[windowlicker]

This is the tragic accident that took the life of the young and amazingly talented German, Stefan Bellof.

Stefan's progress in motor sport was amazing. Multiple German karting champion, national and international FF champion, he won 3 races from only 7 starts in German F3, and in 1984 driving for the works Porsche team won the World Sportscar championship winning six rounds. For 1985 he signed a contract with the private Brun team.

As well as all of this, Stefan was driving in F1 with the Tyrrell team from 1983, they were still running a Cosworth V8 against the turbo teams. Even with a lack of power Bellof gave his all. It was rumoured that he has signed a deal with Ferrari for 1986.
At Monaco in 1984 he finished 3rd in the wet and had been running faster than Senna and Prost in front of him when the race had been stopped.

This accident took place at the Spa 1000km in 1985, when Stefan made a committed, if not reckless move for the lead from Jacky Ickx at Eau Rouge. Both cars spun off, but Stefan's car hit the barrier hard and the front of the car deformed badly causing him fatal injuries.

[windowlicker]

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...

Apparently so...I know it sounds impossible. Over 100mph to 0 in a matter of inches. Purleys legs were smashed to pieces.

I've checked a number of books and websites and they all give very similar figures...

[Norwegian1]

I do not doubt your numbers or reaserch Apparently people have survived worse G-forces than that Kenny Bräck, He survived one of the racing sport's biggest accidents, 214 g's, in Fort Worth, Texas 2003.

[AlvinKarpis]

Originally Posted by windowlicker ↗

David Purley's practice crash in the British GP 1977 is one of the most violent accidents in motorsport.

I can add to this post as I know where the folder is for sure

[AlvinKarpis]

Originally Posted by The Dark ↗

It would be interesting to know if there are any more "rare" finds out there. I previously mentioned the Depailler footage

I know some pics have been posted and I know I might post a couple that are already in the thread so cut me some slack

Some of these used to be rare

[AlvinKarpis]

Originally Posted by windowlicker ↗

This is the tragic accident that took the life of the young and amazingly talented German, Stefan Bellof.

I just posted one of my Bellof folders, if you already posted some of these im sorry

[windowlicker]

Another of my favorites, the Mexican racer Pedro Rodriguez.

He was the older brother of Ricardo, who died in a crash for the F1 non-championship race in Mexico in 1962. (a previous post covers this).

Pedro had raced in F1 and sportcars but his big breakthrough came when he was the suprise winner of the 1967 South African GP in a Cooper.

He then won Le Mans in 1968 in a Ford GT40 run by John Wyer's team who he returned to in 1970/71.

For 1970 he re-joined the works BRM team, after driving for a number of teams including Ferrari and won the Belgium F1 race at Spa. In sportscars he won in the terribly wet Brands Hatch 1000km by a remarkable 5 laps in the fearsome Porsche 917.

He went on to win four sportcar races in 1971 and continued to be one of the fasted in F1, by now Pedro was a superstar.

Pedro was asked to drive a privately entered Ferrari 512M at the Norisring in a minor Interserie race in Germany on 11th of July 1971. It is believed his tyre deflated causing him to crash at high speed, the car bursting into flames and after Pedro was finally released he had succumbed to multiple injuries.

[windowlicker]

The impact is huge, the front of the Ferrari folding in on its self and then the intense fire taking hold. Pedro would certainly have been killed instantly when the car hit the barrier.

Drivers got out to help, and fire marshalls were quickly on the scene but tragically there was no saving Pedro Rodriguez.

[windowlicker]

Pedro was buried with his brother Ricardo in a shared grave in Mexico City...

[kiwigurlnz]

Loving this thread, been going through it the last couple of days!