0:00:03 > 0:00:10It's September 10th 1961, and the Grand Prix circus descends upon the Italian town of Monza.
0:00:10 > 0:00:18German hero Wolfgang Von Trips lines his Ferrari up on the grid against British golden boy Jim Clark.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23At stake is the World Grand Prix crown.
0:00:27 > 0:00:33Moments later, 15 spectators and Von Trips would lie scattered and dead.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53Astonishingly, this horror at Monza had become the accepted face of Grand Prix in the early '60s,
0:00:53 > 0:00:58the race always continuing as the dead bodies were tidied away.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03This is the story of that terrifying era,
0:01:03 > 0:01:07and the slow, painful road to a safer future.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26In my period of driving,
0:01:26 > 0:01:30there was only a one out of three chance I was going to live.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35There was a two out of three chance I was going to die.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39To survive in that period of time,
0:01:39 > 0:01:45it's not a question of talent, it's just...a question of pure luck.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53It is probably difficult to comprehend today how one could
0:01:53 > 0:01:57continue to race with those sort of tragedies literally all around you.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19We counted, one night, my wife and I, Helen, at home, counted 57 people who had died.
0:02:19 > 0:02:26They thought at the time, "Oh, hell, that could happen to me," but it's like the fighter pilot's thing.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Yes, sure, he's going to get shot down, he could get killed the next day.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33You had that mentality, that bravado.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36Fuel everywhere, the fuel pump going on.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40I say, "This thing is going to blow," because there is a lot of fire.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44Whoof, went up in flame. Big fireball.
0:02:45 > 0:02:51You're just a passenger when something happens that quickly. There's nothing you can do about it.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09And I start praying and asking God, "Should I still continue?
0:03:09 > 0:03:11"Should I still be doing this sport?"
0:03:11 > 0:03:14I love this sport, but something is wrong with this sport.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22It's not just sadness, you're just angry, you're shocked,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26you're angry the sport could be as bad as it is
0:03:26 > 0:03:29and as negative as this, to have such violence.
0:03:45 > 0:03:5015 streamlined thunderbolts roar from the starting line at the German Grand Prix, down Berlin's AVUS track.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54The course uses two parallel autobahn lanes...
0:03:54 > 0:04:00The 1950s brought together a combustible mix of daredevil drivers and cutting-edge technology.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04With cars approaching 200mph and scant regard for safety,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08audiences were flocking to the races.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11When Hans Herrmann was thrown from his somersaulting BRM
0:04:11 > 0:04:16at the 1959 German Grand Prix, the audience applauded his luck.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20It was all part of the show.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25And it was a show dominated by Mercedes, Maserati and Ferrari.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29Winning driver Tony Brooks, with a 139 mph average,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31a record for the perilous AVUS race.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37So when British driver Tony Brooks won in an historic Ferrari 1-2-3,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40few could see the revolution that was coming.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45Enzo Ferrari and his contemporaries were about to be toppled from their throne
0:04:45 > 0:04:49by a bunch of maverick British designers working out of sheds.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56The strong British teams started to come in
0:04:56 > 0:04:59to challenge the Italian dominance.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03All of a sudden the Coopers won the championship in '59 and '60
0:05:03 > 0:05:06with a rear-engined car, and by the end of 1960
0:05:06 > 0:05:08the front-engined car like the Ferrari was dead.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Everybody had to go rear-engined.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Charles and John Cooper had effectively rewritten the Grand Prix rule book
0:05:15 > 0:05:19by moving the engine from the front to the back.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21The road holding was so much better,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24you could position the rear-engined car
0:05:24 > 0:05:26so much easier, they were so much lighter.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30They responded so much more quickly to brakes because they were lighter.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Cooper was a very practical guy,
0:05:35 > 0:05:40and I think almost the car was designed on the garage floor with chalk.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44Cooper did all this from a small Surbiton lock-up,
0:05:44 > 0:05:49proving that success was about fresh thinking, not industrial might.
0:05:49 > 0:05:56This gave Colin Chapman, boss of another upstart outfit, the confidence that he could do it, too.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Lotus were about to change Grand Prix forever.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Lotus was a massive threat to anyone.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Chapman was much more of an innovator, lived on the edge.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09His philosophy was always push the limit on everything.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14We were sort of always in front of the opposition anyway.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19We were sort of leading, and the others were sort of following in our wake.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23As you approach there, you see these green transporters,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26and you think, "This is it, this is the world,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29"this is it, this is heaven," and you walk in
0:06:29 > 0:06:32and you're surprised. It's small, unbelievably small.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38And the smell of the cars, it was just unbelievable.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43Colin was a very infectious character.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46I always regretted that I didn't stay,
0:06:46 > 0:06:53because he showed so much enthusiasm and drive.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55He had this perception,
0:06:55 > 0:07:00very sensitive, how to improve a car, like intuition.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04He would put the hand here and start doing like this...
0:07:04 > 0:07:08and I knew something good was going to come out soon.
0:07:08 > 0:07:14Enzo Ferrari was a traditionalist, who believed that powerful engines were all you needed for success.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16But the British were proving him wrong.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21He began to disdainfully refer to them as garagistas - garage teams.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25I think he was probably deep down very irritated
0:07:25 > 0:07:31that with all his technical sophistication,
0:07:31 > 0:07:37that these garages could not only take him on, but beat him.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45Speaking technically, to get good acceleration
0:07:45 > 0:07:49you need the best possible power to weight ratio.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54Right now everyone is this country was using the same engine,
0:07:54 > 0:07:58and so everybody basically had the same power.
0:07:58 > 0:08:04So the only way to beat the opposition was to add lightness,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07and that is what we tried to do.
0:08:09 > 0:08:16Colin...most of the time carried it to extremes,
0:08:16 > 0:08:24and consequently his cars, although they were quick, were also very fragile...
0:08:25 > 0:08:28..and tended to break.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31Lotus and its chief engineer Colin Chapman
0:08:31 > 0:08:35were fast gaining a reputation for making lethal machines.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40One race in 1960 would take a long time to forget.
0:08:40 > 0:08:46But if we look at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa in 1960, there were four accidents.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48Three were Lotuses.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52Two drivers were killed and two could've been killed.
0:08:52 > 0:08:58They just confirmed my decision not to drive for them.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05British drivers Alan Stacey and Chris Bristow both perished at Spa,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08whilst Mike Taylor had been left badly injured.
0:09:08 > 0:09:14Taylor had been sent into a ditch at over 100mph when his Lotus's steering column sheared.
0:09:16 > 0:09:22But crucially, Taylor was the first driver ever to argue it was a manufacturing fault.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25He demanded compensation.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28Because he had bought the car in a commercial transaction,
0:09:28 > 0:09:33he was entitled to say it was defective.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36"You sold me something which was defective."
0:09:36 > 0:09:40Quite a different argument altogether.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45And he sued Chapman and it was settled out of court, apparently for a considerable amount of money.
0:09:45 > 0:09:52The cars were so fragile that it wasn't really funny sometimes
0:09:52 > 0:09:53to drive for him.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58Make it light and when it breaks make it lighter still.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01That was his attitude. It's always got to be the perfect machine.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07These cars were being made to go so fast,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10in places where you couldn't afford anything to go wrong
0:10:10 > 0:10:12or the driver to make a mistake,
0:10:12 > 0:10:14that it was lethal combination,
0:10:14 > 0:10:18and that was again part of the mentality that people accepted.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23This is the way it was, and there was nothing you could do about it except not do it.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26Chapman was very much a product of his time.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30Safety in Grand Prix racing was ill-conceived at best.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Flammable straw bales lined tracks. Spectators free to stand anywhere.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38Pits open with petrol lying around in barrels.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42Overalls made of cotton, and helmets often made of leather.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46The drivers wore lucky charms rather than seat belts.
0:10:49 > 0:10:55In 1961 and 1962, yet another four drivers and three spectators would be killed.
0:10:55 > 0:11:01mechanical failure, trackside negligence and driver error all to blame.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05Grand Prix, it seemed, was spiralling out of control.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Out of this atmosphere of risk and tragedy came a new Grand Prix darling.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19Clark takes the lead from Hill before the midway point.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Jim Clark wins, averaging close to 121 mph.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31Jim Clark was a Scottish farmer's boy with a rare talent.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34Chapman had found the perfect driver to turn his team's fortunes around.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41Jimmy Clark had this extraordinary ability to drive round problems.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44His idea was to nurse the car as much as he could,
0:11:44 > 0:11:51and if you look, it was just his sheer class and speed and how he took so little out of the car.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54He had the car in perfect balance at all times.
0:11:54 > 0:12:01Jim Clark and his Lotus Climax cleaned up in 1963 and 1965.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06I had been third in the World Championship in my first year in Formula One in 1965,
0:12:06 > 0:12:11and that was an amazing experience for a young, up and coming driver to be on the podium with a fellow Scot.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16It began to be known as Batman and Robin,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19and there was no doubt who Batman was or who Robin was.
0:12:19 > 0:12:27Jim was best man at my wedding, but I said at that time it was the only time I will admit he was best man.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30He was a good lad, a good lad.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Both on the track and off the track.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37Sandwiched between Clark's championships
0:12:37 > 0:12:43was a victory for John Surtees and the classic Ferrari 158.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45Lotus would not have it all their own way.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53Competition from the garagistas was taking Grand Prix to a new level,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57its appeal attracting fresh young blood into the sport.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01Jacky Ickx, Jo Siffert, Jackie Stewart,
0:13:01 > 0:13:06Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Jackie Oliver and Jochen Rindt were all prepared to disregard their fear
0:13:06 > 0:13:10for a taste of Grand Prix glory.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16You are there to be the best.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19You don't fight against the track,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23you fight against your competitors to be the best.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37I found that if I learned to be clinical, if I removed emotions,
0:13:37 > 0:13:42whether they were highs or lows, I could perform to a better level.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44Emotion's a very dangerous thing.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50It's a fantastic feeling when I was able to put in a quick lap,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53going to the corner, sliding the car, controlling,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55drifting the car, brake on the limit.
0:13:55 > 0:14:03To me, one of the biggest satisfactions is that relationship with that machinery.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06It has to be one where it virtually talks to you.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11Read it by the seat of the pants and by the feel it gives through you.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16So that when you approach a high speed corner and you get it right...
0:14:17 > 0:14:19..it's exhilarating.
0:14:20 > 0:14:26You arrive at that corner and you think, "I can get through there without lifting."
0:14:26 > 0:14:30So you keep this foot down, like that.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36You always stay on the maximum performance.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41You know, over 100%, and to be 101, 102% on the edge.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45You have to be young, you shouldn't have any fear,
0:14:45 > 0:14:52you have to have plenty of dreams and no questions about difficulties.
0:14:52 > 0:14:53You go for it.
0:14:53 > 0:15:00But you are on the edge, if you take the pressure the wrong way, mentally it's a disaster.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05The pressure can destroy you, but you have to take it in a good way.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12In the '60s, Grand Prix tracks were chosen specially to intensify that pressure on the drivers,
0:15:12 > 0:15:15testing psychological strength as well as skill.
0:15:17 > 0:15:24One of the most notorious was the extreme challenge of the 14-kilometre loop at Spa in Belgium.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49Spa is a road circuit. High speed corners, doing 180, 200 mph.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54So, I mean, if you went off the road, you didn't know what you were going to hit.
0:15:55 > 0:16:01But you didn't think about it. It was just a piece of black strip where you just go flat out.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03The challenge of Spa was very special.
0:16:03 > 0:16:10To get it right was very satisfying, when you had the car or the bike just on the limit.
0:16:10 > 0:16:16Spa was the fastest track in Europe at the time,
0:16:16 > 0:16:24but the surrounding was not so easy because you are in the middle of the forest, the fields, houses,
0:16:24 > 0:16:26electric poles and all these things.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29- JACKIE STEWART:- From a racing driver's point of view,
0:16:29 > 0:16:34we could see what the trajectory would be if we got it wrong.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37And then Graham Hill and Jim Clark, unfamiliar...
0:16:37 > 0:16:42In 1966, Spa would host an extraordinary Grand Prix
0:16:42 > 0:16:46in monsoon conditions that would automatically cancel a race today.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50..non-starter. And we're all set for the off.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54Into a slide on the inside. It's Jochen Rindt.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57Jochen Rindt with a Cooper Maserati just behind John Surtees.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00It's John Surtees with the three-litre V12...
0:17:00 > 0:17:03When it really rained, it could be rather difficult,
0:17:03 > 0:17:07and we had a dry start to this race, this 1966 Grand Prix.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10We started the race in dry weather.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14By the time we came to about the fourth corner,
0:17:14 > 0:17:16there was thunder rain.
0:17:16 > 0:17:23Well, now, Spa has a reputation for sensational racing at any stage,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27but this is the most extraordinary thing I have ever seen at a World Championship Grand Prix.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31And seven of the best drivers in the world went off in the very first corner.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Aquaplaned off. I wasn't one of them. I'd made a bad start.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Joe Bonnier and Mike Spence the two cars off the road.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43The two BRMs still haven't shown up and neither has Jim Clark's Lotus.
0:17:43 > 0:17:48- Mike Spence still...- Then he saw in the field the other BRM, that of Jackie Stewart, upside down.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52Most tyres can't accommodate the kind of water that was there that day.
0:17:52 > 0:17:58And I went off the road, I hit a woodcutter's hut, I knocked down a telegraph pole,
0:17:58 > 0:18:03I hit part of a wall and went down into a lower basement area of a farmyard,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06and I was knocked about, and it was the first lap.
0:18:06 > 0:18:12I was stuck in the car for about 30 minutes and, of course, it could've gone up at any time.
0:18:12 > 0:18:18I was conscious, unconscious, and Graham Hill fortunately came round
0:18:18 > 0:18:22and could've continued, but came to help me.
0:18:22 > 0:18:27Bob Bondurant and Graham borrowed spanners from spectators' cars
0:18:27 > 0:18:31to get the steering wheel removed in order to get me out of the car,
0:18:31 > 0:18:38and in fact had to go and find somebody to get an ambulance to come and pick me up.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42And the only person there to help was a nun.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46I was on a canvas stretcher,
0:18:46 > 0:18:49and I remember being laid down on the floor,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53and I remember seeing cigarette ends all around me on the floor.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57And I think the nun was there because she had first aid equipment.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02So that was, in effect, at each of the posts,
0:19:02 > 0:19:06what medical attention you could expect.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08They put me in the back of an ambulance
0:19:08 > 0:19:14and we took off, and the motorcycle policeman lost the ambulance,
0:19:14 > 0:19:16and the ambulance didn't know how to get to Liege.
0:19:16 > 0:19:21I mean, a parody of errors.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25It would be a funny story if it weren't serious.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30But when that happens to you, you realise that the system's way wrong.
0:19:30 > 0:19:35RACE COMMENTARY: 'Graham Hill took the steering wheel off with Bob Bondurant's help.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38'They got Jackie Stewart out of the car.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41'25 minutes it took before an ambulance got there
0:19:41 > 0:19:44'and Jackie Stewart has now been taken to hospital with a broken rib
0:19:44 > 0:19:47'and a broken shoulder...' COMMENTARY FADES
0:19:47 > 0:19:49With broken ribs and collarbone,
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Jackie Stewart was of the mind
0:19:51 > 0:19:53that if the sport wasn't taking care of him,
0:19:53 > 0:19:55he would take care of himself.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57He taped a spanner to his steering wheel
0:19:57 > 0:20:00and organised his own medical cover.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03Eventually the drivers paid for a mobile hospital that went to races.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07With respirators, heart machines, blood tanks, it was thought to have
0:20:07 > 0:20:10everything required for a life threatening accident.
0:20:10 > 0:20:16Despite this, three drivers were still to die within the next year.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Bob Anderson skidding into a marshal's post,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22John Taylor and Lorenzo Bandini in horrific fires,
0:20:22 > 0:20:26Bandini's intensified by straw bales that surrounded the Monaco track.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33IN FRENCH:
0:20:41 > 0:20:44Bandini was a Ferrari driver.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48Enzo Ferrari used to talk about "my terrible joys",
0:20:48 > 0:20:49where you want to win,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53you're always pushing the limit in different ways,
0:20:53 > 0:20:55Chapman one way, Ferrari in another.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59People get killed and you have this kind of responsibility
0:20:59 > 0:21:02and you also have this will to win
0:21:02 > 0:21:05and the two don't always sit very comfortably.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09I mean, drivers basically lived on one shunt
0:21:09 > 0:21:11and they'd think, one big shunt would be it.
0:21:11 > 0:21:17The most dangerous aspect in the '60s and '70s was the risk of fire.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19Nine times out of ten if a car crashed,
0:21:19 > 0:21:21pretty soon it would be burning.
0:21:21 > 0:21:27I think the only way to make sense of motor racing at that time
0:21:27 > 0:21:32is to appreciate that the drivers, the officials,
0:21:32 > 0:21:35and the spectators had a completely different attitude
0:21:35 > 0:21:37to life and death.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41There were too many drivers getting killed
0:21:41 > 0:21:43and they'd soon sign another one up,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47you know, pretty quickly. Test days for the next one.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50I mean it was...expendable?
0:21:52 > 0:21:54Nearly.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09IN FRENCH:
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Jochen and I, we were driving in '64, '65,
0:22:36 > 0:22:37in a little Mini
0:22:37 > 0:22:39with his little van behind, with his car,
0:22:39 > 0:22:41and he did everything himself,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45and then he met his mechanic down at the circuit.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50It was a real hippy time.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36Colin Chapman and Lotus were amongst the first to realise
0:23:36 > 0:23:39the full potential of the monocoque chassis
0:23:39 > 0:23:42and the shift of the engine to the rear of the car.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47But in mid 1967, came the coup de grace.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51Chapman persuaded Ford to invest £100,000 in a Grand Prix engine
0:23:51 > 0:23:53from Keith Duckworth and Mike Costin.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58It would become the Grand Prix bargain of the century,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00never mind the decade.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03And it marked the first time that the engine and the chassis
0:24:03 > 0:24:06were put together as integrated units.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09So Duckworth and Costin designed the engine
0:24:09 > 0:24:11to suit what kind of installation
0:24:11 > 0:24:16Chapman and Morris Felipe envisaged in the Lotus 49.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20Chapman's genius was to incorporate the 400 Brake Horsepower engine
0:24:20 > 0:24:23in the actual structure of the car, making it lighter, yet stronger.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28And when the new Lotus 49 was unveiled,
0:24:28 > 0:24:31it destroyed the competition.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Here's this wonderful car, that appears at Zandvoort,
0:24:43 > 0:24:48and has re-written the rule book on design overnight.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50The Cosworth engine was so dominant
0:24:50 > 0:24:54that Chapman to share his exclusive advantage with the other teams.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59But as the 1968 season began, Lotus remained unbeatable.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03They still had Jim Clark, now regarded as peerless.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07I don't reckon there's ever been
0:25:07 > 0:25:09a better partnership than those two guys.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17IN FRENCH:
0:25:25 > 0:25:29Out of the car or in the car, he was the same temperament. It was amazing.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34And he said, "Follow me around
0:25:34 > 0:25:36"and I'll show you a few tips."
0:25:36 > 0:25:39So for the first opening lap at the Nurburgring,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41I followed Jimmy Clark around.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53And then on the second lap he disappeared!
0:25:53 > 0:25:55I thought I was doing quite well until then.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00'I think that to drive very fast round a circuit
0:26:00 > 0:26:04'requires a tremendous amount of self control
0:26:04 > 0:26:08'because the limit of driving very fast and going over the limit
0:26:08 > 0:26:10'takes a tremendous amount of concentration.'
0:26:10 > 0:26:14In the event the 1968 season would hardly be underway
0:26:14 > 0:26:17before history was to be cruelly rewritten.
0:26:18 > 0:26:24Hockenheim was and is a very Teutonic track.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27No other word will do I'm afraid.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31It's got these huge concrete grandstands in a great bowl.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35It was basically a high speed run.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38The track, apart from the complex,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41really is like a corridor between tall trees, almost,
0:26:41 > 0:26:45and the mist and the rain hang in those trees,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47and make it even more miserable.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51It's the kind of place you want to get the race over and go home.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54On the 7th April 1968,
0:26:54 > 0:26:58Germany's second track welcomed spectators for a Formula Two race.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03It was a damp, miserable weekend
0:27:03 > 0:27:09that is enshrined in memory as the race that nobody wanted to be at.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14The teams scheduled to appear included Lotus, Matra and Ferrari.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19Accompanying them was a roster of top drivers, including Jim Clark.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22There were a lot of reasons why Jimmy was at Hockenheim.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24One of which, it was normal in those days
0:27:24 > 0:27:27for Formula One drivers to do Formula Two races.
0:27:27 > 0:27:28It happened all the time.
0:27:28 > 0:27:33However, at this particular race, something was unsettling Clark.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Don't think the weather helped.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41He wasn't very happy all weekend, for him,
0:27:41 > 0:27:45although he was still his gentleman self.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47And Graham wasn't all that happy either.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49Graham Hill, who was in the other car.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Clark's car had a misfire problem,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56crash damage from the previous week's race,
0:27:56 > 0:28:00and a young mechanic, Beaky Sims, to solve the problems.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02Jim had other worries, too.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06His last words were, "Don't expect me to be
0:28:06 > 0:28:09"up there in my usual position.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12"I don't trust the tyres.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14"I can't get no grip with them.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16"Can't get no heat in them."
0:28:18 > 0:28:22And we adjusted the car, we softened the shock absorbers,
0:28:22 > 0:28:25took the rear roll bars, disconnected to give it more grip,
0:28:25 > 0:28:26which is what he wanted,
0:28:26 > 0:28:32hoping it was going to be a dry race, but it wasn't.
0:28:35 > 0:28:40As the cars took off from the start, averaging speeds of 130 mph,
0:28:40 > 0:28:45they left the safety of the stadium area and disappeared into the woods.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49Clark was running a lowly 5th, to Jean Pierre Beltoise's Matra.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57Seven laps later, Clark failed to return.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02He started off and then didn't come round,
0:29:02 > 0:29:08and then a Porsche car came up, pace car.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12He said, "Can you come with me." I said, "Me? Yeah. OK."
0:29:12 > 0:29:14While the race was on,
0:29:14 > 0:29:18you joined the circuit and went round and I saw an ambulance there
0:29:18 > 0:29:21and thought, "Oh, dear." And then, "Where's the car?
0:29:21 > 0:29:23"Where's Jimmy?"
0:29:23 > 0:29:27He said, "Come with me" and then I saw what was left of a car.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31Where's the engine and gear box?
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Somebody's taken them. What's going on?
0:29:33 > 0:29:35You know, as a kid you're going...
0:29:35 > 0:29:37and then you start to get a little bit scared.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40Jim Clark was dead.
0:29:40 > 0:29:47Thrown from his car, smashed into trees 15 feet up, breaking his neck.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51As the ambulance took Clark's body away, his team mate Graham Hill
0:29:51 > 0:29:54was left to deal with the wreckage of the vehicle.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56The race in the meantime carried on,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59eventually won by Jean-Pierre Beltoise.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05IN FRENCH:
0:30:20 > 0:30:26There was no blatant mistake made by any individual,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29me, for certain, because I was his mechanic,
0:30:29 > 0:30:31the only one working on the car
0:30:33 > 0:30:36But still, to be associated with his death,
0:30:36 > 0:30:39will go with me for the rest of my life,
0:30:39 > 0:30:41that will never go away, ever.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50He is, to me, probably immortal,
0:30:50 > 0:30:52I'm still a big fan.
0:30:55 > 0:30:56I say that with feeling.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38# Three hours from sundown
0:31:38 > 0:31:41# Jeremy flies
0:31:45 > 0:31:51# Hoping to keep the sun from his eyes
0:31:55 > 0:32:01# East from the city and down to the cave
0:32:05 > 0:32:08# In search of a master
0:32:08 > 0:32:10# In search of a slave... #
0:32:19 > 0:32:22Jimmy was one of his closest friends
0:32:22 > 0:32:25and Chapman just couldn't handle it
0:32:25 > 0:32:29and he left everything to the mechanics and disappeared.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35Jimmy was not the kind of guy you ever expect to die in a race car,
0:32:35 > 0:32:38he was too good for that,
0:32:38 > 0:32:40and the fact that he did get killed in one
0:32:40 > 0:32:43shows again just how dangerous that era was.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47If Jimmy Clark could get killed it could happen to anyone.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50That's another telling thing, if you look at what Graham
0:32:50 > 0:32:53had to go through, because while Chapman,
0:32:53 > 0:32:55in his distress, wasn't there, Graham was.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59Here you are, you're actually carrying the shattered remains
0:32:59 > 0:33:02in which the greatest driver on Earth has been killed,
0:33:02 > 0:33:06back to the pits, knowing you're going to be racing one of these cars
0:33:06 > 0:33:11in a fortnight's time - that's courage.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15That's a very special character that can do that and carry on
0:33:15 > 0:33:19and then Graham won the championship for Lotus at the end of the year,
0:33:19 > 0:33:21deservedly so.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26Jim Clark's funeral was attended by over 50,000 people
0:33:26 > 0:33:30at his hometown church in Chirnside, Berwickshire.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32Amongst the drivers,
0:33:32 > 0:33:36there was sadness, disbelief and a growing anger.
0:33:36 > 0:33:38Now they all felt vulnerable.
0:33:40 > 0:33:45Jim Clark died almost certainly by a vehicle failure of some kind.
0:33:45 > 0:33:51There was no barrier, no fencing, in front of a forest,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54and Jim Clark died violently
0:33:54 > 0:34:00in a forest, being hit by young trees and big trees alike
0:34:00 > 0:34:04and his car was almost totally destroyed, and Jimmy died,
0:34:04 > 0:34:07it was just inconceivable.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11Over the next three months, these feelings of anger would intensify
0:34:11 > 0:34:14as Mike Spence, Ludovico Scarfiotti and Jo Schlesser
0:34:14 > 0:34:16would all die on the track,
0:34:16 > 0:34:21Schlesser in an experimental and controversial Honda.
0:34:21 > 0:34:26It was a concept car which had some interesting features on it
0:34:26 > 0:34:29and could have been quite useful
0:34:29 > 0:34:33to use as a research car, but it was not suitable for racing.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37Did that make you angry to see that car on the grid?
0:34:37 > 0:34:42I wasn't very pleased at the time, no. No.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48Schlesser was burned alive, the car's magnesium body
0:34:48 > 0:34:51burning with such ferocity it was impossible to put out.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56IN FRENCH:
0:35:03 > 0:35:06'68 was the turning point,
0:35:06 > 0:35:10because so many people died in such a short time.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14We felt like we were going from one funeral to the next,
0:35:14 > 0:35:17it was a bit drastic.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24And we weren't at war, we were performing in a sport,
0:35:24 > 0:35:26almost a leisure-time sport
0:35:26 > 0:35:28for public enjoyment.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30This wasn't a war.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34I was revolted, because we could save so much more lives,
0:35:34 > 0:35:37so many colleagues could be saved.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40Jackie Stewart set about revitalising
0:35:40 > 0:35:43the Grand Prix Drivers' Association.
0:35:43 > 0:35:49He quite rightly made the statement that too many guys
0:35:49 > 0:35:53were getting killed because the circuits were not safe enough
0:35:53 > 0:35:57and fighting the premise
0:35:57 > 0:36:01that part of the danger of losing your life
0:36:01 > 0:36:07was what proved you to be the best race driver. Rubbish!
0:36:07 > 0:36:10Stewart began pushing for the most rudimentary of safety considerations.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14For all drivers to wear fireproof overalls,
0:36:14 > 0:36:18certified helmets and a six-point safety harness.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21He then moved on to the circuits,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24demanding Armco barriers and catch fencing.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27But it was going to be a tough fight.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29In 1968 at the British Grand Prix,
0:36:29 > 0:36:34Jackie wanted some trees removed, and the answer from the RACMSA,
0:36:34 > 0:36:37which was the British national sporting authority,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40was, if Jackie Stewart wants trees cut down,
0:36:40 > 0:36:41he knows where the saws are.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46Even within the Grand Prix Drivers' Association,
0:36:46 > 0:36:48things were not clean cut.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51One of the problems with the GPDA
0:36:51 > 0:36:54is that so many people will go to a meeting
0:36:54 > 0:36:56and not say a bloody dickie word.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00You know, they wouldn't say anything, and then afterwards,
0:37:00 > 0:37:04they'd complain, and this was one of the things.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07The GPDA could have done with more input
0:37:07 > 0:37:11and one of the reasons why perhaps Jackie was allowed
0:37:11 > 0:37:16to get away with excesses on some of the views he put forward
0:37:16 > 0:37:22was because others were willing to not take the whole thing seriously.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24It's always the same.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26Out of 24 drivers, there were three or four
0:37:26 > 0:37:28that were the leading edge
0:37:28 > 0:37:30of which, Jackie Stewart,
0:37:30 > 0:37:35and there were deals done, compromise.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38IN FRENCH:
0:37:47 > 0:37:50We had some conflicts at the time
0:37:50 > 0:37:57on the timing of the way to make these moves forward.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01In the end, the race always goes ahead
0:38:01 > 0:38:05because of the commercial implications of it not.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11This rationale had to be challenged and it came to a head
0:38:11 > 0:38:15as the drivers contemplated another Belgian Grand Prix,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18at the infamous Spa-Francorchamp.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21The Grand Prix Drivers' Association went to inspect the track.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27When any of the drivers, including myself,
0:38:27 > 0:38:30went back to Spa, we weren't warmly welcomed
0:38:30 > 0:38:34because what we were asking for was money to be spent
0:38:34 > 0:38:37- to take off barbed wire fencing,
0:38:37 > 0:38:40which was designed to keep cows in fields.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43IN FRENCH:
0:38:57 > 0:38:59What's the price of life?
0:38:59 > 0:39:02What price do you put on a man or a woman's life?
0:39:02 > 0:39:06Because we weren't just talking about the drivers themselves,
0:39:06 > 0:39:09we were talking about spectator protection, a car reaching spectators.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27We wanted change, they didn't want a change because it costs money.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29Who's going to pay for it?
0:39:29 > 0:39:35Well, the track owner has to pay for it, they just didn't want to do it, they thought they had more power
0:39:35 > 0:39:41than the drivers had, they thought that the teams would capitulate and make their drivers drive.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43Well, in fact we didn't do that.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47The drivers voted to boycott the race.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49Spa was cancelled.
0:39:49 > 0:39:54It was a crucial turning point on the journey to making Grand Prix safer.
0:39:54 > 0:39:59It was an uphill battle - safety did not come easily and it didn't come cheap.
0:39:59 > 0:40:04The motoring press' response to the boycotting of Spa was less than encouraging,
0:40:04 > 0:40:10suggesting Grand Prix drivers should "take up knitting using needles without sharp points"
0:40:10 > 0:40:16and dismissing Jackie Stewart as "a pious little Scot with beady eyes".
0:40:16 > 0:40:19I didn't laugh at them, but I didn't take them seriously.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23When you see the grief that's brought to the wife or the girlfriend,
0:40:23 > 0:40:26the mother, the father, the brother, the sister, the close friends,
0:40:26 > 0:40:31when you see that and you are doing the same thing and you're going out to do the same thing again,
0:40:31 > 0:40:35you have to have an immense amount of focus and commitment to do that.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39And for anybody to turn round and start telling me that I'm chicken,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42well, I was still winning Grand Prix races at that time
0:40:42 > 0:40:47and I was still winning world championships, so I really didn't have an awful lot of time for them.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51If the safety campaign needed any more justification,
0:40:51 > 0:40:54it came at the 1969 American Grand Prix,
0:40:54 > 0:40:59when Graham Hill crashed out, horrifically breaking both legs.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04The part-time ambulance driver took him to a hospital that was closed.
0:41:07 > 0:41:12But while the debate struggled to move up a gear, the cars were still getting faster.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Teams had started to experiment with aerodynamics,
0:41:16 > 0:41:20and the next thing to appear on the grid was the aerofoil.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51The race to capitalise on downforce was hotting up.
0:41:51 > 0:41:59At the Barcelona Grand Prix of 1969, Colin Chapman was confident he had found the holy grail of Grand Prix.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02Bigger wings, bigger wings, bigger wings,
0:42:02 > 0:42:05massive wings, huge plan area and tiny little struts
0:42:05 > 0:42:12that carried the wings where they were much smaller. And then suddenly they snap and break in Spain.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15Barcelona, we had the big wing and Chapman said,
0:42:15 > 0:42:19"I want to make it wider, with styrofoam and aluminium".
0:42:19 > 0:42:24And we put six inches each side from that to this,
0:42:24 > 0:42:27and it put so much downforce on, the wings bent in the race
0:42:27 > 0:42:33and it put Jochen into the barrier, big time. Huge shunt, it bent the car like a banana.
0:42:35 > 0:42:40So you did things at the track without testing, which you can't do now.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44It shows that Chapman was always going to push to the limits, and sometimes
0:42:44 > 0:42:49you didn't know where the limit was until you'd got empirical evidence.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57You know, there's so many things that can go wrong with a racing car,
0:42:57 > 0:43:01that the unusual one really is the one that finishes, rather than the one that doesn't.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06Wing design had quickly become a dangerous joke
0:43:06 > 0:43:10and after his spectacular near-miss, rising star Jochen Rindt
0:43:10 > 0:43:14gave voice to his concern in an open letter to the press.
0:43:14 > 0:43:19"Formula One is meant to be a serious business, not a hot rod show.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22"Wings are dangerous to drivers and spectators,
0:43:22 > 0:43:24"they should be banned."
0:43:24 > 0:43:30But, you know, it was like, indirectly to Colin.
0:43:30 > 0:43:31Indirectly.
0:43:31 > 0:43:38He just wanted to show Colin that, "I can tell the world what's going on."
0:43:39 > 0:43:41I don't think Colin cared.
0:43:45 > 0:43:52The 1969 Grand Prix World Championship was eventually won by Jackie Stewart in the Tyrell Matra.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55Ken Tyrell was another British garagista.
0:43:55 > 0:44:00He developed Stewart's car around a French Matra chassis.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04But in 1970, Stewart and Tyrell's success was cut short.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07It was Jochen Rindt, building on his early promise,
0:44:07 > 0:44:12now promoted to Lotus's number one, who was the man to beat.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14Jochen was, at that time...
0:44:16 > 0:44:20..the fastest driver out there, he was tremendous.
0:44:21 > 0:44:26Lotus were, at that time, bedding in another new design, the 72.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29Wings, though modified, were still on the agenda.
0:44:29 > 0:44:33Progress, it seemed, could not be undone.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36If it's going to go as quick as it looks, I think's it's going to be a good car.
0:44:36 > 0:44:42But despite the drivers' best efforts, safety on the track was still proving elusive,
0:44:42 > 0:44:48drivers sitting between two lethal fuel tanks, frequently with disastrous consequences.
0:44:48 > 0:44:53And then I steered across the track and I caught Jacky Ickx full side
0:44:53 > 0:44:57leading the Spanish Grand Prix on the first lap, in the side tanks.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07Wooof, went up in flames, big fireball.
0:45:08 > 0:45:13Jacky got out of the Ferrari, and ran into my car and fell over.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24This accident was followed by the death of the popular Bruce McLaren.
0:45:24 > 0:45:29While testing in England, his Can-Am car lost bodywork and destabilised.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33It span off the track, hitting a redundant marshal's post.
0:45:33 > 0:45:38Only three weeks later, Piers Courage was killed at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
0:45:38 > 0:45:45Crashing heavily, the marshals were unable to put out the ensuing inferno.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49The memorial service for Bruce McLaren took place in St Paul's Cathedral,
0:45:49 > 0:45:51a very big event, and we were all in attendance.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55After the memorial service, we went back to the Dorchester Hotel
0:45:55 > 0:45:58and we had a GPDA meeting, and we were all there.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02Jochen had gone to the Nurburgring,
0:46:02 > 0:46:06and asked for a whole list of things that we wanted them to do.
0:46:06 > 0:46:12Now, the Nurburgring was 14.7 miles around,
0:46:12 > 0:46:16it had 187 corners, you took off 13 times.
0:46:16 > 0:46:19Racing cars weren't designed to fly.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22Now, this is the temple
0:46:22 > 0:46:26of the most challenging race track in the world
0:46:26 > 0:46:29and we are suggesting we might not go there.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33There was a lot of concern that, "Oh, you can't do that to the Nurburgring."
0:46:33 > 0:46:38Jack Brabham, who was at that time the senior member
0:46:38 > 0:46:43of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, I mean, thoroughly experienced racing driver,
0:46:43 > 0:46:47had already won the World Championship, by then had won it three times.
0:46:47 > 0:46:51And he... Very quiet, never spoke out on anything,
0:46:51 > 0:46:54and he stood up and he said "We've got to go with Jackie,
0:46:54 > 0:46:59"we can't go to the Nurburgring, this is ridiculous. Look at the number of people we've killed."
0:46:59 > 0:47:03In that week we had services for Piers Courage and Bruce McLaren,
0:47:03 > 0:47:06and here we were going back to race at the Nurburgring
0:47:06 > 0:47:10after they had said, "We'll do nothing that you ask".
0:47:10 > 0:47:14It was a ridiculous situation, and they were just holding a pistol to our head
0:47:14 > 0:47:18and thinking that we couldn't do it to the Nurburgring.
0:47:18 > 0:47:23And the vote went on our favour and we did not race at the Nurburgring.
0:47:26 > 0:47:32The German Grand Prix was hastily switched to Hockenheim, Jochen Rindt taking an easy victory.
0:47:33 > 0:47:38Rindt was now setting the pace, and as the championship moved to Monza,
0:47:38 > 0:47:41he looked forward to clinching the world crown.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44But Rindt remained unimpressed by Chapman's latest design,
0:47:44 > 0:47:50the Lotus 72, and he asked for his favourite Lotus 49 to be shipped to Italy.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54So we get to Monza, and Colin just stands and says,
0:47:54 > 0:47:59"Well, the 49 is not here, either you drive the 72 or you don't."
0:48:01 > 0:48:04But you are very close to the world championship, you know.
0:48:08 > 0:48:13So against his better wishes, Jochen Rindt took the wheel of the Lotus 72.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16Soon after, one of his brake shafts failed.
0:48:16 > 0:48:22He lost control and veered off the track at 185 miles per hour.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31He was very special to me.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34He was a very generous, kind man.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40I remember being very angry that the world could go on,
0:48:40 > 0:48:44when he had to die, but I'm sure that's a very normal feeling, you know?
0:48:45 > 0:48:51He did what he loved doing and you can't fight that, you can't argue with that.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54Life goes on, and I have a daughter and you have to...
0:48:55 > 0:48:57She sort of...
0:48:57 > 0:49:01misses a lot, not to have had a father.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04She worked in Formula One for four years
0:49:04 > 0:49:09and she tried to understand the whole world of motor racing,
0:49:09 > 0:49:10I think she did.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16You can't ever put the finger on why you like somebody, it's just
0:49:16 > 0:49:21the way it is, you either like somebody, love somebody, you can't explain.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28Rindt's accident summed up many of the era's shortcomings.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31As well as the car's mechanical failure,
0:49:31 > 0:49:37the Armco barrier was not properly secured, his car sliding under it, hitting a vertical support.
0:49:37 > 0:49:44Also, Rindt himself had not properly fastened his harness, sealing his fate.
0:49:44 > 0:49:46Here they have Jochen Rindt,
0:49:46 > 0:49:50no-one knew what to do, they're all standing round...
0:49:53 > 0:49:55..taking pictures.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59And no-one in control.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03Jochen was dead, I believe, by the time I got to him.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07And the last rites had not been given to him by the priest
0:50:07 > 0:50:09but he did so when I was there.
0:50:10 > 0:50:12What do we do now?
0:50:12 > 0:50:14Chapman, does he carry on?
0:50:15 > 0:50:17Yes, of course he carries on.
0:50:17 > 0:50:22He did care after the accident because he was charged for manslaughter in Italy
0:50:22 > 0:50:24but not in England.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27So he couldn't go back for a while.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31So Jochen Rindt became the first ever
0:50:31 > 0:50:33posthumous World Champion.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35I mean, the trophy is there...
0:50:37 > 0:50:42..and I went to pick it up for him,
0:50:42 > 0:50:44but...
0:50:44 > 0:50:47then I was always on tranquilisers, you know.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50I couldn't face all that, it was awful.
0:51:02 > 0:51:07As the 1970s progressed, the landscape of Grand Prix changed.
0:51:07 > 0:51:12In came major sponsors, and with them, a kaleidoscope of colour.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19The teething problems with early aerodynamics were a distant memory,
0:51:19 > 0:51:27Colin Chapman refining the Lotus 72 into one of the most iconic Grand Prix cars of all time.
0:51:27 > 0:51:32With it, Emerson Fittipaldi became the youngest-ever Grand Prix champion.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36The best car I ever drove in my racing career was the Lotus 72
0:51:36 > 0:51:39because it was a car that I could talk to him,
0:51:39 > 0:51:42he talks to me, we understand each other, we love each other.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52Chapman was still the kingmaker, but it was now with a heavy heart.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54One day he come to me and say "Emerson,
0:51:54 > 0:51:58"you know I like you very much, but I don't want to get too close to you,
0:51:58 > 0:52:03"I have great loss, I don't want to happen again", he told me this personally.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09He was worried about his drivers, like any human being was.
0:52:09 > 0:52:15I think the impact when he lost Jimmy was devastating for him.
0:52:15 > 0:52:22The sadness that was consuming Chapman, and to some degree the sport itself, was not over yet.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25Jo Siffert died at Brands Hatch in 1971,
0:52:25 > 0:52:30and Jo Bonnier, who helped push safety issues, perished at Le Mans.
0:52:31 > 0:52:37It seemed as though the spectre of death had now established itself within the very DNA of the sport
0:52:37 > 0:52:40and its grip could not be shaken loose.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45You haven't come to see an accident?
0:52:45 > 0:52:48Oh yes, we enjoy accidents as well.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51But we like to see the boys drive well.
0:52:51 > 0:52:56When you're young, the sport is made for young people, you have dreams,
0:52:56 > 0:53:00you have your dreams and you're ready for it.
0:53:00 > 0:53:05Don't confuse things - nobody forced us to do it,
0:53:05 > 0:53:10there is a time for it, you do it because you are good at it.
0:53:10 > 0:53:11Point.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14Do you have any favourites amongst the drivers?
0:53:14 > 0:53:16No, not any more.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20The Drivers' Association tried to exert more pressure with strikes,
0:53:20 > 0:53:22or threats of strikes as the years passed.
0:53:22 > 0:53:28Starting initiatives such as donating old fireproofs to marshals who had none.
0:53:28 > 0:53:33Sponsorship began to exert its own influence.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36It brought an external pressure with it that had never been there before,
0:53:36 > 0:53:41namely, if you sponsor a car and your name is all over the car,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44you perhaps don't want to see a young man being burned to death in it.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48However, it would take one heartbreaking incident,
0:53:48 > 0:53:51screened across the world on international television,
0:53:51 > 0:53:54to finally shame the sport to its senses.
0:53:54 > 0:54:00Some 12 lethal years since Wolfgang Von Trips and 15 spectators had lost their lives at Monza.
0:54:01 > 0:54:08The tragedy would be played out at Zandvoort, the quirky Dutch seaside track in the dunes.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12As a results of Drivers' Association pressure in the early '70s,
0:54:12 > 0:54:17Zandvoort had been condemned, and then rebuilt at a cost of £2.5 million.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20It was now completely Armco-lined, had a new control tower
0:54:20 > 0:54:24and was thought to easily meet the new safety standards.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28They'd had Piers Courage's accident in 1970,
0:54:28 > 0:54:32they missed the race in '72, did all these changes.
0:54:32 > 0:54:36Everybody was there thinking, "This is good, we've moved it forward."
0:54:36 > 0:54:40And we drove in the morning to Zandvoort, and we saw all the crowds,
0:54:40 > 0:54:4480,000 people, and we were so happy.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47Nothing could go wrong, nothing.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52The weather was nice, the spectators were there,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55the racing cars were on the grid,
0:54:55 > 0:55:02we got a beautiful cup from the Royal Automobile Club for all the work we had been doing.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06Unbelievable, fantastic.
0:55:06 > 0:55:11There was a carnival atmosphere, just like there is at any race, but it was extra special there
0:55:11 > 0:55:17because it nearly didn't happen, so everybody was really stoked that they've got their circuit back,
0:55:17 > 0:55:21they've got a top-line field, it's all going forward again.
0:55:21 > 0:55:26The ship was like building the Titanic, fantastic.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29A new track with everything in and on it.
0:55:29 > 0:55:33So you feel very happy, and...
0:55:33 > 0:55:35everybody was happy.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38Maybe the guy on the back of the grid,
0:55:38 > 0:55:41not so happy, but the first three anyway.
0:55:41 > 0:55:46One of those drivers near the back of the grid was Roger Williamson,
0:55:46 > 0:55:50tipped as a future champion, but this would be his last race.
0:55:50 > 0:55:55On the eighth lap in only his second Grand Prix, Roger's tyre burst.
0:55:55 > 0:56:00His car was hurled upside down and exploded into flames.
0:56:00 > 0:56:06The driver of the following car, David Purley, would try to save Roger.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08But still the race would not be stopped,
0:56:08 > 0:56:13the marshals would be ill-equipped, and communications would fail.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16The fire engine would not arrive in time.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13I think it's the greatest stain on Formula One's reputation.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18When you think of what happened and what was allowed to happen,
0:57:18 > 0:57:21nobody comes out of that with any credit apart from David Purley.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24Even to the point where the drivers
0:57:24 > 0:57:26kept going.
0:57:26 > 0:57:32But when you look back at those days and you think, this just happens all the time.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36And that was part of the crusade as well. We cannot let this continue.
0:57:52 > 0:57:58# Put a candle in the window, ooh
0:58:00 > 0:58:05# But I feel I've got to move
0:58:07 > 0:58:09# Though I'm gone
0:58:09 > 0:58:11# Gone
0:58:11 > 0:58:13# I'll be coming home soon
0:58:14 > 0:58:18# Long as I can see the light
0:58:22 > 0:58:26# Pack my bag and let's get moving
0:58:29 > 0:58:35# Cos I'm bound to drift a while, ooh
0:58:37 > 0:58:39# Though I'm gone
0:58:39 > 0:58:41# Gone
0:58:41 > 0:58:43# You don't have to worry, no
0:58:45 > 0:58:49# Long as I can see the light. #
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