More info about Roger Williamson:
http://www.asag.sk/bio/williamson.htm
About the accident:
GP Holland 1973.
Roger Williamson crashes hard on lap 8, roll his car and catches fire. Only yards away stood a fire tender, but no order was given to stop the race and its driver refused, perhaps rightly, to drive against the direction of the traffic. Worse, marshals with fire extinguishers merely watched as Purley fought a lone battle to right the upturned March. He could hear Williamson inside it. Roger pleaded with him to get him out. Time and again Purley tried to lift the car, but each time he failed. For two laps - at least 2m 47s -the fire was minimal, but then it grew dramatically in intensity. David tried to fight it after grabbing an extinguisher from one marshal, but by then the fire had too strong a hold. As the marshals still remained immobile, appalled spectators began to try and help, unable to believe what they were seeing. Only then were marshals with police dogs galvanized into action, to keep them back. Finally, in the most callous act of cowardice ever seen in motor racing, they moved at last and tried to drag the desolate Purley away. He shrugged them off angrily. Roger was uninjured in the cockpit, but they left him to die of asphyxiation. When they finally arrived, the fire trucks were far, far too late. David Purley : Through his tears he said, "I just couldn't turn it over. I could see he was alive and I could hear him shouting, but I couldn't get the car over. I was trying to get people to help me, and if I could have turned the car over he would have been alright, we could have got him out." Later, when the immediate grief had receded, he admitted, "I didn't even think about the heroism or any of that rubbish. I just did what comes naturally to a trained soldier who sees a fellow in trouble." Ian Philips - journalist and friend : "Purley actually had a conversation with him. David was trying to turn him over and told me afterwards how Roger had said to him, For God's sake, David, get me out of here', and he just couldn't get him out. The circumstances were just appalling. David Purley was later awared the British Imperial George Medal, the second highest (highest being the George Cross) medal that can ever be awarded to a civilian for bravery.
Views: 1236156 Added: 3 years Runtime: 2.40 Comments: 2532
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Author Schmockerich (7 hours) @rustybmx999 i meant david purley
sorry
Author Pokermon95 (21 hour) übel...
Author cata18tm (2 days) f*ck the idiots who stayed and looked
Author slidel211288 (2 days) that must have been SOOO fucking painful for that poor man to have to turn his back and walk away while he was still burning to death in that car. FUCK everyone who was there apart from the racing driver who stopped
Author mbbs5000 (3 days) sad that purley himself died in a pretty awful way not much later :(
Author BrokenBoyx (3 days) 1973. the gadgets were not as sophisticated as now i suppose? perhaps that led to the miscommunication?
Author TheStevdan (3 days) so sad... T.T
Author cannedkitty (3 days) whats the music
Author krakenwave (3 days) Also, some of the spectators (out of picture at the bottom) tried to intervene when they realised that Williamson was trapped) but they were forcibly prevented from getting over the barriers - yes, for their own safety but....
Author vidarathexvii (4 days) @rustybmx999 well,the race officials let the race go on at full speed because they thought it was purley's car there, very sad and strange misunderstanding, because of lack of comunication with stewards
and as someone in comments pointed out the stewards did not even have fire proof chlothing, they was not even properly trained for this kind of situation, and were basically unable to help properly
yeah they messed up, but back then, sadly, that was the standard, and it took deacdes to improve
Author vidarbulu (4 days) LA VERDAD SOLO VI A UN SER HUMANO ALLI....
Author onealhart54 (4 days) @rustybmx999 again, piles of cars will interfere with other passing drivers, potentially causing more accidents
Author matteoprez (4 days) I have no doubts David Purley acted like a man; a real one, that is. I also am convinced his determination was motivated , too by the fact he saw himself in that car.
Author rustybmx999 (4 days) @vidarathexvii i find it hard to belive that if i saw someone outside a car on fire trying to turn it over that id stand there an think why's he flipping his car its fairly obvious whats going on you sayin the ones standing next to him thought they got dragged over so purley could flip his own car?
you are right in saying there given alot more grief than they deserve it wasnt one person that turned this into a fatality but they still messed up big time and for that we payed greatly
R.I.P x
Author rustybmx999 (4 days) @onealhart54 yerh maybe so but theres a difference between doing whats right and what your toldthe safety team wouldnt of had a problem if you threw your car in behind purleys
Author rustybmx999 (4 days) @Schmockerich your sayin roger williamson was the only person in fire proof clothing :S because that explains how david purley could touch his car
Author yaceba (4 days) David Purley a el se le puede llamar un buen amigo un buen hombre y un Heroe , muy pocos son los que se detienen ha ayudar a un amigo en este tipo de copetencia y mas arriesgando su vida al correr por la pista estando todos los corredores aun pasando a altas velocidades :D DAVID PURLEY ES UN GRAN HEROE
Author onealhart54 (6 days) @rustybmx999 the other drivers are told to stay in their cars so that the safety team *usually* doesnt have any interference
Author vidarathexvii (6 days) video description is wrong...and biased
the stewards hesitated with help because they did not realise in time that there was still a driver in car, they thought purley was in the car and got out
it took them a while to see that there is still a driver in a car, they are not soulless cowards damnit, they was just poorly organised
there was a big misunderstanding, as they did not know why is purley turning his own car over
once they realised there was still a driver in the car, they helped
Author conman793hannah (6 days) God Bless
Author TheCodeLyokofreak (6 days) RIP from holland
Author rustybmx999 (6 days) @djsr00 why does everyone keep going to them helping him flip the car im not sayin they needed to do that they coulda just done anything like flagged drivers down who were in fire proof clothing to help. an i swear i said about people not getting out before an like i said the first few went past whilst no one was along side and purley was running to help you cant say they didnt know alls they thought is that hed be fine and they can continue on an try and win.
R.I.P
Author jfrockon (7 days) Maybe the sadist thing I have ever scene in my life.
Author maddenboy21 (7 days) thats sad :(
Author Gabessz5 (7 days) Azok meg ott állnak mint fasz a lakodalomban :@ Bazdmeg... miért nem csináltak valamit? Csak szerencsétlen Purley próbálta a csapattársát kiszedni a tűzből... a sok majom meg csak nézte... Szegény Roger...
Русский
Deutsch
Franc,ais
@rustybmx999 i meant david purley
sorry
Author Pokermon95 (21 hour)
übel...
Author cata18tm (2 days)
f*ck the idiots who stayed and looked
Author slidel211288 (2 days)
that must have been SOOO fucking painful for that poor man to have to turn his back and walk away while he was still burning to death in that car. FUCK everyone who was there apart from the racing driver who stopped
Author mbbs5000 (3 days)
sad that purley himself died in a pretty awful way not much later :(
Author BrokenBoyx (3 days)
1973. the gadgets were not as sophisticated as now i suppose? perhaps that led to the miscommunication?
Author TheStevdan (3 days)
so sad... T.T
Author cannedkitty (3 days)
whats the music
Author krakenwave (3 days)
Also, some of the spectators (out of picture at the bottom) tried to intervene when they realised that Williamson was trapped) but they were forcibly prevented from getting over the barriers - yes, for their own safety but....
Author vidarathexvii (4 days)
@rustybmx999 well,the race officials let the race go on at full speed because they thought it was purley's car there, very sad and strange misunderstanding, because of lack of comunication with stewards
and as someone in comments pointed out the stewards did not even have fire proof chlothing, they was not even properly trained for this kind of situation, and were basically unable to help properly
yeah they messed up, but back then, sadly, that was the standard, and it took deacdes to improve
Author vidarbulu (4 days)
LA VERDAD SOLO VI A UN SER HUMANO ALLI....
Author onealhart54 (4 days)
@rustybmx999 again, piles of cars will interfere with other passing drivers, potentially causing more accidents
Author matteoprez (4 days)
I have no doubts David Purley acted like a man; a real one, that is. I also am convinced his determination was motivated , too by the fact he saw himself in that car.
Author rustybmx999 (4 days)
@vidarathexvii i find it hard to belive that if i saw someone outside a car on fire trying to turn it over that id stand there an think why's he flipping his car its fairly obvious whats going on you sayin the ones standing next to him thought they got dragged over so purley could flip his own car?
you are right in saying there given alot more grief than they deserve it wasnt one person that turned this into a fatality but they still messed up big time and for that we payed greatly
R.I.P x
Author rustybmx999 (4 days)
@onealhart54 yerh maybe so but theres a difference between doing whats right and what your toldthe safety team wouldnt of had a problem if you threw your car in behind purleys
Author rustybmx999 (4 days)
@Schmockerich your sayin roger williamson was the only person in fire proof clothing :S because that explains how david purley could touch his car
Author yaceba (4 days)
David Purley a el se le puede llamar un buen amigo un buen hombre y un Heroe , muy pocos son los que se detienen ha ayudar a un amigo en este tipo de copetencia y mas arriesgando su vida al correr por la pista estando todos los corredores aun pasando a altas velocidades :D DAVID PURLEY ES UN GRAN HEROE
Author onealhart54 (6 days)
@rustybmx999 the other drivers are told to stay in their cars so that the safety team *usually* doesnt have any interference
Author vidarathexvii (6 days)
video description is wrong...and biased
the stewards hesitated with help because they did not realise in time that there was still a driver in car, they thought purley was in the car and got out
it took them a while to see that there is still a driver in a car, they are not soulless cowards damnit, they was just poorly organised
there was a big misunderstanding, as they did not know why is purley turning his own car over
once they realised there was still a driver in the car, they helped
Author conman793hannah (6 days)
God Bless
Author TheCodeLyokofreak (6 days)
RIP from holland
Author rustybmx999 (6 days)
@djsr00 why does everyone keep going to them helping him flip the car im not sayin they needed to do that they coulda just done anything like flagged drivers down who were in fire proof clothing to help. an i swear i said about people not getting out before an like i said the first few went past whilst no one was along side and purley was running to help you cant say they didnt know alls they thought is that hed be fine and they can continue on an try and win.
R.I.P
Author jfrockon (7 days)
Maybe the sadist thing I have ever scene in my life.
Author maddenboy21 (7 days)
thats sad :(
Author Gabessz5 (7 days)
Azok meg ott állnak mint fasz a lakodalomban :@ Bazdmeg... miért nem csináltak valamit? Csak szerencsétlen Purley próbálta a csapattársát kiszedni a tűzből... a sok majom meg csak nézte... Szegény Roger...