[Norwegian1]

Totally of topic but today I did 10 laps on the Nordschleife or The green hell if you will, and it was the best day ever. Rented a Mercedes SLS AMG and hit the track, first 3 rounds was with a good friend of mine from Nurburg, and he pointed out and told me about some of the big crashes that i have read about in this thread.. we even pulled over at the spot where Niki Lauda had his big crasch in 1976. If there is one thing i can take away from this than that must be that the old F1 drivers were a gutsy gang of madmen.. I can not even start to imagine how it must have been to drive F1 cars on this track, I was half scared out of my mind driving a modern car with all sorts of safety equipment if something should go wrong.. These great drivers had none of this, except for helmets and seatbelts.. they all must have had the biggest balls ever..

[windowlicker]

Originally Posted by Norwegian1 ↗

Totally of topic but today I did 10 laps on the Nordschleife or The green hell if you will, and it was the best day ever. Rented a Mercedes SLS AMG and hit the track, first 3 rounds was with a good friend of mine from Nurburg, and he pointed out and told me about some of the big crashes that i have read about in this thread.. we even pulled over at the spot where Niki Lauda had his big crasch in 1976. If there is one thing i can take away from this than that must be that the old F1 drivers were a gutsy gang of madmen.. I can not even start to imagine how it must have been to drive F1 cars on this track, I was half scared out of my mind driving a modern car with all sorts of safety equipment if something should go wrong.. These great drivers had none of this, except for helmets and seatbelts.. they all must have had the biggest balls ever..

Sounds great, amazing track with an awesome history...just think of the great cars and drivers over the years and something like 200 lost souls...very envious.

[windowlicker]

Originally Posted by windowlicker ↗

From the Australian Touring Car Championship 1966 and Bob Jane's Mustang breaks an axle at Catalina Park resulting in a three full rolls over the fence, but amazingly no major injury.

Original post from page 189.

A new larger photo of Bob Jane's big one in '66.

[windowlicker]

Pedro Lamy's Lotus slams into the back of J.J. Lehto's stalled Benetton at the start of the ill-fated San Marino GP at Imola 1994. Both drivers were lucky to walk away as were the nine spectators who recieved only minor injury from the flying debris.

Ayrton Senna crashed on lap two of the re-start, it is possible that debris from this earlier crash had caused a tyre to deflate...

[windowlicker]

David Hobbs spins his BRM P60 during the 1967 Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park and has to push it back onto the track himself. Drivers rarely wore safety harness's as they would rather be thrown from the car during an accident and not trapped in a potential fire...David went on to finish 9th, five laps down.

David took part in seven GP from 1967 to '74 with a best result of 7th. He finished 3rd at Le Mans twice, in 1969 and 1984, winning the IMSA class in 1982. He was also a Trans-Am Champion and took part in two Nascar races.

[mtakala]

Pedro Lamy suffered horrific leg injuries a few months (or even weeks) later while testing his Lotus at Silverstone. I haven't seen any pictures of that, only read news articles at the time. I wonder if any material exists.

[windowlicker]

Originally Posted by mtakala ↗

Pedro Lamy suffered horrific leg injuries a few months (or even weeks) later while testing his Lotus at Silverstone. I haven't seen any pictures of that, only read news articles at the time. I wonder if any material exists.

I've never seen any photos or video of the crash or aftermath. Pedro's rear wing failed between Abbey curve and Bridge, the car cleared the fencing and landed in a spectator area. He broke both legs and his pelvis in the 150mph crash.

Johnny Herbert said afterwards, 'I had been following Pedro when his car spun, there was lots of dust and the car just took off. I stopped my car and jumped out but at first I could not find him. Then I could see the tub had been thrown on to the other side of the fence, I couldn’t believe it he was halfway down the tunnel.'

Pedro took part in 32 Grand Prix with a best result of 6th. He finished 2nd at Le Mans in 2007 and 2011, as well as winning the German F3 Championship and being runner-up in the F3000 Championship. He has also won the Nurburgring 24 hour race four times.

The photo is the nose-cone from Lamy destroyed car...

[windowlicker]

Nick Cone's Volvo P1800 blew it's engine during the 1965 Sebring 12-Hour race and he pulled the car over to check the damage. While doing so George Reed in the Shelby Cobra roadster hit the oil the Volvo had just emptied onto the track. The Cobra hit the Volvo and also took out the Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Chuck Stoddard.

Cone said afterwards, 'One minute I’m under the car looking for damage and the car disappears before my eyes, four hours later I wake up.'

[AlvinKarpis]

Tom Pryce and Jansen Van Vuuren

Here is an aftermath photo taken from the pit lane

[windowlicker]

Originally Posted by windowlicker ↗

Three time F1 World Champion Niki Lauda's near fatal crash at the Nurburgring in 1976.

Something broke at the rear of Ferrari 312T2 and the car speared to the right and instantly became a fireball engulfing Lauda who's crash helmet had been ripped from his head.

At least three cars hit the Ferrari that had come to rest in the middle of the narrow German track. These drivers and others stopped and dragged Niki from the wreck, saving his life.

Niki was badly injured and was given the last rites at hospital. He had bad burns to his head and his lungs were damaged from taking in the acrid smoke. But amazingly Lauda was back at the Italian GP three weeks later finishing 4th although his head was covered in blooded bandages.

He would miss out on the Championship in 1976 by a single point to James Hunt after pulling out during the very wet Japanesse GP, Lauda said, "My life is more important that any Championship."

Original post from Page 30.

A couple of magazine articles with interesting photo's and Lauda's singed helmet.