was wearing the same overalls that he had worn in that race - still not sure if he had ever taken them off since 1969....
I reckon that Rendezvous must be the best motorsport film ever made and should be compulsory viewing for all CAers.  Can anyone suggest a better motorsport film?  Le Ronde Infernal must be up there, if only for the Le Mans theme tune?

[Fax]

JSG was a very interesting guy, he, JP Beltoise and Pesca were very much the Three Muskteers that paved the way for the enormously talented wave of French GP drivers that arrived on the scene in the seventies and early eighties that included Francois Cevert, Patrick Depailler, Jacques Laffite, JP Jarier, Didier Pironi, Patrick Tambay, Rene Arnoux, JP Jabouille, and eventually in 1980 Alain Prost.  Quite a cast of dynamic personalities as well as being terrific racers.
Fax

[BigH]

Hey Fax,
Sad to hear you can't make it this year, but like Andy said, glad to know I can put off shaking your hand for a while longer.
What happened at the Indy500? I was incapacitated at the weekend (isolated in Scotland with whiskey for company), so didn't hear or read anything but a friend tells me today it was a great race. What went wrong??
H

[Fax]

Hi H,
Saw the last seventy-five laps or so, it didn't do much for me.  But I'm biased and think the IRL is complete crap anyway, especially when half the grid for the Indy 500 is bankrolled by Tony George.
We'll play handshake roulette next year
Fax