Friday 18th September 1953

Charles de Tournaco (26) died. A wealthy Belgian, de Tournaco took up racing encouraged by his friend Jacques Swaters who would later become his country’s Ferrari importer. He finished seventh in the 1952 Belgian Grand Prix in an Ecurie Francorchamps Ferrari 500 and took a fourth place in the non-title Grand Prix des Frontieres at Chimay in an HWM. Practicing for the 1953 Modena Grand Prix, he rolled the Ferrari and suffered serious head injuries. There was no doctor or even an ambulance at the circuit and de Tournaco died in a private car on his way to the hospital.