As a kid growing up, Grand Prix racing was regarded as the most dangerous sports in the world. Of course during the era I watched the sport on television fatalities were thankfully rare, yet a few years earlier motor racing was lethal and this documentary demonstrates it.
The punch in the gut is that some of the revered team owners come across as callous, designing cars on the edge with no real testing and the drivers as guinea pigs. When it comes to safety, they turned a blind eye and deaf ears.
Some ex world champions from the 1960s and 1970s are on hand to give their views of Grand Prix safety. Others are shown in archive footage or it is left to their widows. The fatal crashes and fires make this difficult viewing.
The tracks were dangerous but track owners did not want to spend money on safety. There was little or no first aid and safety equipment. Team owners were unconcerned. The drivers knew that one shunt and that could be the end of them and it was left to them to make the initial moves to improve their own safety as it were their colleagues that were dying throughout the season.
An interesting and informative documentary and thank goodness that Formula 1 has moved on from those years.
The punch in the gut is that some of the revered team owners come across as callous, designing cars on the edge with no real testing and the drivers as guinea pigs. When it comes to safety, they turned a blind eye and deaf ears.
Some ex world champions from the 1960s and 1970s are on hand to give their views of Grand Prix safety. Others are shown in archive footage or it is left to their widows. The fatal crashes and fires make this difficult viewing.
The tracks were dangerous but track owners did not want to spend money on safety. There was little or no first aid and safety equipment. Team owners were unconcerned. The drivers knew that one shunt and that could be the end of them and it was left to them to make the initial moves to improve their own safety as it were their colleagues that were dying throughout the season.
An interesting and informative documentary and thank goodness that Formula 1 has moved on from those years.