Dijon 1979 - Where were the FIA Stewards!

[Alan Raine]

It was 1975 when all the cars got caught up in the catch fencing.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=h9mXWqLjGd8

I'm one of the marshals that dealt with Jochen Mass at Stowe.

Catch fencing was evil stuff.

[Super Hans]

Catch-fencing seems almost hilarious in hindsight, but in 30 years time I can imagine people viewing footage from the 00s and saying "Gravel traps? Haha, what were they thinking?!".

Such is the way of progress.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by Super Hans

You must be mistaken. No cars ended up tangled in catch-fencing in that incident.



He didn't bounce off anything. He put his left rear on the grass exiting Woodcote and spun to a halt in the middle of the straight.

Sorry for being a know-it-all!

I may be mistaken about the catch fencing but I am sure it was around before 1973. Catch fencing was blamed in some quarters for exacerbating the Piers Courage incident at Zandvoort in 1970 and I am quite sure a number of circuits had it in the early 1970's before 1973. Silverstone also had a number of incidents where it tangled cars, even if it wasn't 1973...
I'll do some more hunting and see if I can locate a few photographs.

[foreversideways]

No in 30 years time when the health and safety nuts have banned everything and man has been completely emasculated, they will say, god did people really do things they could get hurt doing.

[Teretonga]

Looking through incident reports from meetings prior to 1973 there are dozens of references to catch fencing prior to 1973 although there doesn't appear to be any at Siverstone in 1973.
Donohue's accident in Austria was 1973 so it did exist at the that time.

[Alan Raine]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

Donohue's accident in Austria was 1973 so it did exist at the that time.

1975.

[Teretonga]

Correct Alan.
It was '75.
I had found another reference on the internet that suggested ,73 but it was incorrect when cross referenced.
But there are references all over the place to catch fencing before 73 so it must have been around in some form.

[EERO]

I was pretty broken up over Donahue's death in '75. Catch fencing ws evil stuff.

I attended the USGP at the Glen from 72-75. There was no catch fencing for the first two years. I think it went into the esses in the wake of Cevert's accident in 73 and Konigg's in 74, meaning I first saw it in possibley '74. I recall standing right near the armco in the esses in 75 as Brett Lunger plowed throughthe fences righrt toward me. I can remmber the sound of the popping of the posts as he hit each one. He was lucky it was a pretty low speed crash, but it took the marshalls about ten minuteds to cut him out of the chicken wire. If there had been a fuel leak, it would have been awful.

John SSC aked a question earlier about the Stewards of the era. Truthfully, I do not recall any judgements about driving except perhaps someone jumping a start. I watched Arnoux and Jabouille on CBS tv that long ago summer of 1979 and there was never any question but that it was the most exciting bit of driving anyone had ever seen by two highly skilled professionals with a strong competitive fire.

[JohnSSC]

It was when Mark died that I realized anyone could - it hit me hard as well and made me wonder how a sport I loved so much could take away so much.

Ever since, when I read folks posting nonsense about drivers not facing enough risk compared to drivers of the past, I just want to shout. I would gladly lessen the risk in order to have seen Mark finish his career and retire well and whole. I am sure that many of the folks here have drivers for whom they feel much the same.

For me, it has always been about the artistry behind the wheel and not the risk when the art fails the artist.

Thank you EERO, for the thoughts about Mark Donahue. Somewhere, I may still have the page I tore out of Road & Track and hung on my wall to commemorate his passing. I really wish he had stayed retired...

[EERO]

I grew up in Providence. We didn't have many sports heroes, and could claim Donahue as one of our own because he went to Brown. The fact that he was a thinking driver, analytical and precise appealed to me. I think his skill as a race engineer overshadowed his raw talent-but that talent was real.

I was fortunate enough to see his race a few times, most memorably at the Glen in the Can Am in '73 in the 917-30; no one could evne come close.

I was absolutely devastated when he died-probably the last time I cried when a driver died.

"it hit me hard as well and made me wonder how a sport I loved so much could take away so much." all I can say is, "John, I hear ya' buddy."

Apologies to everyone else for hijacking the thread.

[JohnSSC]

You too, huh?

He was the last one I let myself...well you know what I mean! All the drivers since have always been held up to that particular example.

Cheers EERO.

By the way, I don't think we need to apologize, but I will anyway just in case...

[Bononi]

No need to apologize ! I just wish all threads could be like this one instead, the forum is really missing some reasonable "chatting"

[JohnSSC]

No offense to any other members here, Bon, but I miss the reasonable chatting as well. Glad folks like EERO are still around to have that chat with every now and again.

[Dan Friel]

Originally Posted by Bononi

No need to apologize ! I just wish all threads could be like this one instead, the forum is really missing some reasonable "chatting"

Too true. Forums are increasingly get way too serious or places to abuse others. Good to hear stories about days gone by and drivers I know little about. Makes F1 these days seem ultra boring (that's sort of on topic to keep the mods happy)...