[Link] I just now read that too. How sad.

Yes, I guess that's the question that comes up in any sport that has an element of danger. Same with boxing and so on. There are tragic situations, but other than ramping up the safety side, ultimately people should be ask have a degree of autonomy in terms of risk. Banning events or sports just results in less regulated versions of the same thing..

I’m surprised they published the video phone footage of the sidecar on fire just after the sidecar crashed killing the French guy. Tv never used to show motorsport accidents that resulted in death. Most of them you never saw the incident again.

COYP

Generally that was so, but they didn't hold back on showing footage of British racer Roger Williamson trapped in his over-turned burning car at Zandvoort in 1973.I believe they justified this in that it showed fellow Brit David Purley making an heroic attempt to right the car and rescue Williamson whilst inept marshals looked on. Sadly Purley's efforts were to no avail and Williamson perished.

This was a sickening accident for sure, like you say Pete, the Marshalls were tragically slow to react.

Unfortunately, there are far too many films of fatal motor racing accidents, especially in the 60s when the cars were so fragile and safety was not a priority. I vividly remember Lorenzo Bandini's horrific fireball at Monaco in 1967. [Link]

The next year, 1968, I hitchhiked to Rouen for the French GP and the unfortunate Jo Schlesser perished in the Honda built with lots of highly flammable magnesium. Although I didn’t see the accident, the atmosphere around the place was very sombre. [Link]

If you bother to watch these two clips you'll see clearly how the racing continued with cars driving carefully round the wreckage while the drivers in the stricken cars painfully lost their lives.

Edited by Palace Old Geezer (11 Jun 2022 6.34pm)

Dad and I watched games standing on the muddy slope of the Holmesdale Road end. He cheered and I rattled.

I might seem contradictory but it is the reality race fans face - of course more so in the past when racing was more dangerous.It was/is possible to love the sport but hate its cruelty.

I think all fans who saw racing back in the 70s and before face this dilemma of on the one hand having memories of wonderful cars racing on spectacular circuits, but on the other knowing that the very nature of these cars and circuits took a high toll.

Edited by Pete53 (12 Jun 2022 12.59pm)