For F1 fans

[codprawn]

Don't know if I should post this as it's so tragic but I know there are quite a few motorsports fans on here. I wasn't familiar with this story - before my time of watching F1. What a hero Purely was - awarded the Geroge Medal - quite rightly. It was events such as this that have made F1 so safe(and boring) today but after seeing this I will stick with boring!!!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williamson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Purley

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=523_1180288285

[AndyB007]

Curious as to why you're posting this now?

I watched this live at the time - very sad and you felt for David Purley's desperation. I also happened to be at Silverstone at Becketts when Purley crash his LEC pretty well head on into the barriers (throttle stuck wide open after an earlier engine fire). It took them a long time to get him out of the car. Thankfully he survived but never raced again.

Andy

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by AndyB007

Curious as to why you're posting this now?

I watched this live at the time - very sad and you felt for David Purley's desperation. I also happened to be at Silverstone at Becketts when Purley crash his LEC pretty well head on into the barriers (throttle stuck wide open after an earlier engine fire). It took them a long time to get him out of the car. Thankfully he survived but never raced again.

Andy

Just happened to come across it - I thought I was pretty clued up on F1 but didn't know about this - knew about Lauda's crash etc. Just felt that younger people should know about such a tragic event.

Purley may have survived that crash but he died in 1985 in a Pitts Special which crashed into the sea. He was only about 40!!!

[AndyB007]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Just felt that younger people should know about such a tragic event.

Unfortunatley there are quite a few such events of that time that people forget about with the modern era of safety (witness Kubica's accident in Canada last week). To name a few: -

Tom Pryce, 1977 South African Grand Prix (hit a marshall crossing the track)
Ronnie Peterson, 1978 Italian Grand Prix (hit the barriers head on in a startline accident)
Gilles Villeneuve, 1982 Belgian Grand Prix (hit a slow moving car during qualifying)
Ricardo Paletti, 1982 Canadian Grand Prix (hit the back of a stalled car at the start)

If you have an interest in the sport, or just a morbid curiosity, there are a few videos you can download at http://www.formula1news.it/dati/video.htm. Please don't view these if such graphic events will upset you.

Andy

[codprawn]

Yes I remember those ones. Also heard about many of the older accidents.

What amazes me is that the old cars as far back as the 1930s were hitting as much as 195mph!!! Obviously a lot slower around corners though. Wht's really scary is the way the drivers used to sit with their heads about 12" above the top of the car - with no roll over bars!!!

[Phil Chitty]

Here's the pics of Williamson's crash and Purley's actions.

Happy to agree with you Codders. Looking at this, boring is just fine by me.

http://www.planet-cutie.co.uk/zandvoort/