1970 Formula 1 Dutch GP Zandvoort Holland - Piers Courage
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2009
- During the Dutch GP at Zandvoort the de Tomaso of Piers Courage slid wide, ran up a bank and crashed. The red car rolled over and burst into flames, and the unfortunate Piers stood no chance. Investigations revealed that Courage probably died before the flames started; his helmet was found at the point of impact with a large smear of rubber on the front, most likely from a wheel detached on impact. You can see the helmet near the marshal dressed in black (stop at 0:35)
- Hry
RIP Piers, 50 years on.
No media acknowledgement it seems, such a shame, but at least some of us remember him.
RIP, Sir- you went out a Champion
Thanks for posting this video.
I can still remember the moment like it was yesterday.
In the years around 1970, I was an official of OCA. The accident happened almost right for me that day where I was posted. At the timeI I ran to the accident , I was almost hit by one of the wheels that rolled to the other side of the track. The Fireman but even I could not do anything because of the enormous heat.
You've been there....its an honor Sir! What can you say about that moment? I am big F1 can and very curious about details
@@michaelhall736 This is not the Nurburgring tho?
@@guido2490 You're right. I realized my mistake a few hours later.
@@michaelhall736 " The Green Hell " came from Sir Jackie Stewart and had nothing to do with this race or incident !
@@donleblanc2669 I realized my mistake but forgot to delete my comment.
My father told the same thing to me when we were at zandvoort last weekend. My father still has the magnesium burn marks on his hands from the fire.
I was on this circuit when this happened , I was with a friend from school , I was 10 years old and still remember this.
I saw this happening; and for me from then on no Formula 1 ever again
@@cosmocum I was a 13-year in the stands on the main straightaway. I'll never forget that thick plume of smoke.
@@cosmocum How exactly did the crash happen?
My father Spoke to me about Courage more times, describing him as a very talented and gritty driver
The sixties and seventies were a sad era in motor racing. Speeds had increased but safety had been left far behind. Hardly a year went by without a at least one formula 1 driver being killed, or at least, seriously injured in a race
Safety was non-existent and medical teams sucked. They did not even get a traveling trauma doctor until the late 70s, right?
was held on June 21, 1970 on the same day that Brazil was three-time world champion in the IX FIFA World Cup held in Mexico, defeating Italy 4-1.
It was a sadness that the accident that summarizes the death of the pilot Piers Conuage in the grand prix of Holland or grand prix of the Netherlands
we are very lucky to be watching f1 in an era where the drivers aren't at a risk of dying every season
Quite indeed. But what scares me the most is how a little portion of "die-hard fans" use to romanticize the old era and how dying from horrible crashes or burning alive is a symbol of masculinity and bravery in F1.
Like, wtf? Those drivers never wanted to die, that's the last thing they'd want, but they knew safety wasn't particularly part of the sport and tried to avoid death as long as possible.
If those "die-hard fans" want to devolve F1 into coffins on wheels, they need some mental assistance.
Interesting and terribly sad to see Piers's helmet beside the burning car, which is what Jackie Stewart said made him realise as he was still driving that Piers must be still in the car and therefore dead.
Rip Courage and Rindt
Also the one weapon they had to fight fire in those days, water, would just make a Mag fire worse, may as well just poured light fluid on it.
Car was Williams De Thomaso. Way overweight, the chassis design was revised using magnesium to address this. Mag is usually only used for wheels, suspension uprights, engine & gearbox castings etc.
It burns so intensly it set fire to the surrounding woods. He may have been doomed anyway when fuel tanks ruptured & fuel ignited. He remained in the car trapped or unconcious. The mag can make it much harder for marshalls to extinguish the blaze or even get close enough with the heat.
....Bandini '67, Clark '68, Courage '70, Rindt '70....the Rodriguez brothers, von Tripps...something like 40% of these drivers were killed in this era, not to mention the merely horrifically scary like Stewart's crash at Spa or Parke's serious crash...
Mr. Blutarsky these cars were pretty much fireballs driving around a track waiting to explode
Also Jo Siffert and Graham Hill.
Roger Williamson
Peter Revson
@@kfwkfw1 Hill died in a plane crash, '75
I was behind the camera doing the shooting at the 8 and 13 second parts. Same camera. A 21 year old Canadian student me, on my first trip to Europe. There for practice and time trials and learned how to sneak in to the best seat in the house. Free, and access to the pits. German kid and I made a deal with the cameraman on race day that if we stayed out of his way and kept him in beer and schnitzel we could stay. Tragedy about Courage. Rindt won the race and was killed later in the season.
Monza, 5th Sep. 1970, the right front brakeshaft broke when Jochen Rindt put on the brakes before the Parabolica. He then became a passenger in his car and tragically couldn't survive the impact with the guardrails. But he will be F1 World Champion forever. R.i.P. Jochen Rindt & Piers Courage.
It always amazes me in this old videos how the cars would keep RACING while the car is burning furiously...
Nikki Lauda famously said that he was paid to race, not to stop. Same attitude from the others I guess.
@@tigershoot Lauda was rescued by 4 pilots who actually stopped and saved his life. People who have life priorities straight and not fucked up as Lauda’s. Lauda then became a fierce pro-safety activist.
I hope the pain didn't last too long. RIP Piers 👌🏾
They reckon he was hit by a tyre and killed before the fire.
I listened again; they mention the fire.
Every F1 race I still see it see in front of me as I stood 50-60 meters away from the fire together with a friend of mine.
I was there as a kid. With some friends we climed over the fence, sat on a dune top. Saw just a tiny small part of the circuit. Suddenly there was a big smoke, left from us, but we could not see the accident.Later on we heard what happened.
Such a shame - all those great drivers lost.
Rindt y si esposa Nina. Tenían una gran amistad con Pierce Courage y su esposa Sally Courzon de Courage. Nina Lincoln la acompaño a pesar del triunfo de Jochen , cuando la tragedia esa tarde , destrozada estaba Sally , no era para menos , lo acompañaba en los pits cronometrando sus tiempos ( como lo hacia Nina , los de Jochen ) a Piers en todos los circuitos que el corría. Me dió pena verla llorar desconsolada en boxes . Muy bonita chica . Piers un piloto con talento y muy simpático ( a veces rayaba en lo gracioso sus gestos) todo un caballero. En su homenaje Frank Williams le puso su nombre a su primer hijo .Jochen Rindt, quedó muy conmovido por su muerte y le prometió a Nina su esposa que a fin de esa temporada ( 1970 ) iba abandonar la actividad automovilística e ir a vivir tranquilos a cuidar su hijita y porque no tener otro hijo . No se le pudo dar.
Jochen probably had no idea of what happened
If some images I saw are anything to go by they were probably friends
Rindt and Courage were literally best friends.
I was there with the Brabham team 😓😥
The chequered flag guys lived dangerously in those days.
And it was awesome!
@@fabianrocha9924 it was horrible to be honest
Ooooops... Brain fade!! Thanks for correction
Creepy that the announcer mentions Francois Cevert.
What is sad, this was before seat belts were required! In 1970, when even passenger cars should have already had seat belts.
something about a great fire behind the pits,it is very hard to understand because of the roaring engine's
I put a rose on his grave on the 50th anniversary of his death. No other tributes were there..
Crazy that today he would have been most likely been saved
Fatal Crash, Large fire, keep on Racing. Officials to flagman: Go stand on the track whilst cars are charging full spped at you.
Frank Williams has often said that Piers had an uniquely amusing way of speaking. In the paperback version of Piers's biography (great book by the way) it says that a tape exists of him talking. Could anyone post it please, I'd love to hear his voice.
czcams.com/video/mzFWONRbN1E/video.html
He was already dead before the fire
Safety back then was the words "Don't crash"
2 a season in those days
I was there
Very true re: every word written...he made Frank Williams' cars (at the time rather inferior to the works F1 teams) appear to be far better than they really were from 68-70, and the De Tomaso chassis that he died in (due to no fault of his own) in 1970 was a POS...so glad to see that someone else acknowledges his true driving ability, rather than dismissing him as a rich boy-racer...man, dead at 28, leaving behind a wife & 2 sons...RIP Piers Courage...cheers UN.
People were medieval FFS! The race goes on!
I was there! Really. I was there.
0:07 wait a minuet is that a V10 I hear
Terry Stevens I know I was joking 😂
Although it's Dutch, it's too unclear so I cannot make anything of it.
I'm aware that all racetracks have taken a racer or 2, I'm from Indy so have seen my fare share of racing tragedy but this track has an ominous feel to it... can't put my finger on it.. feels cursed like they built the track on ancient burial mounds or some shit!😆
Did Frank William hit the rock?
mis hermanos no buscar tom pryce bajo NINGUN CONCEPTO XD O SINO 300000 AÑOS DE MALA SUERTE
@wanker4761 cool story
I was
zandvoort 1 : 0 piers courage
(piers was a family friend)
regards
reginald
2 times at Zandvoort in the seventies. all 2 with deadly incidents; Please let it be :NO MORE RACES AT ZANDVOORT PLEASE !
By 2020 standards, there were _no_ relatively safe racetracks in the 1970s. If that's the standard you want to use, you're going to have to shut everything down. And Zandvoort has made huge improvements to their safety since then (as have Monza, the Nurburgring, Spa, Silverstone, Paul Ricard, and every place they race that was around 45 years ago)
It was 50 years ago!
Don't be daft!
@@almostfm so just because 2 people died over 50 years ago you want to shut it down? Still? Bro come on you got to be joking
Piers Courage.... the only F1 driver to be awarded the championship posthumuosly
wrong !
No - it was Rindt.
Jochen Rindt
Wonder what natural wildlife haven was destroy making that racetrack? All the same. Racing drivers love all of that crash and burn stuff. And not the feelings of loved ones left behind. I sense. That is the dismay here.
+Susan Ellis I don't often say something like this, but wow. You're just really, really stupid if you think race drivers "love all that crash and burn stuff".
+Susan Ellis Oh my god. You have absolutely no clue.
Race drivers fear crashes the most.
Its the biggest downside of this sport for all race drivers because they risk their lives on every run.
They want to be popular, sure, earn a lot of money, also true, and love the thrill of the speed but they never want anyone to crash and die!
You do not read my comment correctly. The drivers are not the only participants in a race. Their kids and the persons who pay their wages. Are worthy of comment.
Everyone who contributes to the evolution of racing sports. As a study and a way forward.
+Susan Ellis You really decide to use a video of where a man tragically dies either by burning to death or by getting his head impacted by a wheel to express your opinion on the wildlife?
Três anos depois Roger Williamson morreria no mesmo GP onde seu carro bateu no guard rail depois de um estouro dos pneus e capotou se arrastando de cabeça para baixo pegando fogo, David purley no resgate de Williamson, tentou desvirar o carro ou apagar o fogo mas nada podia ser feito e Williamson morreria asfixiado pela inalação de fumaça aos 21 anos de idade! E no mesmo ano no GP de Watkins Glen, François cevert, morreria degolado pelo guard rail assim como Peter Revson morreria no GP da África do Sul de 1974 quando o carro capotou por dentro do guard rail e explodiu em chamas e no mesmo ano no GP de Watkins Glen onde morreu François Cevert, morreria Helmuth Koinigg, degolado pelo guard rail onde o carro passou por dentro do guard rail e acabou cortando seu pescoço!