Terrible Formula 1 crash - 1973 Dutch Grand Prix

[ROON]

I was looking at F1 highlight videos when I stumbled across a video called "The Dark History of Formula 1" which is a 9 minute montage of every fatal crash in the history of the motorsport. In that video they showed Roger Williamson's 1973 crash. It takes a LOT to move me, and I won't lie, the footage almost made me cry.

The man in the white overalls is Rogers friend, David Purley, also a driver but not for the same team. He abandoned his car and tried to help with the rescue effort. Seeing David desperately try to save his friend even when all hope is lost, combined with the classical piece "Adagio for Strings" playing in the background, I really had to fight back the tears.

P.S: I won't post the "Dark History of Formula 1" video, it contains some pretty graphic scenes from a South African GP where a track marshal gets hit by a car and pretty much chopped in half. I don't think the mods would be too happy if I posted that, but it's easy to find on YouTube, and if anyone wants the link I'll gladly PM it to them. Here is the TV footage of Rogers crash;

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5-6taeWRQ

The die hard F1 fans have probably seen this already, but I wanted to share with those who haven't.

[Grimoire]

Those montages are pretty moving, not just if you are an F1 fan. The worst has to be Wolfgang VonTrips at Monza...dreadful. Tom Pryce at Kyalami is, as you mention, probably the most horrific to watch (not to mention bizarre). Lucky Robert Kubica isn't on that list after Montreal last year...

[ROON]

Originally Posted by Grimoire

Those montages are pretty moving, not just if you are an F1 fan. The worst has to be Wolfgang VonTrips at Monza...dreadful. Tom Pryce at Kyalami is, as you mention, probably the most horrific to watch (not to mention bizarre). Lucky Robert Kubica isn't on that list after Montreal last year...

Yeah the Wolfgang Von Trips crash was pretty bad. His out of control car killed 11 spectators, along with himself. Watching all these crashes across the decades really makes you grateful for the amount of safety that goes into motorsport now days. A simple barrier with a fence could have saved those 11 lives. Fatal crashes are unavoidable, but modern technology and safety measures have made them a lot rarer.

[RWP]

The other drivers didn't even slow down to allow them to help let alone stop and try to save the guys life. That was a truly amazing show of uncaring disregard for a fellow driver.

[Atoz]

I know the Purley/Williamson situation quite well, as I have followed F1 for many years. Williamson was supposedly in the car yelling for someone to flip the car over. The track marshals not only refused to help, but actually restrained fans who tried to get to the stricken car to help Purley upright it. To make matters worse, the driver of the fire engine, which was only a few hundred yards down the track refused to drive against the traffic to get to the accident scene and actually drove nearly a whole lap at a rather low speed to get to the crash. By then, it was too late. Williamson actually suffered very few burns, and died from asphyxiation. An absolutely ridiculous situation, IMHO.

[Pilgrim]

Since I know my memory goes back a bit further than some others here...this is one of many incidents in racing, an inherently dangerous sport.

Let's not forget the famous 1955 Le Mans crash that killed the Pierre Levegh plus AT LEAST 87 others, and which resulted in Mercedes leaving racing for decades. The official estimate was 87 dead, plus uncounted others injured and scarred for life! Mercedes had the grace to withdraw from the race before it ended - and thereafter from racing, for decades. They only started entering factory cars again in the last few years.

And there is the 1957 Mille Liglia, in which the Marquis De Portago lost a tire and crashed into the crowd, killing himself, his passenger and nine spectators - including five kids.

Read about those two events here - it's a very well written account, and well worth adding to your fund of automotive history:
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=24828

[bassteban]

I got like 10 seconds in & turned it off. Can't do it.

[Atoz]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

Since I know my memory goes back a bit further than some others here...this is one of many incidents in racing, an inherently dangerous sport.

Let's not forget the famous 1955 Le Mans crash that killed the Pierre Levegh plus AT LEAST 87 others, and which resulted in Mercedes leaving racing for decades. The official estimate was 87 dead, plus uncounted others injured and scarred for life! Mercedes had the grace to withdraw from the race before it ended - and thereafter from racing, for decades. They only started entering factory cars again in the last few years.

And there is the 1957 Mille Liglia, in which the Marquis De Portago lost a tire and crashed into the crowd, killing himself, his passenger and nine spectators - including five kids.

Read about those two events here - it's a very well written account, and well worth adding to your fund of automotive history:
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=24828

Funny... I was just thinking about the Levegh incident while typing up my last post. That's some truly awful film footage.

Also, wasn't the de Portago accident the reason they stopped running the Mille Miglia?

You ever watch rally racing footage with the fans five feet from the edge of the road on the outsides of turns? There are always people getting run over and killed... even these days.

[moomoocajoo]

If you want to read about (or see...if you're into that :/) horrific racing crashes, I have two words:

Group B.

[ROON]

Originally Posted by Atoz

I know the Purley/Williamson situation quite well, as I have followed F1 for many years. Williamson was supposedly in the car yelling for someone to flip the car over. The track marshals not only refused to help, but actually restrained fans who tried to get to the stricken car to help Purley upright it. To make matters worse, the driver of the fire engine, which was only a few hundred yards down the track refused to drive against the traffic to get to the accident scene and actually drove nearly a whole lap at a rather low speed to get to the crash. By then, it was too late. Williamson actually suffered very few burns, and died from asphyxiation. An absolutely ridiculous situation, IMHO.

I heard on another clip of the crash with narration that the fire truck took seven minutes to arrive on the scene, by that time Williamson had already died, like you said, from asphyxiation. The excuse for the track marshals not helping is that 'they weren't wearing fire retardant suits'. Not acceptable IMO. Before the whole car is on fire there are parts that are not in flames that could be pushed. Sure it'd be mighty hot but they were standing less than a meter away from it anyway, may as well do your job and push.

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

Since I know my memory goes back a bit further than some others here...this is one of many incidents in racing, an inherently dangerous sport.

Let's not forget the famous 1955 Le Mans crash that killed the Pierre Levegh plus AT LEAST 87 others, and which resulted in Mercedes leaving racing for decades. The official estimate was 87 dead, plus uncounted others injured and scarred for life! Mercedes had the grace to withdraw from the race before it ended - and thereafter from racing, for decades. They only started entering factory cars again in the last few years.

And there is the 1957 Mille Liglia, in which the Marquis De Portago lost a tire and crashed into the crowd, killing himself, his passenger and nine spectators - including five kids.

Read about those two events here - it's a very well written account, and well worth adding to your fund of automotive history:
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=24828

I just watched the footage of the Le Mans crash. Not only does the initial impact and explosion happen in the middle of the crowd, it looks like the flaming debris from the car wipes out people about 20 meters away too.

Originally Posted by bassteban

I got like 10 seconds in & turned it off. Can't do it.

I don't blame you bassteban, it's not a particularly pleasant thing to watch.

[ROON]

No crash in this clip, but one of my favourite car related videos of all time.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MSrDD3tcibU

[Valerus]

Originally Posted by ROON

No crash in this clip, but one of my favourite car related videos of all time.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MSrDD3tcibU

stunning!

[RED5]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

Since I know my memory goes back a bit further than some others here...this is one of many incidents in racing, an inherently dangerous sport.

Let's not forget the famous 1955 Le Mans crash that killed the Pierre Levegh plus AT LEAST 87 others, and which resulted in Mercedes leaving racing for decades. The official estimate was 87 dead, plus uncounted others injured and scarred for life! Mercedes had the grace to withdraw from the race before it ended - and thereafter from racing, for decades. They only started entering factory cars again in the last few years.

And there is the 1957 Mille Liglia, in which the Marquis De Portago lost a tire and crashed into the crowd, killing himself, his passenger and nine spectators - including five kids.

Read about those two events here - it's a very well written account, and well worth adding to your fund of automotive history:
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=24828

Holy Cats! you remember the SLR crash in 55! How old are you!? Do you hold with the theory that Hawthorne's Jag entering the pits was at fault? I was fortunate to meet Ernie Teile, he was head tech (mechanic then) on the team. Had some interesting input. The wreck that actually struck home with me was Ayrton Senna. Such a minor accident what a great loss.

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by RED5

The wreck that actually struck home with me was Ayrton Senna. Such a minor accident what a great loss.

Yeah, that was a bummer. I was gigging, and then I went home to watch Imola live afterwards, and turned on the tube just in time to watch Senna die. Bad day.

[RED5]

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

Yeah, that was a bummer. I was gigging, and then I went home to watch Imola live afterwards, and turned on the tube just in time to watch Senna die. Bad day.

His team doctor wrote a book about Senna and the accident. It seems he had a premonition that day, was very disturbed by it and when the flag was called on the lap he knew what had occurred without any more info.

[Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by RED5

Holy Cats! you remember the SLR crash in 55! How old are you!? Do you hold with the theory that Hawthorne's Jag entering the pits was at fault? I was fortunate to meet Ernie Teile, he was head tech (mechanic then) on the team. Had some interesting input. The wreck that actually struck home with me was Ayrton Senna. Such a minor accident what a great loss.

I'm not as old as you may think - I was born in 1950, so that crash happened when I was five. However, if one does ANY reading about auto racing history, that is one of the most-cited events, and I remember hearing about it almost as soon as I became interested in cars in the early 60's.

BTW - if you really want to read a wonderful story, look up the short story I Rode With Moss in the Mille Miglia, written by a british journalist named Denis Jenkinson. He was Moss' navigator in his incredible Mille Miglia victory driving a Mercedes 300SL , and he wrote a wonderful account of the race.

You can get a taste of it in a different but related article here:
http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.c...9020/index.htm

In that link, Stewart McBride gives an account of a 1989 ride with Moss in a re-creation of the epic drive. it contains this comment about the 1955 race: "(Moss)...averaged a record 97.9 mph over switchback mountain roads, through the tight confines of Vatican City and Florence and over the Italian countryside. Motor sports fans still refer to Moss's drive as "the greatest road race of all time."

I regard Stirling Moss as the greatest race drive still alive. you can learn more about him and Juan Manuel Fangio (possibly the greatest driver who ever lived, although Tazio Nuvolari might contend for that title) at this link:

http://atlasf1.autosport.com/99/mar17/kalb.html

If you would like to see pix of (in my opinion) the most beautiful car ever made, the 300SL Gullwing in a re-creation of its 1955 Mille style (not the Moss version which was #722 and a roadster, the John Fitch -driven coupe), check this link:

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z...iglia_417.aspx

Oh, and I stumbled over this account of driving a Lotus in the Mille Miglia by Autosport's Gregor Grant. How'd you like to drive in a race with a leaking gas tank right in front of you in the passenger compartment??

http://lotuseleven.org/MilleMiglia.htm