Friday 1 April 2011

Keeping the fear at the back of your mind

Fantastic shot of Jackie Stewart powersliding towards victory in Jarama, 1970. Behind Jackie Oliver's BRM burns after a hard hit on Jacky Ickx's Ferrari. Only five drivers will finish the race, Bruce McLaren will take second place with a whole lap difference from the Scotsman. The footage of the accident is horrifying. The gasoline bursts almost immediately from Ickx car and wraps the two in fractions of a second, awfully close to the spectators. The marhalls try to extinguish the fire from the other side of the curve washing the drivers that have to pass in the middle. The Ferrari will eventually rolls towards them because of merciful gravity. I all this disaster Stewart's foot seem to need a little powerslide to dry the tires right after crossing the little river of the extinguishers. 
A sentence I hear more and more from motorsport documentaries is "you just need to keep the fear on the back of your head". This picture seems to wrap this sentence with a flaming ribbon.

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