Sunday 25th June 1939

Richard Seaman (26) crashed during the Belgian Grand Prix held at Spa-Francorchamps on the La Source hairpin into a tree, causing the fuel line to break. Fuel rushed over the car and the car caught fire. Seaman couldn’t move because his right hand was broken and he was also trapped by his steering wheel. After a minute of futile rescue attempts, a Belgian soldier walked into the blaze and freed Seaman. However, he had suffered burns on sixty percent of the body and Britain’s most successful pre-war driver died before midnight. On his death bed he remarked to the Mercedes chief engineer, “I was going too fast for the conditions – it was entirely my own fault. I am sorry”. After Seaman’s death, Mercedes-Benz dealerships worldwide were ordered to display his photograph in their windows.