Secondary comment: 1967 was not the worst year for F1 deaths. In 1967 Bandini was tragically killed in a Ferrari in the fire at Monaco when cowardly course marshals refused to approach the car with fire bottles, and Bob Anderson was killed in a test session at Silverstone, not in a race. Several seasons saw three race fatalities, including 58, 60, 61 and 70, and who can forget 1994 when both Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed at Imola in much safer cars than those of the 50s, 60s and 70s. No one was killed in a Lotus 49. Not trivializing the dangers of the period, they were indeed extreme, just reporting the facts. Many drivers were killed in all forms of racing, including sedans, Can-Am type cars, sports cars and other formulae. I personally saw drivers killed in amateur SCCA races in the period. All of racing was just becoming conscious of the need to improve safety, largely through the courageous campaigning of Sir Jackie Stewart. It's hard to understand today how much courage it took to risk being branded a coward and stand up and say enough is enough in those days.
JIM, i agree many men were killed in race cars of the period,thanks for getting all that info on how many were killed.
as i recall, some good F1 drivers refused to RACE the cars with slick race tires.
and again Senna on some previous laps came in and spoke openly about the cars were dangerous with the new tires for the 94 F1 season.
he then went out an ,and was killed,.
motor racing has become a very popular venue, just because of the
excitement of probable death, it worked for ancient ROME and still works today.
its just a human thing, its quite normal.
just look at mountain climbing (without safety lines). very exciting.
look at extreme sports , all kinds of them today.
a simple approach on things ; is how close can you come with death ,but without actually going there, AH! that the magic of winning, its a fine line that we strive for, that adds greatness to the feeling of being alive.
little off topic,i live only 15miles from the new F1 COTA track,Austin TX.
Bobzilla wrote:
Just frustrating. Some people cannot admit when GM is succesful, ever.
Well, the Loch Ness Monster is only spotted so often...
Jim Pettengill wrote:
Secondary comment: 1967 was not the worst year for F1 deaths. In 1967 Bandini was tragically killed in a Ferrari in the fire at Monaco when cowardly course marshals refused to approach the car with fire bottles, and Bob Anderson was killed in a test session at Silverstone, not in a race. Several seasons saw three race fatalities, including 58, 60, 61 and 70, and who can forget 1994 when both Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed at Imola in much safer cars than those of the 50s, 60s and 70s.
This excellent book does quite a fine job of discussing the dangers of the era. I highly recommend it.
Most fascinating parts were about Luigi Chinetti, who was influential in Ferrari making Phil Hill a factory driver, won the Le Mans 24 hours in 1949 at age 48, driving 23 hours, 40 minutes of the 24, when his co-driver decided he was too hung over from partying the night before to complete his first stint. Chinetti also brokered a deal for Hill's first Ferrari sports car. Hill bought it used, it had been entered in once race by a rich frenchmen, who slid the car off the track and through a fence which decapitated him. When Hill got his hands on the car, he found the holes that had been drilled in the floor to drain the blood.
Just a completely different valuation of human life than we have today. Downright uncivilized.
I wonder where they got fresh, treaded tires for the Lotus.
