A certain George Medal recipient.

[Leon]

I'm from the old forum... I thought i'd say that as this might seem slight odd for a DAM newcomer.

... anyway not to long ago I was reading about George Medal winners and came across David Purley.

How he got his GM was caught on film and by some amazing pictures. (below)

In 1973 during the Dutch Grand Prix driver Roger Williamson suffered a sudden tyre deflation causing his car to roll upside down and catch on fire, David Purley stopped his race to help trying to turn the flaming car over himself (Williamson was still alive as he could be heard shouting) and trying to get help from spectators and marshalls. The marshall who were poorly equipped couldn't get close enough to the car due to the fire and their lack of fire proof clothing. Communication problems meant the race carried on meaning the fire truck close by couldn't get onto the track quickly enough, leaving David all alone in trying to save Roger. Sadly Roger died of asphyxiation, a blanket was placed over his body at the side of the track with the race carrying on.

David died in and plane accident in 1985

Footage
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5-6taeWRQ

The last picture shows a rather disgusted David Purley after it was all too late.

[Poorbob]

I realize now that these are medals for courageous acts.

[JP30]

I ve seen this before . . . It really touched me.

As part of my mechanic's job, I do insurance estimate for wrecked motorcycle...
sometimes, I get the bad ones...

[mhat]

I remember this from the time though I was only 6. I try not to watch it often because I cry even now.
Motorsport was a different beast back then. You'll hear that during the commentary they namecheck Piers Courage who died in the the 1970 Grand Prix at the same corner. His car overturned and burst into flame too.
Lorenzo Bandidni died in hospital in 1967 after his car flipped and burned in Monaco. Spectators could hear him screaming whenever the car noise died down.
In fact, Sir Jackie Stewart was SO lucky not to burn to death at Spa in the mid-sixties that he became one of the guys who made F1 as safe as it is today.

Back to David Purley. My favourite story about David (an ex-Para) was how he used to scream into his helmet (an old paratrooper trick) on the plunge through the downhill esses at Rouen to give him the courage to brake late for the hairpin at the bottom. It says a lot about him that he was so determined to beat his fear like that.

He held the record (and may still hold it) for the greatest G force survived by a human (an estimated 179.8 G's) in 1977 when he decelerated from 173 km/h (108 mph) to 0 in a distance of 66 cm (26 inches) after his throttle got stuck wide open and he hit a wall.

F1 used to be full of characters like him. When I was checking the facts about that Rouen tale I found this page (http://www.asag.sk/bio/autosport_text.htm) written by Nigel roebuck which tells a lot about the man he was and his attitude to risk and racing, including that incident at Zandvoort.

Leon, thanks for posting that. It's good to know that people like David aren't forgotten.

Mike

[Poorbob]

He held the record (and may still hold it) for the greatest G force survived by a human (an estimated 179.8 G's) in 1977 when he decelerated from 173 km/h (108 mph) to 0 in a distance of 66 cm (26 inches) after his throttle got stuck wide open and he hit a wall.

H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T! :o :shock: :o

That is nuts!