On this day 40 years ago...

[takagi_for_the_win]

Roger Williamson tragically lost his life at Zandvoort. Just thought I'd bring it up

Such a waste of talent and life

[good_Ralf]

Roger Williamson tragically lost his life at Zandvoort. Just thought I'd bring it up

Such a waste of talent and life

RIP. Should this thread be used as a tribute of Williamson or an actual 'On this day' thread? If so, you may be interested to know that John Barber, Tony Jefferies, Chanoch Nissany (it was also mentioned in his appreciation thread) and Fernando Alonso.

[Alextrax52]

Roger Williamson tragically lost his life at Zandvoort. Just thought I'd bring it up

Such a waste of talent and life

He could have been such a good driver. I have a book that holds a replica of his Medical certificate for racing, A national blood transfusion service card for him, A 1973 competition licence he had, His B.A.R.C Membership card and his driving licence. This is how i'll remember him.

[good_Ralf]

Those f**king marshalls. When David Purley attempted to rescue Williamson, the marshalls dragged him away and didn't extinguish the fire until it had consumed the whole car. Those marshalls should have got a long sentence in jail for manslaughter. At least Purley got the George Medal for his bravery. RIP to him as well.

[Ben Gilbert]

Those f**king marshalls. When David Purley attempted to rescue Williamson, the marshalls dragged him away and didn't extinguish the fire until it had consumed the whole car. Those marshalls should have got a long sentence in jail for manslaughter.

Yes.

How DARE one of them try to help Purley tip the car back over despite his complete and utter lack of fireproof clothing. How dare the rest of them stand back from the burning wreckage and warn other drivers of the danger. How dare they have a single standard-issue-at-the-time fire extinguisher, and allow Purley to use it. How dare they try to pull a clearly distraught man from the danger zone only after he himself has given up hope.

(In my opinion, if there is anything to blame for that accident, it's the knee-jerk safety measures put in after Zandvoort was removed from the calendar the previous year (and after the death of Piers Courage two years before that). I can understand the idea behind fully enclosing a circuit in barriers so as to contain an accident... in somewhere like Spa, or Hockenheim, or the Nurburgring, where there are plenty of trees to slam into, and the barriers can actually be securely driven into the earth. But at Zandvoort, there would always be the risk of insecure barriers due to the soft sand they have been built into, and having barriers so close to the circuit effectively guaranteed that any accident will be a high-speed one, increasing the likelihood that they would buckle, and launch a car after impact instead of slowing it.

If there's anything to blame for Williamson's death though, rather than the accident, it's the fact that there was a fire engine 150 yards down-circuit of the accident that was not permitted to be used as it would have to be driven against the flow of traffic.

That, and the fact that the safety measures I mentioned above didn't address the other problems of safety at that time: the cars were too fragile, and the marshals were ill-equipped to assist in case of an accident.

In short: those marshals are not to blame. The safety higher-ups who saw the fuse burning, spat vaguely towards it and then went home satisfied, are the ones to blame.)

[FullMetalJack]

Roger Williamson tragically lost his life at Zandvoort. Just thought I'd bring it up

Such a waste of talent and life

RIP. Should this thread be used as a tribute of Williamson or an actual 'On this day' thread? If so, you may be interested to know that John Barber, Tony Jefferies, Chanoch Nissany (it was also mentioned in his appreciation thread) and Fernando Alonso.

I'd say as a tribute, purely because he's not eligible for a profile on this site.

[takagi_for_the_win]

RIP. Should this thread be used as a tribute of Williamson or an actual 'On this day' thread? If so, you may be interested to know that John Barber, Tony Jefferies, Chanoch Nissany (it was also mentioned in his appreciation thread) and Fernando Alonso.

I'd say as a tribute, purely because he's not eligible for a profile on this site.

I started the thread just to remember Roger, given that it was the 40th anniversary of his passing; but it can be used as a tribute as well

[James1978]

Apparently Autosport magazine and online are having a retro feature all about 1973 from tomorrow.......look forward to seeing it.