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Ferrari sportcar great and four times winner of the Le Mans 24 hours, Olivier Gendebien flips his Cooper T51 during practice for the American GP in 1960.

Oliver competed in fifteen GP with best results of 2nd and 3rd. He drove a non-works Ferrari 'sharknose' to 4th place at the Belgium GP in 1961. He won the Targa Florio three times, the 12 Hours of Sebring three times and the Reims 12 Hour race twice.

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An off in practice for Vittorio Brambilla the 'Monza Gorilla' at the French GP 1974 in a March.

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Lucky spectator cheats death during European rally crash.

[AlvinKarpis]

Old rare black and white filmed crashes

A lot of fatals are included

[AlvinKarpis]

Havoc

This was on an old VHS tape my dad and I watched all the time

Its what got me hooked as a kid

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I've got two sets of awesome pictures that I will post tomorrow as I'm off out now....believe me they are amazing, particulary one set....totally knockout.

[InbredMidget]

How good would it be if Webber and Vettel died a slow fiery death.

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This is the first of two sets of photos both from the Zandvoort track, the first during the Dutch GP of 1970 and the fatal crash of Englishman Piers Courage.

On lap 23 Piers, racing a Frank Williams prepared DeTomaso - Ford Cosworth DFV, left the track at the high speed right hander before the East Tunnel. The car went through one layer of the catch fencing and rolled down the inclined bank, coming to a stop at the edge of the track. Before the car had stopped it was engulfed in flames, a thick sheet of black smoke pouring into the sky and grass nearby catching fire.

It seems highly likely that the cause of this terrible accident could well have been a punture. Jack Brabham had a crash in a very similar area of the track in private testing prior to the race due to a punture, turning the car over and being trapped for sometime in the car while petrol poured down over him but thankfully did not ignite. Pedro Rodriguez also had a punture induced crash in the build up to the race. Jackie Stewart believed Piers may have lost control over a bump on the track, but none of the spectators in the area were able to give any details of the accident as it seems to have happened so quickly.

Piers helmet was found near to the crash site with a tyre mark on it and a sliver of scalp inside. At least the driver would have almost certainly been killed by this impact and not the terrible fire.

These sad photos have just surfaced recently and show poor Courage sat in what is left of his DeTomaso. This would have been at least 5 - 10 minutes after the initial inferno as you can see the car has basically burnt away. There is a little body work and suspension still left with the engine in front of him. The chassis had come away from the engine during the crash and left the driver sitting facing the Cosworth DFV.

The chassis contained magnesium and due to this was very difficult for the track workers to fully extinguish. After dousing the flames they started to throw earth onto the wreck before covering it with some sort of sheeting and then covering this with more earth. Piers body was left there until after the race, and when all of the spectators had left he was removed.

Courage's close friend Jochen Rindt stopped at the scene of the crash on the slowing down lap, after winning the race, to see if his friend had got out. His pained expression on the victory podium showed his real emotions on what should have been a day of celebration.

Piers body was brought back to England and buried at St. Mary the Virgin Church in Shenfield. He left behind his wife, Sally and his two young sons.

Piers was only 28 when he died and appeared to have a big future in F1. He had finished second twice during 1969 in a private Brabham and Ferrari had wanted him for 1970.

A tragic end to a young and very skillful driver.

( Evers, Joost / Anefo)

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This second set, three years later at the Dutch GP 1973 and Roger Williamson crashes his privately entered March at the same corner as Piers Courage three years earlier.

The car suffered a front end punture causing the car to run wide into the barrier which was not correctly installed and bent over sending Williamson's March onto its side and stopping close to the inside of the next corner, already on fire.

Dave Purley who was close behind stopped but was unable to put out the fire with the single small fire extingisher he was given or roll the car over. None of the marshalls were wearing fire proof clothing and the heat from the fire was intense. Roger was alive and conscious in the up-turned car....he was overcome by the fumes and was dead by the time a fire truck arrived at the scene.

These photos may have been posted before, but I haven't seen this quality. Very sad images of a wasted talent in a situation where he should never have lost his life.

( Evers, Joost / Anefo)

[ro4eva]

When Ayrton Senna died, that was a bummer.