From YouTube description:
"GP Holland 1973.
Roger Williamson crashes hard on lap 8, roll his car and catches fire. Only yards away stood a fire tender, but no order was given to stop the race and its driver refused, perhaps rightly, to drive against the direction of the traffic. Worse, marshals with fire extinguishers merely watched as Purley fought a lone battle to right the upturned March. He could hear Williamson inside it. Roger pleaded with him to get him out. Time and again Purley tried to lift the car, but each time he failed. For two laps - at least 2m 47s -the fire was minimal, but then it grew dramatically in intensity. David tried to fight it after grabbing an extinguisher from one marshal, but by then the fire had too strong a hold. As the marshals still remained immobile, appalled spectators began to try and help, unable to believe what they were seeing. Only then were marshals with police dogs galvanized into action, to keep them back. Finally, in the most callous act of cowardice ever seen in motor racing, they moved at last and tried to drag the desolate Purley away. He shrugged them off angrily. Roger was uninjured in the cockpit, but they left him to die of asphyxiation. When they finally arrived, the fire trucks were far, far too late. David Purley : Through his tears he said, "I just couldn't turn it over. I could see he was alive and I could hear him shouting, but I couldn't get the car over. I was trying to get people to help me, and if I could have turned the car over he would have been alright, we could have got him out." Later, when the immediate grief had receded, he admitted, "I didn't even think about the heroism or any of that rubbish. I just did what comes naturally to a trained soldier who0 sees a fellow in trouble." Ian Philips - journalist and friend : "Purley actually had a conversation with him. David was trying to turn him over and told me afterwards how Roger had said to him, For God's sake, David, get me out of here', and he just couldn't get him out. The circumstances were just appalling. David Purley was later awared the British Imperial George Medal, the second highest (highest being the George Cross) medal that can ever be awarded to a civilian for bravery."
13 Comments
crittttersays...Oh, I'm sure a fuckin' medal made up for everything.
Kevlarsays...Awful. Just awful. I'm normally not one to knock a video like this onto the front page but it's definitely a deserving sift. Thanks for posting it, Nygma.
Enzobluesays...Cowards anger me. Those guys were probably thinking that if they make the slightest attempt to help then they're committed and responsible for the outcome. Fucking sheep. Can't even put aside their fear/selfishness long enough to save a man's life.
Side note: Pathetic that the guy who made this clip felt the need to put it to music.
sepatownsays...Purley is the only one with a race suit and gloves to protect him from the heat remember. i mean, i watch it and wished they'd tried harder, for longer, but it's a few hundred kilo's of burning metal and rubber they're trying to push...without any safety gear.
the fire truck couldn't get there because the race was still going and the race was still going because the stewards made a monumental error in thinking it was only Purley who had crashed (and it was only his car on fire). Williamson and Purley were in the same team and were running together on the track. they failed to notice the other car (Purley's) on the left hand side.
without the fire steward and his truck the only real hope for Williamson was another driver stopping. but none of them knew what was going on. obviously a lot of them have spoken of a deep regret for not doing so.
unfortunately F1 safety in the past worked a little like airline safety in that it takes some horrible event to get things changed/ improved.
one of the other drivers:
Denny Hulme: One of the problems may have been that the drivers were unaware of the seriousness of the accident; I certainly never knew that anyone was still in the burning car until after I had retired in the pits. When I came past the first time I saw the car on fire and David Purley brushing flames off himself and my initial reaction was that he had crashed and had managed to get out of the car OK, but when he was still there struggling two laps later I started to wonder. It never occurred to me that it was his car stopped on the other side of the road. I just presumed that there had been a two-car accident and that David had climbed out of the burning car, Initially the fire was small and the flame was low, blowing sideways as though a petrol line had severed and with the pump still on it was feeding flame out sideways like an acetylene torch. If Purley had had assistance as soon as he arrived, Roger could probably have been rescued. As it turned out, it was a complete disaster. The first truck took some eight minutes to arrive after driving round most of the track while the other truck stood 150 yards away and did nothing. I simply fail to understand it.
RhesusMonksays...Unfuckingbelievable. Sad. Makes me hate people a little bit more.
Trancecoachsays...You mean people DIE when they combust incinerants to fuel a steel box while driving at speeds excessive of 120 MPH?!? My, my -- and I guess next you're gonna tell me that bull riding, supercross, or BASE jumping are dangerous!
No sympathy for the bloke who chooses to drive 200 MPH in a f*&king circle.
sepatownsays...comment downvoted? well excuse me for trying to shed some light on the situation.
BoneyDsays...I fail to see why your comment was downvoted, sepatown. Just because the reasons for the safety team's lack of reaction are not favourable, doesn't make them any less true...
I can see how the confusion occurred there with that explanation. But you would assume a lot was learned from such a heavy toll.
gwiz665says...Heart-wrenching.
*quality *doublepromote *death *music
siftbotsays...Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by gwiz665.
Double-Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Sunday, May 4th, 2008 10:12pm PDT - doublepromote requested by gwiz665.
Adding video to channels (Death, Music) - requested by gwiz665.
PlayhousePalssays...*length=2:23
siftbotsays...The duration of this video has been updated from unknown to 2:23 - length declared by PlayhousePals.
Aziraphalesays...>> ^Trancecoach:
You mean people DIE when they combust incinerants to fuel a steel box while driving at speeds excessive of 120 MPH?!? My, my -- and I guess next you're gonna tell me that bull riding, supercross, or BASE jumping are dangerous!
No sympathy for the bloke who chooses to drive 200 MPH in a f &king circle.
Thats a little harsh don't you think? Disregarding what he was doing or why he was doing it, he still could have been saved with a modicum of effort from a few people. You should at least have sympathy for someone who had to sit there and slowly choke to death while he watched everyone else sit there and watch him die.
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