[fortythree]

Originally Posted by Norwegian1 ↗

wow, how is it even possible to survive something like that? 178 G is 59 times the g-force during main engine ignition during a space shuttle launch...

The wrecked tub of David Purleys Lec used to and possibly still does reside in the Donnington Park gp museum and fascinated me as a kid. Really worth a visit.

[fortythree]

It was Skimps crash i'm sure. Haven't seen the pics for 30 years and the mind plays tricks. I think the tail of his car must have looked vaguely porsche like to me as a kid. Great thread, lovely to see this stuff from some hardcore retro-crash afficionados.

[Buford61]

Scrapbook 18 - includes the original misidentified photo of MacDonald identified as Sachs that has carried through for fifty years.

[fortythree]

I've often wondered about Swedes death, or rather his survival after such a huge crash. No doubt that the awesome Indy incident crews kept him alive on the day. But the speedway was under a lot of pressure in the wake of the tragic 73 race. I suspect Swede died as direct result of his injuries, not some medical mishap.

[fortythree]

That's reference to page 71 btw, and Johncocks comments.

[Jeremy.ryan2009]

Good shit.

[windowlicker]

Originally Posted by windowlicker ↗

'Wild' Willy Mairesse, the pint sized Belgian Ferrari driver.

He had the reputation of being accident prone but he was also a successful driver, racing eveything he could get hold of, as was the way in the 1950's and '60's.

He took part in twelve F1 races scoring seven points, finishing an excellent third in only his third GP start, at Monza 1960 in a Ferrari and fourth in 1962. He won two Tour de France races, was runner-up at Le Mans 1961, third in the 1965 race, won the Targa Florio twice, also the Spa 500 km in 1965 and F1 non-championship races at Brussels and Naples in 1962. Enzo Ferrari's musical chairs approach to driver choice never seemed to get the best out of Willy and may have been a reason for the 'over driving' at times. The huge crash in the last post, at the German GP '63 was his last race race for the works Ferrari team but he had wins in sportcar racing with Nationale Belge and Filipinetti teams.

Willy's luck finally ran out at the 1968 Le Mans 24 hours when the door to his yellow Ford GT40 that had not been closed properly after the old style 'running start', flew open causing a very violent crash. This left Mairesse with serious head injuries and unconcious for two weeks. He did not make a full recovery and with his first love of racing over, he commited suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills in a Ostend hotel room.

A very sad end to a driver that loved nothing more than racing on the edge.

Original post from page 212.

A few more photo's of the aftermath of Mairesse's career ending shunt...

[Flint-Eastwood]

Fantastic images, great work.Thank you.

[windowlicker]

Originally Posted by windowlicker ↗

A few photo's of Clay Regazzoni's crash in the team Theodore Racing McLaren M16C/D - Offy during practice for the 1977 Indy 500.

Original post from page 176.


A photo of Clay's 1977 Indy 500 crash that I don't think has been previously posted.

Clay started in 29th position and retired on the 25th lap with a fuel leak.

[Photoplay]

Wonder what that photographers thinking.