The Story of Tom Pryce And The Fatal Race at The 1977 South African Grand Prix 

Tom came from Ruthin, about 30 miles away from where I live, there is a beautiful memorial to him in his home town, such a tragic accident to him and Frederik, RIP to them both

Imagine being one of the spectators witnessing all that. It’s a memory you just can’t forget

this is why i hate when people complain modern f1 has “too many red flags”, because this is what happened previously in f1 when safety just wasn’t a priority

I always wondered how Laffite felt in that moment - the anger at being taken out and then the realisation that the other driver was dead long before the crash happened. It really throws up a lot of morbid scenarios in my head.

To emphasize how severe Van Vuuren was injured by the collision: In order to identify him, all track marshals were gathered and the organizers went down a list, checking who was present until they figured out that Van Vuuren wasn't accounted for.

I've seen the video with nothing blurred out. It was horrific. It happened so fast, in the blink of an eye. Racing has definitely come a long way as far as safety goes. So many drivers, track officials, & spectators passed away back then 😢😢😢😢

I was standing on a pick-up truck in the spectator zone just ahead of the accident. The narrator just does not fully describe the horror and carnage of this accident. I was about 14 at the time, will never forget that day.

He got so much potential yet cut short in a single moment

Old F1 regulations were WILD

Thanks, It really puts the talent of Tom Pryce into perspective. Such a loss for motorsport. I also feel bad for Jansen, he was just a young man fascinated with F1 and volunteering to help put out fires. Sadly an accident like this was waiting to happen, due to the massive imperfections of the rule book back in the day.

I worked as a short oval marshal and we had to be trained to a really high standard before we were allowed near a live racetrack and rule number one you never step onto a live racetrack no matter what is happening. I know it was a different era though

I know it says on Wikipedia that van Vuuren's injuries were so extensive that he wasn't identified until the next day, but that seems to be incorrect. The photographers at the race took photos of the accident, some of which were in the papers. Van Vuuren's clothes were ripped off as his body hit the engine cover (which separated from the car). As he spun, the clothes flew off in different directions, making it look like he was ripped in half. But the photos of his body on the ground show his legs still attached and a face that while contorted in its final expression of horror, is not mangled or unrecognisable. There's also a photo of his older brother arriving on scene. The older van Vuuren also worked at the track, and saw the younger van Vuuren lying lifeless on the side of the track. He knew it was his brother.

nice video. Glad you blurred out the crash, once you see it you can never unsee 😔

At the time of Tom Pryce's accident, I lived in the Netherlands and one evening I was watching a late night sports show on the TV. The programme showed film taken from behind the broken down car and from the other side of the track. The marshall came into view and a car flashed through the picture. The marshall who from memory was standing up span down the track. I have always thought that the impact against the marshall's ankles caused the lower part of his body to start spinning but for a crucial moment the fire extinguisher didn't move causing the terrible injuries to Tom. Such a dreadful tragedy and horrible to watch.

I'd never even heard of him until a few years ago. One of the forgotten men of F1 despite drivers once naming him as one of the fastest drivers ever to have sat in an F1 car.

Wow as a kid I watched the F1 race at Long Beach every year inc ‘77. Never knew much about this, but there wasn’t much coverage of global F1 races in Long Beach. No Internet or RU-vid right. Thanks for the well-produced and considerate video. I was a fan of Andretti and Hunt but never Pryce. 😢 What might have been, yes. 🏁🕊️ Sub’d by the way.

Good to see and learn more about Tom Pryce than his unforgetable accident.

i really wouldn't want to be in zorzi's shoes after this match. i was traumatised after seeing the clip of the marshal flying in the air, and this happened right in front of him. he witnessed a graphic death and lost a teammate at the same time. the worst part is that he was blamed for the incident and replaced by shadow without being informed just 2 months after the incident. he retired from f1 afterwards and probably scarred for life. i hope all of their souls are resting in peace, this was such a tragic event.

So sad. Even to this day when I see a driver, marshal etc cross a live track I shudder.

What I can never fathom that it took so long to get even the most basic of safety right

I don't think it wast the worst crash, but it definitely has the most disturbing publicly available footage.

He did not stumble in front of the car, His legs were hit causing him to spin lengthwise about 5 times. The Fire extinguisher just happened to be at Top Price's head level

You never have saftey set up until its too late R.I.P

Jacques was really quite fortunate. Tom's foot was still jammed on full throttle and hit Laffite at full chat in the corner. Remarkable how it travelled almost the length of that long straight without veering off before the corner. Stuck missed the marshall by the width of a gnats do-dah as he was racing Pryce at the exact moment of impact. So both Stuck, and a completely unknowing Laffite could have been victims too. A huge tragedy. Lessons were sort of learned but more would have to die or be seriously injured before F1 and other series really got to grips with car & circuit safety and marshall training. I did love the 70's but it was soooo dangerous.

One wonders if the halo was introduced then, would he have lived when he drove into the marshal and got knocked out by the fire extinguisher and crashed

I was 10 years old in South Africa when this happened. I remember seeing the footage of the accident broadcast on TV including the horrific collision with the marshal. That left a lasting impression on me and I never got the image of the marshal spinning off the track out of my head. I've seen the unblurred footage recently and it is exactly as I remember it.

I was a photographer at Crowthorn on that day. I will never forget it.

This wasn't the season climax, as the voice over says. That was Japan where there was also tragedy. An onlooker was killed when Villenuve's Ferrari was launched into an enclosure after colliding with Ronnie Peterson's Tyrell.

Would have been nice to see Tom drive more in challenging conditions. The man was getting somewhere with all that moxy.

4:29: Some back story on 1976. The Shadow team's main sponsor, Universal Oil Products( UOP) was acquired by another company in 1975 and the new owners pulled the company out of all auto racing activities after the 1975 season. A large replacement sponsor could not be found, which left the company cash strapped, also hampering development of the 1976 car.

It's amazing in life how it doesn't matter how much dedication you have to something. It could be taken away in a split second 😢

Rip Tom price and fredrick

I was there. The clothes was stiped from the marshals body as he flew through the air. It seemed like the car struck his trailing leg and Pryce got a face full of extingwisher.

I'm from Wrexham and have been to the memorial in Ruthin as it's only half hour drive away. Very nice it is too.

Those cars are so dangerous looking, fuckin open coffins.

I saw him win the 1975 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch . Masterful drive in the wet ( and snow😮)

What surprises me is officials knew there was a stopped vehicle on the track but they didn't raise the yellow flag.

The footage is bad but imagine who bad it would be if you were to see that happen right in front of you, absolutely traumatizing.

I remember that tragic day well as I was up early watching the SF Grand Prix before the anti-apartheid measures eliminated South Africa from many events and made it a pariah state. But Tom Pryce was destined to become probably the greatest driver of all time. Up there with Senna and Sir Lewis.

I had only heard of this accident and that was many years ago, now i have he story. What a terrible chain of events. F1 is pioneering safety measures is sport and it works its way into our road going cars. When mentioning his points total, could it be adjusted to the current scale?

0:59 “sliced through the competition” is an interesting choice of words for this video 😬

As a lad, I watched F1 right through the 70s. These guys were track gladiators, the bravest.

It’s amazing to think about how the halo would’ve saved at least 90% of the fatal crashes in formula one since 1970.

All through the late 60s and early 70s there was pressure from the drivers to greatly improve safety - you can see how little the race organisers cared for such pressure.

my dad was watching the race on tv and he was traumatised

05:00 あのマシンが復元されただけでも驚きなのに77年後期仕様とは。

in this story the most sadness thing is the death of the poor marshal....

As bad as it looked, but blunt force trauma of the impact would have knocked both men unconscious instantly. Neither man had to suffer, which is a lot more than can be said for many other F1 deaths of that era.

I remember watching that race live on tv.

This has got to be the worst F1 crash of all time. Not only was Pryce decapitated but a young steward crossing the lane was hit and almost torn in half.

I’ve seen the uncensored crash. It’s….fucked.

I read years ago that the fire extinguisher, after striking Pryce’s helmet, flew over the grandstand and landed on a parked car.

I was there at that race, didn´t witness the accident, but the race went on. I spoke a while to Tom a few days before the race, he was testing and as he got out of his car, sweaty and tired, he swallowed some orange liquid after asking me to wait a second, I then got his autograph, he seemed to be a pretty nice guy. After the accident, I saw Lauda driving by in his Ferrari with a piece of another car jammed on the underside of his car. After the race, Tom´s car came by on a flat bed and covered in a black sheet. The next day I saw photos of the accident, really shocking! RIP Tom...

the way the guy spun through the air was insane. had no chance

SAD!!!! Such is life and racing AND BAD LUCK!!! Cheers to all good people!!! (from the luckiest unlucky guy)

Imagine if it was in 4k today

If you're going to blur all of the images why even show them

How did they not know that they needed a yellow, red flag system even then . As Sir Jackie Stewart said , the killing years .

I believe Shadow signed Australian Alan Jones after the sad death of Tom Pryce. Jones would go on to eventually win the F1 championship in 1980 with Williams.

They should have either slowed down the race or stopped it before this happend

These idiots should have slow everything down seeing that car on fire,what if it were to blow up

Were welsh we rally thats why tom was a bullet in the wet

If they had put a Halo on the cars after Tom Pryce's Accident, Maybe Henry Surtees would be alive today.

You can’t adequately describe this horrific accident by blurring out everything

Se fosse para assistir propagandas, eu assistiria TV, e não, viria para a internet... RU-vid perdendo para si próprio... Lamentável!

My introduction to Tom Pryce was a news sample in a gore metal song, believe it or not

What a pretty man. Its too bad everything happened the way it did. Rip Tom Pryce and the marshall, poor kid (I believe he was only 19)

RIP Tom Pryce

I get they went to help the driver who crashed, but come on. Why you running across a live race track?

RIP .....Pryce, Cevert, Peterson, Rindt, Villeneuve, ......Ayrton Senna! They was greats drivers!! 😔👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🇧🇷

Final destination

Being cut in half man I feel bad

It would be interesting if some of the lost drivers could be resurrected and put in the seats of today’s F1 cars.

What do I think? Well I am Female and live in the states. Born in 1959. Love the Brits. Didn't have a clue about F1 racing until these Utube vids. Car racing is inherently dangerous and the risk of death/debilitating injury is high. I suspect these young guys knew it but didn't believe it would ever happen to them. Well you can say that but it doesn't register or he thinks that it won't happen to him. I get it, being young you just think like that. It's just like every thing else in life... car racing became a commodity. Guys didn't join it without knowing the terrible risks. Not sure if they were misguided or delusional that death can happen in any race. I am a speed freak too but on a bicycle. I pushed the boundaries even at 40+ m.p.h. on downhills. Even though modern safely precautions exist it is as experimental as the "unsinkable" Titanic. It simply doesn't exist. Love these sweet young boys dying for what they loved...and not all inclusive as their loved ones always were the ones heavily hurt.

FYI, the word sever is not pronounced the same as the word severe.

The Wild Wild West of Motorsport.

Very sad, very very sad

I’ve seen the video of the crash, and it seems like there is almost no reaction from the entire event. A few people walk over to the scene, but the stands and people standing along the opposite side of the raceway seem unaffected. After witnessing such a gruesome and horrific accident, I would assume pandemonium would ensue. I suppose not, since the race wasn’t halted.

By the way, the way van Vuuren was hit is nothing like the thumbnail, for anyone wondering

Have they done the Piers Courage crash and fire yet?

Maybe marshals shouldn’t of been able to walk across the track

#cool

I'm sorry but I think that thumbnail is rather in bad taste. The video though is good, Tom needs to be remembered.

Show it in color. It was in color.

Pryce's death wasn't as gruesome as Cevert or Helmut. One was sliced in half, the other beheaded. Am glad the marshall here wasn't cut into pieces and it was his clothes scattered about. Still horrible.

“Should not HAVE happenEd”

im scared to click the top link is that the colission?

The "27 club" strikes again.....

Para censurar el video con blur no pongas video. Somos adultos, bueno, vos no

Van Vuuren is pronounced "F-an F-ee-ran"

A few 100 000's of people saw the thing on TV ... I was one, and it has lived with me all my life... TV banned showing the footage, but not before a nation got traumatised as it was our "International Track" and well covered on TV. Kyalami was my home track to go watch. The marshals were heroes and "the best in the world" at the time, very "KEEN"! Racing was so popular in those days.. can you see the crowd there in 1977? (sponsored by tobacco companies.... who killed more people per day than died in this day!) It's a bit stupid YouT "greys" the images out.. how can people understand what it look like to see someone die, and what the dangers are, when they do that? I guess the Ferrari film was accurate in that respect.

Jump to 06:12 to skip the banter and history lesson.

0:59... thats in poor taste

Learn to pronounce the 19 year old’s name but otherwise, great video

At 1:00 "price swiftly sliced through the competition..." is this dark foreshadowing or just poor choice of words? Lol

Pilot, not driver

Price fu quasi decapitato dall'impatto con l'estintore che volò fuori dal circuito, atterrando su un'automobile in un parcheggio. Parte del rollbar finí sotto la Ferrari 312 T2 di Lauda, che bucò un radiatore. L'austriaco riuscí ugualmente a vincere la gara. Il cadavere di Van Vuuren era talmente sfigurato che dovettero identificarlo per esclusione degli altri commissari di gara. I medici del.circuito, disgustati dall'accaduto, si rifiutarono di esaminare la salma.

27 club

Try to get some guidance on the pronunciation of “Van Vuuren”. Mispronounced extremely badly

Should not of happend if flag marshalled had better training had signalled to other marshalled to let those out of view know what happened it is still happening today 😢😢😢😢😢😢