[The Dark]

Quick info on Martin Brundle. Currently working for the satellite channel Sky Sports F1 as their F1 co-commentator, a role he fulfilled both on the BBC and from 1997 on ITV (general commercial channel). As has been featured here before, Brundle made his F1 debut in 1984, he had a couple of massive smashes, the flip at Monaco is well known, his ankle shattering crash at Dallas later that year is less well covered.

Brundle paid tribute to the recently departed Sid Watkins - head of the F1 safety team - for not allowing the doctors in the Dallas hospital to amputate his feet, and ensuring he could play soccer with his son. This year they ran the Le Mans 24 hours race as a father/son team.

Notable for the many broadcasting awards he's won in his 2nd career as well as the much copied "Grid Walk", he's got a huge list of comedy comments. There is even a website dedicated to it: www.brundlequotes.com

My personal faves?
Interviewing Kimi Raikkonen live on the grid in Brazil.. "Kimi, you weren't here for the presentation to Michael (Schumacher, who was retiring after that race)?
KR "No, I was having a shit!"
MB "Thanks for that, well it's less weight in the car!"

Or his shout out to Bernie Ecclestone in Canada as corner workers frantically tried to repair a disintegrating track. "Bernie, we've got some pikeys doing a driveway down the road, can they get it done?"

A top man, unlucky driver who excelled in Sports Cars and could - with a touch of luck - topped off his career with a win or 2.

[windowlicker]

The Belgium GP 1960 at Spa has gone down in history as one of the most tragic Championship Grand Prix ever. By the end of the race two drivers were dead and two seriously injured.

The first incident took place on Saturday when Stirling Moss lost a wheel from his Lotus at Burneville, the car went into a violent spin, hit a bank and threw Striling out of the car sustaining serious leg, nose and back injuries. Stirling was lying in the dirt unable to see or breath properly when other drivers stopped to help.

This is what Moss said about the crash, "I was holding the car in a sweeping right hand bend when the left wheel snapped off. I did the only thing possible under the circumstances. With the wheel gone the rear of the car slid out left, I threw the steering hard to correct, and stood on the brakes. I reckon I took 50mph off the top. I remember looking back and seeing that the wheel wasn't there anymore. The car spun I think twice and hit the embankment backwards. I think my neck snapped back and that knocked me out."

Bruce McLaren was following Moss, "It hit the left side of the road, rocketed across to the right and bounced wildly in the air. I had the brakes on hard and slid to a stop as the Lotus came to a rest. I raced back to the wrecked car and to my amazement it was empty!"

One of the drivers to stop was Mike Taylor who was driving another privately entered Lotus. He was dispatched to get medical help for Stirling. Unbeknown to every one at the scene he would never make it, he had a huge crash at La' Carriere corner when something broke on the car.

Innes Ireland the lead works Lotus driver said afterwards of this incident, "Instead of taking the right hand curve, he just went sailing straight on. How he was not killed, I can't imagine. The car went across a damned great ditch, shot in the air, hit a tree which was completely uprooted and finished smack into another tree. When I visited him later in hospital he said, 'the steering broke, I turned the wheel and nothing happened.' The steering column had sheered off."

Taylor later successfully sued Lotus for damages, but never raced again.

But worse was to follow on race day....

On the 19th lap Ferrari driver Willy Mairesse and young British racer Chris Bristow in the Yeoman Credit Cooper were involved in a huge scrap for 6th when Chris found himself off line for the Burnenville corner and lost control. At the edge of the track was a fence around three foot high. The nose of the car stuck an upright, dropping the rail to the level of the Cooper's windshield. It pierced Bristow's windshield, then his throat, and then tore off his head.

Jim Clark was close behind and was the first to drive through this horrific scene. "A marshall bent down and grabbed this thing by the side of the road. It looked just like a ragdoll. It was horrible and I'll never forget the sight of this mangled body being dragged to the side. I was almost sick on the spot. I remember at the end of the race finding that my car was splattered with blood."

But the destuction was not over yet. On lap 24 Alan Stacey lost control of his Lotus at Malmedy. The car hit a bank, overturned and caught fire. Stacey was thrown out and killed. A rumour started that a bird had hit Alan in the face and knocked him out but writer and jounalist of the time, Robert Daley wrote, "The crash was a mystery, there had been no other car near him and he had not been driving particularly hard. His body was found in the road badly burned, and disarticulated too. The car finished up in a field 10 feet below the level of the road, having climbed a four foot embankment and penetrated a patch of sturdy bushes ten foot thick."

He states it was the Lotus designer and builder, Colin Chapman who had put out the idea that a bird had hit Stacey. Perhaps the real reason was that a fuel tank split and the car erupted in flames and this is why Alan crashed and why he was so badly burnt. Chapman's cars already had a reputation as being frail and now in one weekend a driver was dead and two other badly injured racing his cars....

Photos 1 & 2 show the Stirling Moss crash on Saturday.

3. The wrecked Lotus of Mike Taylor on the same day.

Photos 4 - 6 Chris Bristow, the first two of him in action, the last one the only photo I've seen of the crash scene on race day.

Photos 5 - 6 Alan Stacey, one in action at Spa, the second the only photo I've seen of the crash scene on race day.

[The Dark]

Immense info on Spa 1960 WL, the info on all 3 incidents is far beyond other sites that have discussed it.

The Stacey crash is always blamed on a bird, I've never heard or seen anything relating to a fire so that's a great bit of info. More interesting info is he actually had a false leg, there's a great story of his driving friends confusing the medical doctor who was supposed to check!

Bristow was allegedly an accident waiting to happen, but it was a very gruesome death. Jim Clark was brilliant at Spa (as at most tracks to be fair) but after witnessing that he hated the track with a passion.

Wouldn't be the last time a Chapman built Lotus had a failure that led to the death of a driver either.

[windowlicker]

Three of the top Grand Prix drivers of the day Campari, Borzacchini and Czaykowski all crashed fatally at the Italian GP at Monza in 1933.

The race was over three heats and within a few hours of each other at almost the same place in the South Curve Giuseppe Campari, Mario-Umberto Borzacchini, and finally Count Stanisłas Czaykowski, winner of the heat 1 race were all dead.

On the back straight on the first lap Campari had passed Borzacchini for the lead. Coming down to the South Curve Campari's Alfa had started to slide, possibly because of oil left on the track from the earlier heat. His left wheel had gone over the wall on the banking and the car had run along the wall for some hundred meters before leaving the track and overturning. Campari was killed immediately, crushed under the car. Behind Campari there was chaos as the other drivers tried avoid him. Three of the cars followed Campari off the track and rolled. Barbieri and Castelbarco were unhurt but Borzacchini had no chance, thrown from his Maserati and found on the ground with a broken back.

Then came the final, on lap nine another accident that defined the day as 'Black Sunday'. Czaikowski's Bugatti ran wide in the South Curve, again the left wheels going over the banking, the car rolling over the edge and landing upside down erupting in flames with the driver trapped under the car...

[AlvinKarpis]

Time to get some classic crash pictures going

Mike Parkes 1967 Belgian Grand Prix

[windowlicker]

Monza was a very dangerous place to race it seems, here are two more fatal crashes.

The first is Monza 1938 Aldo Marazza in a Maserati 4CS overturned the car in the Lesmo curve and crashed into the woods. Marazza had a lung pierced on a branch of a tree. He died later that day.

The second is Monza 1923 and driver Ugo Sivocci in his Alfa Romeo P1 who flipped the car over in testing.

[windowlicker]

It's Monza again but this crash during the 1928 Italian GP resulted in the greatest loss of life during any Grand Prix and second only to the 1955 Le Mans race for fatalities during a motor race.

On the 17th lap Emilio Materassi lost control of his Talbot 700 when he tried to overtake Giulio Foresti’s Bugatti T35C on the main straight at over 200 kmh. The Talbot swerved to the left, jumped over a three meter deep and four meter wide protection ditch through a fence and crashed into the packed grandstand.

Materassi was killed instantly along with at least twenty spectators and a large number of people were injured. A number of the badly injured died later and as many as 27 people are said to have perished.

These are some of Emilio Materassi's biggest victories,

Coppa Perugina : 1924, 1926, 1927
Grand Prix of Mugello : 1925, 1926, 1928
Coppa Montenero : 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928
Tripoli Grand Prix : 1927
Targa Florio : 1927
Bologna Grand Prix : 1927
San Sebastian Grand Prix : 1927

[windowlicker]

On April 15th 1928 Pietro Bordino racing a Bugatti T35C, hit a dog practicing for the Targa Floria at the Alessandria Circuit. The impact broke the steering and the car crashed into a river, the greatest driver of the time was thrown from the car and due to being either unconscious or badly injured he drowned.

From Les Sports (Belgian newspaper, Tuesday 17 April 1928):
"Bordino was killed in an accident on Sunday afternoon when he tried his Bugatti on the Alessandria Circuit. He had to take part in a GP race on this circuit next Sunday. He drove at high speed when he bumped into a dog and left the road. He tried desperately to straighten up his car but the Bugatti crashed into a ravine. Bordino, thrown out the car was killed outright. His rider-mechanic, Giovanni Lasagne, remained in the car he had a fractured skull and died from his injuries shortly afterwards. Bordino was one of the best Italian drivers..."

Bordino had won the 1922 French GP and raced in the US finishing 10th at the 1925 Indy 500.

[thissmallfish]

Thanks for putting together this thread guys, really interesting collection. Bit of trivia... anyone know the circuit with the most World Championship fatalities?






















Indianapolis.

[windowlicker]

These photo's show the fatal crash between Eddie O'Donnell in a Duesenberg and Gaston Chevrolet in a Monroe-Frontenac at the last race of the 1920 season at the board track at the Beverly Hills Speedway.

Although he perished in this crash Gaston had enough points to be crowned the AAA National Champion, he had also won the Indy 500 that year as well.

Eddie O'Donnell was a works Duesenberg driver, he raced at Indy on three occasions with a best finish of 5th in 1915. Eddie and his riding mechanic, Lyall Jolls also perished in the crash.