Grand Prix drivers demand safety measures

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32661, 17 July 1971, Page 12

Grand Prix drivers demand safety measures

(Newsweek Feature Service)

PARIS.

What motivates racing fans? Some, surely—those who know and love fast machines—admire the skill of the sport. But legions of others are attracted to grand prix racing by the ever-present threat of death.

And in recent years the ghouls have been amply rewarded, as some of the world’s best drivers have met fiery deaths on the track: Jimmy Clark, Bruce McLaren, Lorenzo Bandini, Piers Courage, Jochen Rindt, and last week-end the Mexican, Pedro Rodriguez.

But now the great drivers who survive have decided that common sense dictates a slight lessening in the inherent drama of grand prix racing. “This is supposed to be a game of skill,” says one driver-builder, “not a dice game with death.” Under the banner of the 10-year-old Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, they have begun to lobby for increased safety measures—most notably, galvanised steel safety railings—on some of the world’s most dangerous tracks. Apparently, they are willing to sacrifice a bit of their daredevil mystique in favour of increasing the odds of living to the ripe old age of 40. "The driver isn't a devil-may-care dilettante,” says Jackie Stewart, vice-president of the association and current leader in the world champion standings. “He’s a professional. If he didn’t insist on barriers, fire extinguishers or medical facilities, he would be totally irresponsible.” “Emasculating sport” The drivers’ association has already demonstrated that it wields considerable clout. Last year it forced the switching of the site of the German Grand Prix. Organisers of Grand Prix races in Mexico were summarily put on a year’s probation for not

controlling crowds to the association’s satisfaction.

The famous Spa track at Francorchamps, Belgium, was stricken from the Grand Prix schedule because the association didn’t think it was safe enough. And for the first time in history, the course of the Monte Carlo Grand Prix this May was protected by steel railings. To many traditionalists, the new militancy is certain to dampen the excitement of big-time racing. “It emasculates the sport,” says Stirling Moss, the great driver who retired in 1962 after a serious accident. “I’m not against safety,” Moss continues, “but I think it’s a tragedy for the sport that they’ve put up all those barriers. It makes everything too easy.” Minority disagrees A minority of active drivers also disagrees with the militance of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association. Jacky Ickx of Belgium left the organisation when the Belgian Grand Prix was removed from the circuit. “Nobody, not even Jackie Stewart, can change the world in one year,” says Ickx. “You have to give the organisers a few years to modify their tracks. They’re not rich men. No one has the right to say, ‘Make a million dollars’ worth of improvements or I won’t race.’ For

me, a boycott is not the right way."

The trend, however, is clear—and the barriers are going up. This year at Monaco the total footage of barriers was doubled—which represented increased safety not only for drivers but for spectators. “There’s no excuse in the world to have an accident involving spectators,” says Jo Bonnier, president of the association. But he and Moss, who together founded the drivers’ organisation 10 years ago, see the safety problem from different perspectives. “Stirling is the one who says if there weren’t any danger he wouldn’t be interested,” says Bonnier. “I’m quite different. I love motor racing, but if you could eliminate all the danger, I’d love it more. It would be the same thrill for me if I was 100 per cent sure that if I made a mistake I wouldn’t be knocked off.”

Of course, car racing can never become what its practitioners call “cotton wool” or riskless driving. “There will always be accidents,” says Stewart. "You can’t travel up to 240 miles an hour without things going wrong—a mechanical failure driving errors, even the weather.” i Changes certain As the association membership list grows, it is sure to effect more changes in more tracks. And the testimonials from grateful drivers are being used as poweful weapons. Graham Hill, who has won the Monaco race five times, claims that barriers installed at the association’s insistence have saved his life twice. “I’m alive today because of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association,” he says simply. “And perhaps the lives of 200 spectators have been spared also,” he adds, recalling the horror of the 1955 Le Mans race in which several cars left the unprotected road and hurtled into the stands, killing at least 86 people. But Stewart is by far the most vocal spokesman for the association. And given his record, he is a difficult man to ignore.

“If I weren’t winning,” he says, “people would say that all my criticisms were just idle talk. When I’m not so quick, they’ll say I’m just talking because I’m losing my reflexes. That’s why I have to do it now.” He pauses, adding quietly. “I’ve lost almost all my friends in motor racing. There’s a message there somewhere.”

Ancient graves Workers digging new drains in Yakutsk, eastern Siberia, unearthed three ancient graves containing arrowheads, knives and ornaments. Most interesting of all, they contained a coffin, made of thick birch boards without nails and inside it—almost perfectly preserved—the body of a woman. She appears to have been a lady of high rank. She wore luxurious furs, high deer-hide boots, and a hat lavishly decorated with beads exactly as described in old local legends. She evidently lived around the fourteenth or fifteenth century, when the Yakuts, a Mongol people, settled near the River Lena.—Novosti.