David Purley

[manchild]

I've never heard about him until today. The guy was F1 driver in the 70s. Not successful, but the video that lead me to his name, shows what kind of sportsman and human being he was.

His attempts to save Roger Williamson left me breathless.

I've never seen it before.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mz3ZzSXyWM[/youtube]

[ringo]

The stewards seem to be accepting of the reality.

[lolzi]

The stewards seem to be accepting of the reality.

That's a bit dark, don't you think?

[Richard]

His experiences tell a powerful story about the sport, even though he wasn't a successful racer. Thank you for reminding us.

From the wiki account of the 1973 Dutch GP ....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Dutch ... Williamson

On the 8th lap of the race, a suspected tyre failure caused Williamson's car to pitch into the barriers at high speed, and be catapulted 300 yards (275 m) across the track, eventually coming to rest upside down against the barriers on the other side. The petrol tank had ignited while being scraped along the track, and the car caught fire. Williamson had not been seriously injured by the impact, but was trapped in the car. The race was not stopped and continued with a local yellow at the scene, a fact which would become significant over the next few minutes.

Fellow driver David Purley almost immediately pulled his car over on the opposite side of the track, then ran across the live racetrack to assist him. Williamson was heard shouting to Purley to get him out of the car as Purley tried in vain to turn the car upright. There appeared to have been ample time to right the car and pull Williamson out, but as desperately as he tried, Purley was unable to do it by himself, and the marshals, who were not wearing flame retardant overalls, were unable to help due to the intense heat.

Race control assumed that it was Purley's car that had crashed and that the driver had escaped unharmed. Many drivers who saw Purley waving them down to stop assumed that he was trying to put a fire out from his own car, after having safely exited it, and thus did not know that a second driver had been involved. As a result the race continued at full pace while Purley desperately tried to save the life of Williamson.

There was only a single fire extinguisher in the area, and it was not enough to put out the fire. With the car still burning upside-down, the situation became hopeless, and the distraught Purley was led away by a marshal. Some spectators, appalled at Williamson's plight, tried to breach the safety fences in order to assist Williamson, but were pushed back by track security staff with dogs.

With the race still on, it took some eight minutes for a fire truck to completely travel around the circuit with the flow of race traffic. By the time the car was eventually righted, and the fire extinguished, Williamson had died of asphyxiation. A blanket was thrown over the burnt-out wreck with Williamson still inside, and the race carried on.

Also, in the 1977 British Grand Prix ...

He survived an estimated 179.8 G's in 1977 when he decelerated from 173 km/h (108 mph) to 0 in a distance of 66 cm (26 inches) after his throttle got stuck wide open and he hit a wall.

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

[audifan]

dave was awarded the highest bravery award available to civilians in the UK ...easy to see why
unfortunately he was killed in a sports aerobatics flying accident a few years after his F1 career

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

My god, what a selfless act of compassion. I'm near tearful watching something as distraught as this, the best and worst of F1 life captured in a tragic moment. The Marshals ought to be ashamed, not a single attempt to help him.
His despair at the end is clear to see, and for very good reason. He was the only man at the race that day.

A giant of a man.

Thank you Manchild.

[Just_a_fan]

@JET,

In fairness to the marshalls, they were not equipped to help. One fire extinguisher was never going to be enough to put out the fire and the marshalls were not wearing suitable clothing to go near the flaming wreck. Anyone who tried was likely to end up seriously injured and the trapped driver would still have died. What was needed was two or three other drivers to stop and help but they apparently did not know what was happening. Of course, a red flag should have been thrown to stop the race but they were different times with much lower safety and organisational standards than we have now. It was a time when drivers died regularly. Thankfully we don't have to live with that sort thing these days.

The saddest thing is that the trapped driver was apparently pleading to be helped. What a horrible way to die. Truely horrible.

[RH1300S]

When I was a youngster I used to hitch-hike down to Thruxton to watch the car races (different times.....).

I found some old photos last year - they were of David Purley in a LEC F5000 in the 1976 Shellsport. At the time I had no idea who he was.

I have read 'The Lost Generation' by D Tremayne - the stories are tragic and Roger Williamson's was horrifying. The team was given the car back after the fire and had to clean the remains out - it seems brutal.

David Purley had a heck of a life - he was also a Para in the British Army and survived a parachute failure (I believe descending on top of another canopy!).

[marcush.]

all that was needed was one concerted push to tip over the car ....well possible for the people present at the place.But hindsight is what it is ...you just cannot prepare for something like this AND be a racedriver .

[Mystery Steve]

I saw that video a couple years ago, but it's nice to see it again and be reminded of people like that. I realize that it was a different era and safety wasn't held in the same regard that it is today, but why weren't the marshals equipped with flame retardant clothing, at the very least. It's not like this was the first race car to ever catch on fire. I can understand the fire truck taking time to get there; those things aren't cheap and they are needed for civilian use as well. Of course this is in retrospect, but a firesuit seems like such a simple piece of equipment to be overlooked. I guess I can see the macho attitude of the drivers not wanting the modern safety features like track runoffs, but was it really a macho thing to not be prepared to help someone who is on fire?

[Just_a_fan]

@Mystery Steve
You forget that this was at a time before even road car seat belts were compulsory in most of Europe / US etc. It was a different time with different attitudes. Marshalls were not the highly trained and equipped group that they are today.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Just_a_fan


The standards may have been different, but compassion is not a thing that comes and goes from era to era, its ingrained. There were three men standing there. If all three ran and pushed the car over with their shoulders as Purley did, it would have given the man a chance.

Lauda was on fire for around 2 mins...He survived.

Very sad to watch.

[mep]

There are a couple of other incidents like this floating around on youtube.
F1 can be a very sad sport. It can be very emotional in many ways.

[andrew]

[...] They just stood there like a bunch of frozen farts. Truly shocking. Purley looks completely distraught.

I wonder if any of the current cro of drivers would do anything like that? I know one of them did in a test a few years back.

[donskar]

Roger Williamson was a potentially great talent. One description of his death and lying in state brought me to uncontrollable tears. (Anyone have it -- possibly Motorsport?)

Purley was brave, colorful, and competed in F1 on a shoestring -- for love of the sport. That there are no longer any like him says a lot about F1. The sport has grown in many ways, but not without cost.