Born on this day, David Charles Purley, British driver who made his Formula 1 debut at Monaco in 1973 with a private March and gained prominence a couple of months later for trying to rescue his friend Roger Williamson from burning to death at the Dutch Grand Prix that year


Friday 26th January 1945

Born on this day, David Charles Purley, British driver who made his Formula 1 debut at Monaco in 1973 with a private March and gained prominence a couple of months later for trying to rescue his friend Roger Williamson from burning to death at the Dutch Grand Prix that year. Being awarded the George Medal for his bravery was no consolation for the horrific experience in Zandvoort. After a stint in the British Formula 5000 scene, where he snatched the title in 1975, Purley returned to Grand Prix racing with his own F1, the Mike Pilbeam designed LEC, run with the help of Mike Earle and sponsored by the family’s refrigerator industry, the Longford Engineering Company. After destroying the LEC in a horrific crash during the pre-qualifying for the 1977 British Grand Prix with a deceleration of 179.8 G, the highest G-force any human being has ever survived, breaking his hip, legs and ribs, he tried a half-hearted comeback with a second LEC-chassis and when the budget to develop the car ran dry opted to the British F1 series driving a Shadow. He finally quit racing in order to run the family business and kept playing around with an aerobatics plane. In the summer of 1985 he was doing some stunts off the coast when the plane spiralled down and crashed into the sea, killing David Purley instantly. He finally quit racing in order to run the family business and kept playing around with aerobatics plane. In the summer of 1985 he was doing some stunts off the coast when the plane spiralled down and crashed into the sea, killing David Purley instantly.


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