Jansen Van Vuuren

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Jansen Van Vuuren (1958—March 5, 1977) was a volunteer safety marshall in the 1977 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami. A 19 year old ticket clerk at Johannesburg airport, he was a volunteer marshal at his local racing circuit. He died when crossing the track to extinguish a fire on Renzo Zorzi's retired Shadow, but was hit by Tom Pryce at high speed, who was unable to avoid him. The impact killed both Pryce and Van Vuuren instantly, Pryce killed by the fire extinguisher that the marshall was carrying. Van Vuuren's corpse was so torn apart by the impact that it was only recognized by exclusion after the race director gathered all of his colleagues. The impact from the fire extiguisher ripped Pryce's helmet from his head.

The sport reacted with genuine sorrow at the loss of two young men. Tyrrell mechanic Trevor Foster viewed the incident from a distance, later recalling; "I can remember quite vividly his [Pryce's] teammate's car had already pulled off to the side of the track and it had started a small fire. Then the next thing I can remember is seeing Tom's car coming down the straight. I can almost remember now a momentary lift of the throttle much earlier than you would have expected and I looked and I saw something fly up from the car, which tragically turned out to be the marshall." [1] Elsewhere, David Tremayne, a veteran biographer and journalist, recalled the feelings of disbelief and horror following the aftermath of the incident; "The tragedy itself - the sheer randomness of it - is so hard to take and still is. You tend to focus your anger on someone and for a long time it would be focused on a 19 year old kid, called Jansen van Vuuren, who ran across the track. The tragedy there is that he was sent by the guy in charge of the marshalls; it wasn't his decision. The tragedy is that a couple of feet either way it would have been a nasty scare for everyone and everyone would have got away with it." [2]

His death is of interest partly because the entire event was captured on film. This notoriously gruesome clip (taken from the motor racing film 'The Quick And The Dead'), previously scarcely available online on an obscure Italian website, is now easily found on popular streaming video site YouTube. As such, it has been now seen by millions of internet users. Whether the majority of these viewers are interested for reasons other than the incident's place in racing history is a matter for debate. Also, in the fallout that resulted from this young man's death, changes were made to safety procedures during F1 races which ensured that marshals could no longer endanger themselves by running out onto the track to tend to accidents and stricken cars. Arguably it is accidents such as these which have led to the safety-conscious culture which is such a defining part of modern F1.

[edit] Similar accidents

The incident may have been tragic and shocking in its implausibility, it does not, however, remain the only incident with such a horrifying set of circumstances. Later in 1977, on lap six of the Japanese Grand Prix of October 23rd, Gilles Villeneuve crashed into Ronnie Peterson's Lotus. The Ferrari driver flew into a spectator area, killing a marshal and a photographer, whilst others were also injured. Several years later at the 1981 Belgium Grand Prix in Zolder, an Arrows team mechanic, Dave Luckett, ran to attend driver Riccardo Patrese's stalled car, but was struck by team-mate Siegfried Stohr as the race started, thankfully only receiving relatively minor injuries. Stohr, leaping from his car in an unglamorous manner, was utterly distraught - overtly displaying a remarkably poignant concern for humanity.

Contemporary Formula One remains highly dangerous for marshals, who are arguably more at risk than today's drivers. During the wet conditions of the 1994 Japanese Grand Prix, Martin Brundle spun and struck a marshal heavily, miraculously only breaking the hapless man's legs. Whilst at Monza in 2000, and Melbourne 2001 respectively, errant debris from accidents resulted in the death of a fire marshal.

Elsewhere, during Hockenheim 2000, a disgruntled former Mercedes employee broke onto the circuit and began to run up the side of the track, even sprinting across the road as cars approached in excess of 190mph. Most recently, at Silverstone in 2003, Father Neil Horan ran onto Hangar Straight during the race as a publicity stunt, several cars swerving at top speed away from him in an incident frighteningly similar to Kyalami in 1977. Had the outcome been analogous to twenty six years earlier, the repercussions for the sport could well have been inestimable. Inevitably, incidents such as this raise the question of whether enough is being done to ensure the safety of spectators and drivers alike; the fact that Horan was able to access Hanger Straight at all is a perturbing reminder of what could occur.

Even as recently as the Turkish Grand Prix of 2006, marshals could be seen sprinting across the circuit to aid a car stuck in a perilous position, namely Vitantonio Liuzzi stopping at turn one where a safety marshal came to inspect the car before the safety car was deployed, seemingly unaware of the fate that befell poor van Vuuren, and continuing the debate over the safety of trackside marshals.

[edit] External links

• The Tom Pryce / Jansen Van Vuuren accident on YouTube. Warning : Depicts graphic scenes of a potentially upsetting nature
• Further television footage of the 1977 South African Grand Prix, the director seemingly unaware of the collision between Pryce and van Vuuren. Contains potentially distressing scenes.
• BBC Northeast- Tom Pryce Bio
• Safety in F1 - an ever-moving target
• historicracing.com - Tom Pryce bio
• The Dark Side of Motorsport
• Biography of Tom Pryce, detailing his collision with Jansen van Vuuren. Notably, towards the end of the page, fans (many of whom viewed the incident) reflect and comment on what occurred.