[windowlicker]

This is the accident that killed Group B rallying.

Joaquim Santos and co-driver Miguel Oliveira left the road on the first stage of the 1986 Rallye de Portugal ploughing into the crowd, killing three and injuring dozens more.

This rally always had a very bad reputation for crowd control with hundreds of spectators lining the route just inches away from the cars and sometimes running out in front of them.

Santos had lost control of his works entered Ford RS200 when driving flat-out over a crest and suddenly finding spectators across the road. A hundred metres further on he was still off line for a left hander and the car spun off into the crowd on the right. The organiser's did not stop the stage straight away and rally cars were still going through the stage. Some drivers simply cruised through the stage when they saw the hellish aftermath others were attacked by the crowd as they past the site unaware of the disaster, spectators believing the drivers were unconcerned.

All of the works cars withdrew and Group B was banned for 1987, replaced by Group A cars.

[windowlicker]

More Group B mayhem, this time 1981 World Champion Ari Vatanen's crash at the 1985 Rally Argentina in a Peugeot 205 T16.

The car destroyed itself barrel-rolling into a ball of metal, Ari's seat come adrift and he was thrown around which inflicted terrible injuries. Ari was in hospital for eighteen months making a recovery and battling depression.

He made a comeback in 1987 and would finish on the podium a number of times, but not win another World Championship Rally. He did win the Paris-Dakar Rally four times and the Pikes Peak Rally.

[AlvinKarpis]

Art Pollard alternate angle with some additional rescue footage

[The Dark]

You know Pollard had massive head & neck injuries, plus a degree of burns on him. However, he certainly won't have been helped by the dousing in extinguisher compound.......

Leads me nicely to tie in with the death of Elio De Angelis in F1 testing at Paul Ricard circuit in France in 1986. After a rear wing failure his car somersaulted off the track, trapped upside down and with the car on fire. Other drivers pulled over to try to turn it back over, the marshals....most of them wearing shorts sprayed the car with fire extinguishers and removed him from the car.

De Angelis' only injury from the crash was a broken collar bone. He died from brain damage caused by lack of oxygen as he was deprived of oxygen just like the fire. Many of those present were dismayed by the attitude taken by the marshals and track officials that day.

Many rules about F1 testing were changed as a result of this crash, a bit like Depailler's in 1980 I can't help feeling racing lost a good man unnecessarily.

[DVEEUS]

Originally Posted by AlvinKarpis ↗

Art Pollard alternate angle with some additional rescue footage

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[windowlicker]

Jonathan Palmer's huge crash during practice for the 1990 Le Mans 24 hour race.

Jonathan competed in 81 F1 races from 1983 to 1989, scoring 15 points with a best result of 4th. He was the 1981 Marlboro F3 Champion and the 1983 European Formula Two Champion.

[AlvinKarpis]

Here are the awesome Art Pollard pictures that windowlicker posted a couple pages back

The only difference is that I enlarged them to a close up view of Pollard inside his car as well as the damage to the car itself

This was a violent crash, whenever I watch the video I always cringe at the severe whiplash that you see to Pollards upper body

I have read and heard that Pollard was such an outgoing stand up guy that every driver he raced against loved him and said he was so nice that it made it hard to want to beat him

Sounds like my kind of guy

RIP Art

[windowlicker]

Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jaussaud launches his Tecno 68 during a seven car pile-up at the 1968 Gran Premio della Lotteria di Monza F2 race.

Jean-Pierre won the 1970 French F3 Championship and raced in F2 on and off. He gave up on single seaters in 1975 and went Sportcar racing, winning the Le-Mans 24 hour race in 1978 and '80 in a Renault. He also tested Renault's F1 car.

[windowlicker]

Danny Ongais and Ed Pimm crash during the 1987 CART race at Michigan. Pimm suffered an arm injury while Danny walked away from his wreck.

Pimm raced in CART from 1984 to 1988, with 42 starts, he had 12 top 10 finishes and a best result of 3rd in '85. He also took part in 5 NASCAR races.

Ongias took part in four GP's in 1977 - '78, with a best finish of 7th at the Canadian GP in '77. He raced in CART and then Indy Racing League, his best finish being two 3rd places. His best result at Indy was 4th in 1980. In 1963 and '64 Ongais had won the American Hot Rod Association AA Gas Dragster Championship and in 1965 he added the National Hot Rod Association AA Dragster championship title.

[windowlicker]

Gary Hocking was the 350cc and 500cc World Road Racing Motorcycle Champion of 1961. He had been one of the top riders of the late 50's winning eight races in the biggest class in just over one season, He also won races in the 250cc class.

So at the top of his game Gary decided to turn his back on motorcycle racing as he was deeply affected by the death of his friend, Tom Phillis at the 1962 Isle of Man TT. He felt motor racing in single seaters was safer and joined the Rob Walker run F1 team, basically taking over from Stirling Moss who had been seriously injured in a pre-season race.

Walker tested Gary and felt he was a natural and would make the same sort of impact in F1 that multiple 500cc Champion, John Surtees had made in 1960. It appeared that race wins and possibly championships would follow.

Tragically this was not to be after he was killed during practice for the pre-season non-championship 1962 Natal Grand Prix in a Lotus 24. The car failed to make a fast turn and flipped after hitting a ditch. There had been no attempt at all to slow for the corner and there has been speculation that the driver may have blacked out, but as we know well from past posts, Lotus cars were not always the most reliable.

Gary Hocking is one of the sports 'might have beens', it does seem he was very quick, but he never started a Championship F1 race and most people are not aware of him.