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	Footage of Purley attempting to save Roger Williamson trapped in his overturned and burning car on YouTube

David Purley
Born	26 January 1945; Bognor Regis, Sussex, United Kingdom
Died	2 July 1985 (aged 40); English Channel, close to Bognor Regis, United Kingdom
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1973–1974, 1977
Teams	LEC, Token; Non-works March
Entries	11 (7 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1973 Monaco Grand Prix
Last entry	1977 British Grand Prix

David Charles Purley, GM (26 January 1945 – 2 July 1985) was a British racing driver born in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, who participated in 11 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting at Monaco in 1973.

Purley is best known for his actions at the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix,^[1] where he abandoned his own race and attempted to save the life of fellow driver Roger Williamson, whose car was upside down and on fire following a serious accident. Purley was awarded the George Medal for his courage in trying to save Williamson, who suffocated in the blaze.

During pre-qualifying for the 1977 British Grand Prix Purley sustained multiple bone fractures after his car's throttle stuck open and he crashed into a wall. His deceleration from 108 mph (173 km/h) to 0 in a distance of 26 inches (66 cm) is one of the highest G-loads survived in a crash (180 G). He scored no championship points during his Formula One career. He died in a plane crash, having retired from motorsport and taken up aerobatics, in 1985.

Early life

Purley's father was Charles Purley, the founder of LEC Refrigeration. Birth and death records show that his father's name was originally Puxley but he preferred the name Purley.^[2] His mother was Welsh, having been born in the small village of Cwmfelinfach. David went to school at Seaford College and then Dartington Hall School in Devon.

Career

Purley joined the British Army and was an Officer Cadet at Sandhurst on Intake 38. Commissioned into the Parachute Regiment, he lost the first of his nine lives when his parachute failed to open on a training jump. Miraculously, he landed on his Platoon Sergeant's 'chute and both survived the heavy landing.^[3] Having seen action with his Battalion in Aden, he left the Army to pursue a career in motor racing.^[3]

He later raced in various series with an AC Cobra and a Chevron, before racing in Formula Three, winning three times at Chimay between 1970 and 1972.^[3]

In 1972 Purley was one of two drivers to attempt to race the Connew Grand Prix car in its original Formula One configuration. He was entered at the end of season World Championship Victory Race at Brands Hatch but did not start. Purley had asked for an electrical "kill" switch to be fitted to the steering wheel, but this malfunctioned on the warm up lap, the engine stopped, and the car was retired.^[4]

In 1973 Purley hired a March and with backing from his family's refrigeration company he made an attempt at Formula One.

At the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix, upon witnessing a crash which left fellow British driver Roger Williamson trapped in his overturned and burning car, Purley abandoned his own race and attempted to save Williamson, who was participating in only his second Formula One race. Purley later recalled that upon arriving at the scene, he heard Williamson crying for help as the fire began to take hold. Purley's efforts to right the car and extinguish the flames were in vain as he received no help from nearby track marshals or emergency workers, in spite of attempts to encourage them, and other passing drivers, to come to his aid; Williamson died from asphyxiation. The marshals were not wearing fire resistant clothing and the passing drivers assumed that Purley was attempting to extinguish his own car, having escaped a fiery crash unharmed.

A sequence of pictures taken by photographer Cor Mooij of the accident won the Photo Sequences category of that year's World Press Photo.^[5] Later, Purley was awarded the George Medal for his rescue attempt. The story, and film footage of the rescue attempt, feature in a 2010 BBC documentary titled Grand Prix: The Killer Years.

Apart from a one-off participation with Token at his home Grand Prix in 1974, Purley stayed out of Formula One for a few years, preferring to compete in Formula Two driving Chevrons and Marches for Hong Kong-based millionaire Bob Harper, and Formula 5000 where he won the British Championship in 1976 in a Chevron powered by the Cosworth GA 3.4-litre V6 engine. In 1974 Purley won the Brighton Speed Trials driving a Trojan-Chevrolet T101, winning again the following year in a Chevron-GA B30.

He returned to Formula One in 1977 with his own LEC chassis designed by Mike Pilbeam and run by Mike Earle.^[6] It was this car in which he suffered serious injuries in an accident during practice for that year's British Grand Prix. He survived an estimated 179.8 g when he decelerated from 108 mph (173 km/h) to 0^[6] in a distance of 26 inches (66 cm)^[7] after his throttle became stuck wide open and he hit a wall. Purley recovered to race again, although he confined his activities to the minor Aurora AFX series of Formula One races in Britain. As a result of his earlier accident, Purley's left leg was shorter than his right and he underwent innovative corrective surgery in Belgium, from which he again took several months to recover.^[3]

Following his decision to quit motorsport, Purley moved into competition aerobatics.

Death

Purley died on 2 July 1985 when his Pitts Special aerobatic biplane crashed into the English Channel off Bognor Regis.^[8] He is buried in the churchyard of St. Nicholas Church, West Itchenor, near Chichester.

Legacy

The remains of Purley's crashed LEC CRP1 and its replacement were displayed at the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition until 2011. The second car has since been restored and now competes in historic Formula One racing, alongside a replica car built more recently.^[9]

A David Purley memorial, in the form of a sculpture by the British artist Gordon Young, was erected in 2017 close to the site of the former LEC factory in Bognor Regis. It is inscribed with the words that appear on the headstone of his grave at Itchenor: "Gone now your eager smile, high held head and soldier's stride, etched were skies by your elegant style, and this earth enriched by your pride".

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Pts
1972	LEC Refrigeration Racing	March 722	Ford	MAL 8	THR Ret	HOC DNS	PAU 3	PAL Ret	HOC Ret	ROU NC	ÖST 12	IMO Ret	MAN DNQ	PER	SAL	ALB DNQ	HOC	19th	4
1974	Team Harper	March 742	BMW	BAR	HOC NC	PAU 7												5th	13
		Chevron B27	Ford				SAL 2		MUG Ret
		Chevron B27	BMW					HOC 14		KAR Ret	PER 2	HOC 11	VAL 10
1975	Masami Kuwashima Racing	March 752	BMW	EST	THR	HOC	NÜR	PAU	HOC Ret	SAL	ROU	MUG	PER	SIL	ZOL	NOG	VAL	NC	0
Source:^[10]

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Pts
1973	LEC Refrigeration Racing	March 731	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON Ret	SWE	FRA	GBR DNS	NED Ret	GER 15	AUT	ITA 9	CAN	USA			NC	0
1974	Token Racing	Token RJ02	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR DNQ	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA			NC	0
1977	LEC Refrigeration Racing	LEC CRP1	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP DNQ	MON	BEL 13	SWE 14	FRA Ret	GBR DNPQ	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN	JPN	NC	0
Source:^[11]

Complete Formula One Non-Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6
1972	LEC Refrigeration Racing	Connew PC1	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ROC	BRA	INT	OUL	REP	VIC DNS
1975	LEC Refrigeration Racing	Chevron B30 (F5000)	Ford GAA 3.4 V6	ROC 11	INT	SUI
1977	LEC Refrigeration Racing	LEC CRP1	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ROC 6
Source:^[10]

Complete European F5000 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos.	Pts
1975	LEC Refrigeration Racing	Chevron B30	Ford GAA 3.4 V6	BRH 2	OUL 3	BRH 1	SIL DNS	ZOL NC	ZAN Ret	THR Ret	SNE Ret	MAL Ret	THR 5	BRH Ret	OUL 1	SIL 2	SNE NC	MAL 5	BRH Ret	5th	98
Source:^[12]

Complete Shellsport International Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Pos.	Pts
1976	LEC Refrigeration Racing	Chevron B30	Ford GAA 3.4 V6	MAL 1	SNE 4	OUL 4	BRH 2	THR 1	BRH 1	MAL 1	SNE 6	BRH 1	THR Ret	OUL 5	BRH 8	BRH 1	1st	188
Source:^[12]

Complete British Formula One Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Pos.	Pts
1979	LEC Refrigeration Racing	LEC CRP1	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ZOL	OUL	BRH	MAL	SNE	THR	ZAN	DON	OUL	NOG	MAL	BRH Ret	THR 10			17th	4
1979	LEC Refrigeration Racing	Shadow DN9	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8														SNE 4	SIL 9	17th	4
Source:^[10]

References

^ David Tremayne, Racers Apart: Memories of Motorsport Heroes, MRP, 1991, p.293
^ see 'Discussion' for BMD information.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Lawrence, Mike (September 1985). "David Purley, GM: 'As large a character as motor racing has known'". Motor Sport Magazine archive. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
^ Lawrence, Mike (August 1986). "The story of the Connew GP car". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 26. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
^ 1974 World Press Photo, Photo Sequences, 1st Prize
^ ^a ^b "Drivers: David Purley". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
^ Widdows, Rob (September 2007). "The fighter". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 90. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
^ "Air Accidents Investigation Branch report". Gov.UK. UK Government Digital Service. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
^ Brown, Allen. "Lec CRP1 car-by-car histories". oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c "David Purley – Biography". Motor Sport. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
^ "David Purley – Involvement". StatsF1. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
^ ^a ^b "British and European Formula 5000 1969-1977". OldRacingCars. Retrieved 11 December 2019.