Roger Williamson
Discussion
I have just bought the book called the lost generation about Roger Williamson,Tom Pryce and Tony Brise. I thought I would have a look at what is said about them on the web, so I firstly typed in Roger Williamson into google. On you tube they have the horrific accident at Zandervoort with a background song everybody hurts by REM.
I actually had tears in my eyes.
If you read the book you will also see how pathetic the organisation was. The armco was not concreted in. the race was not stopped because there was no radio link to the control tower but you will see in the video that there is a bloke in a coat with a fur collar with a radio. The fire marshal at that area was on the bank watching the race. The first fire tender was ill equipped and to top it all the police stopped any help from the other side of the fence to get the car up righted.
Poor David Purley flogging a dead horse trying to turn the car over with no help
Have a watch its so so sad. He was 25 when he died.
Just one other thing that I read which was heart warming and I am sure some on here will relate to. There was a certain corner at the bottom of a hill at some race track which alludes me at the moment. Anyway when the F1 cars drove through they balanced and feathered the throttle, Roger had a "crap" car as he put it which was 2 seconds a lap shy of the front runners. He remembered his dad telling him that when he was a paratrooper in the war before jumping out of the plane to get a bit more adrenaline he used to scream just before jumping out. Roger went through this complex full throttle screaming his head off in his helmet and pulled 3 seconds a lap on the leaders. Can you imagine the drivers today doing that with the radio links.
Thy had bo
ocks them days which often leads me to believe how would toady's drivers cope with a car the is capable of 180mph and no security around you, makes you wonder..
I actually had tears in my eyes.
If you read the book you will also see how pathetic the organisation was. The armco was not concreted in. the race was not stopped because there was no radio link to the control tower but you will see in the video that there is a bloke in a coat with a fur collar with a radio. The fire marshal at that area was on the bank watching the race. The first fire tender was ill equipped and to top it all the police stopped any help from the other side of the fence to get the car up righted.
Poor David Purley flogging a dead horse trying to turn the car over with no help
Have a watch its so so sad. He was 25 when he died.
Just one other thing that I read which was heart warming and I am sure some on here will relate to. There was a certain corner at the bottom of a hill at some race track which alludes me at the moment. Anyway when the F1 cars drove through they balanced and feathered the throttle, Roger had a "crap" car as he put it which was 2 seconds a lap shy of the front runners. He remembered his dad telling him that when he was a paratrooper in the war before jumping out of the plane to get a bit more adrenaline he used to scream just before jumping out. Roger went through this complex full throttle screaming his head off in his helmet and pulled 3 seconds a lap on the leaders. Can you imagine the drivers today doing that with the radio links.
Thy had bo
ocks them days which often leads me to believe how would toady's drivers cope with a car the is capable of 180mph and no security around you, makes you wonder.. Edited by YI8TVR on Saturday 5th January 21:45
I think it would be a poor epitaph to these great racers if safety hadn't been up graded at circuits. I'm sure that the sport couldn't survive the losses endured in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
In their day of course, the risks you didn't consider because we knew little better. But people like Stewart did ask 'Are you mad ...?' only to have people like Jenkinson ask whether he was a fairy?
In their day of course, the risks you didn't consider because we knew little better. But people like Stewart did ask 'Are you mad ...?' only to have people like Jenkinson ask whether he was a fairy?
trackcar said:
wasnt dave purley awarded the george cross and died in ahelicopter crash many years later? I have seen that purley/williamson footage many times and it's genuinely frightening .. the guy was still alive in the car gradually burning to death was he not?
I think Julian he took up that red bull type flying after he retired and that's what killed him. If memory serves me right he also escaped death at Silverstone hitting a wall at 130ish mph putting a mind blowing 150g on him I do believe racing drivers brains are wired different to the general public, absolutely no fear with computer speed reactions
Ah yes it might have been a plane not a helicopter .. is the red bull stuff plane racing or acrobatics or something? I guess he was looking for his next fix after giving up car racing? My favourite tutor at college was a big dave purley fan, I'm trying to remember some of the stories he told us in class but alas my memory is rubbish.
trackcar said:
wasnt dave purley awarded the george cross and died in ahelicopter crash many years later? I have seen that purley/williamson footage many times and it's genuinely frightening .. the guy was still alive in the car gradually burning to death was he not?
I have read that the smoke and fumes got to him first...still not pleasant but better than the alternative IMHO.YI8TVR said:
I have just bought the book called the lost generation about Roger Williamson,Tom Pryce and Tony Brise. I thought I would have a look at what is said about them on the web, so I firstly typed in Roger Williamson into google. On you tube they have the horrific accident at Zandervoort with a background song everybody hurts by REM.
I actually had tears in my eyes.
If you read the book you will also see how pathetic the organisation was. The armco was not concreted in. the race was not stopped because there was no radio link to the control tower but you will see in the video that there is a bloke in a coat with a fur collar with a radio. The fire marshal at that area was on the bank watching the race. The first fire tender was ill equipped and to top it all the police stopped any help from the other side of the fence to get the car up righted.
Poor David Purley flogging a dead horse trying to turn the car over with no help
Have a watch its so so sad. He was 25 when he died.
Just one other thing that I read which was heart warming and I am sure some on here will relate to. There was a certain corner at the bottom of a hill at some race track which alludes me at the moment. Anyway when the F1 cars drove through they balanced and feathered the throttle, Roger had a "crap" car as he put it which was 2 seconds a lap shy of the front runners. He remembered his dad telling him that when he was a paratrooper in the war before jumping out of the plane to get a bit more adrenaline he used to scream just before jumping out. Roger went through this complex full throttle screaming his head off in his helmet and pulled 3 seconds a lap on the leaders. Can you imagine the drivers today doing that with the radio links.
Thy had boocks them days which often leads me to believe how would toady's drivers cope with a car the is capable of 180mph and no security around you, makes you wonder..
Mark, during the footage i was the same, stunned & saddened as well.I actually had tears in my eyes.
If you read the book you will also see how pathetic the organisation was. The armco was not concreted in. the race was not stopped because there was no radio link to the control tower but you will see in the video that there is a bloke in a coat with a fur collar with a radio. The fire marshal at that area was on the bank watching the race. The first fire tender was ill equipped and to top it all the police stopped any help from the other side of the fence to get the car up righted.
Poor David Purley flogging a dead horse trying to turn the car over with no help
Have a watch its so so sad. He was 25 when he died.
Just one other thing that I read which was heart warming and I am sure some on here will relate to. There was a certain corner at the bottom of a hill at some race track which alludes me at the moment. Anyway when the F1 cars drove through they balanced and feathered the throttle, Roger had a "crap" car as he put it which was 2 seconds a lap shy of the front runners. He remembered his dad telling him that when he was a paratrooper in the war before jumping out of the plane to get a bit more adrenaline he used to scream just before jumping out. Roger went through this complex full throttle screaming his head off in his helmet and pulled 3 seconds a lap on the leaders. Can you imagine the drivers today doing that with the radio links.
Thy had bo
ocks them days which often leads me to believe how would toady's drivers cope with a car the is capable of 180mph and no security around you, makes you wonder.. Edited by YI8TVR on Saturday 5th January 21:45
Them drivers were incredibly brave beyond beliefe, there cannot have been an hour or even a minute were David Purley after the crash didn't have Roger in his thoughts. Forever.
Did David Purley ever race again?
I visited my cousin in Australia a couple of months back and I haven't seen him since he went back there 20 years ago, he originally lived in Bognor and did his apprenticeship with LEC refrigeration, while I was there he was telling me about what a laugh it was and how he used to spend most of his time in the factory with David Purley helping him with his racing cars. He said he was a really nice bloke. I remember when he died as it was in the sea just between Pagham and Bognor near where my grandparents lived.
Just to clean this thread up. I watched Tom Pryce win in F.Vee, F3, put an F1 car on pole at Silverstone and even drive a Stratos over the Eppynt stages with Dave Richards as a co-driver. I watched him win the ROC at Brands and, as a fellow Welshman, still feel immensely proud of his achievements. He is buried just up the road from me at Otford in Kent and I still place flowers on his grave when I pass by.
The footage of Roger Williamson's accident still haunts, make no mistake, he was relatively uninjured by his accident at Zandvoort but he was asphyxiated by smoke and flames as was Elio de Angelis at Paul Ricard a couple of decades later, his other injuries amounting to a fractured clavicle.
It was David Purley himself, an ex paratrooper, who used to scream into his helmet as he drove his F2 car down the daunting series of curves leading to the Nouveau Monde hairpin at Rouen. He had an active F1 career after the Zandvoort incident and then survived an horrendous shunt at Silverstone when his LEC F1 car left the circuit and embedded itself into Northamptonshire at unabated pace. Sadly, it was not too long later that he died, not in a helicopter crash, but spinning out of the sky in his beloved Pitts Special aerobatic plane.
Of such stuff is heroes made.
The footage of Roger Williamson's accident still haunts, make no mistake, he was relatively uninjured by his accident at Zandvoort but he was asphyxiated by smoke and flames as was Elio de Angelis at Paul Ricard a couple of decades later, his other injuries amounting to a fractured clavicle.
It was David Purley himself, an ex paratrooper, who used to scream into his helmet as he drove his F2 car down the daunting series of curves leading to the Nouveau Monde hairpin at Rouen. He had an active F1 career after the Zandvoort incident and then survived an horrendous shunt at Silverstone when his LEC F1 car left the circuit and embedded itself into Northamptonshire at unabated pace. Sadly, it was not too long later that he died, not in a helicopter crash, but spinning out of the sky in his beloved Pitts Special aerobatic plane.
Of such stuff is heroes made.
David Purley was, I am proud to say, a dear friend of mine and my best man at my wedding.
He was also the funniest and kindest person one could hope to meet. He was horrifically hurt at Silverstone but he was always absolutely positive about life and never complained.
He was one of those people I fear that was never due to grow old. Always up for fun, Destiny had him marked. And if he's reading this up on high, the fox fur stole still has the shotgun pellets from that New Years Eve party at the Old House At Home!! Mad bugger!!
He was also the funniest and kindest person one could hope to meet. He was horrifically hurt at Silverstone but he was always absolutely positive about life and never complained.
He was one of those people I fear that was never due to grow old. Always up for fun, Destiny had him marked. And if he's reading this up on high, the fox fur stole still has the shotgun pellets from that New Years Eve party at the Old House At Home!! Mad bugger!!
CivicMan said:
David Purley was, I am proud to say, a dear friend of mine and my best man at my wedding.
He was also the funniest and kindest person one could hope to meet. He was horrifically hurt at Silverstone but he was always absolutely positive about life and never complained.
He was one of those people I fear that was never due to grow old. Always up for fun, Destiny had him marked. And if he's reading this up on high, the fox fur stole still has the shotgun pellets from that New Years Eve party at the Old House At Home!! Mad bugger!!
Proud indeed! God bless you both.He was also the funniest and kindest person one could hope to meet. He was horrifically hurt at Silverstone but he was always absolutely positive about life and never complained.
He was one of those people I fear that was never due to grow old. Always up for fun, Destiny had him marked. And if he's reading this up on high, the fox fur stole still has the shotgun pellets from that New Years Eve party at the Old House At Home!! Mad bugger!!
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