Dissecting the tragic deaths of F1 driver Tom Pryce and marshal Jansen Van Vuuren
Tom Pryce's incident at South Africa was one of the most tragic events in Formula One.
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Tom Pryce and Jansen Van Vuuren passed away after a terrible impact in the 1977 South African GP
Formula 1 is a dangerous sport. Over the years we have witnessed some fatal incidents in the sport, be it the loss of Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994 or even Jules Bianchi in 2014 at Suzuka. However, no such collision can be compared to arguably the most brutal death in F1 history, the demise of Tom Pryce, a Welsh racing driver, and a safety marshal, Jansen Van Vuuren at the 1977 South African Grand Prix.
By 1977, Tom Pryce had solidified his place in the Formula 1 grid, having made his debut in 1974 with the Token Racing Team before switching to Shadow Racing Cars. The Welsh driver had gotten 2 pole positions in his time. For the South African GP held at the fan-favorite Kyalami circuit, Pryce clocked the fastest during practice sessions but dropped down to fifteenth in qualifying. The Shadow Racing driver had a poor start which forced Tom to fight back up the field.
On Lap 22, Tom’s teammate, Renzo Zorzi parked the car at the side of the main straight after suffering a fuel meter failure, which made the car catch fire, forcing Zorzi to try to get out of the car but Renzo was struggling to disconnect the helmet oxygen supply. This led two marshalls to cross to the other side of the track in a bid to help out the Italian driver, despite the race still continuing. Both of them were carrying a fire extinguisher and one of them was Jansen Van Vuuren.
Tom Pryce made contact with Jansen Van Vuuren at the speed of over 170MPH
While the two marshalls ran to the other side of the track, two cars came racing towards them, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Tom Pryce. Zorzi’s car was stopped right at the crest of the hill on Kyalami’s main straight, making it impossible for the oncoming drivers to spot the marshalls. Stuck fortunately saw the two at the last moment and managed to avoid any collision, Tom on the other hand was not so lucky. The Welsh driver had no time to respond to the on-track marshall and struck Jansen Van Vuuren while going at over 170mph.
Van Vuuren suffered an awful impact, the details of which are up to the reader’s discretion. Jansen’s body flipped upside down, killing the marshall instantly at the young age of only 19. Van Vuuren’s identity was only confirmed after all other marshalls at the track were called for, signifying how gruesome the incident had been. In another tragic twist of fate, the fire extinguisher in Jansen’s hands hit directly at Tom Pryce’s head, with the 18kg container wiping out the helmet off the Welsh’s body, killing him on impact.
Pryce’s car continued on track before colliding with Jacques Laffite‘s car, Laffite only realized the terrible scenes after getting out of the car. Tom was only 27 at the time of his death. Niki Lauda eventually went on to win the race, however, the Austrian felt no joy in his victory after being informed of this incident. Post Tom’s death, the Tom Pryce Trophy was started as an award for Welsh individuals for their remarkable contribution to motorsport.
This race went down in history with one of the most horrifying crashes the world will ever see. It exposed the sheer danger the drivers and more importantly even race marshalls put themselves in just to go racing. It showed the vulnerabilities in the race direction, and how the race should have been stopped right after Zorzi’s retirement.
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Armaan Agarwal
(2348 Articles Published)