May 14th, 1986.....
A few days after the Monaco Grand Prix
(which proved to another disappointing race for Elio, retiring just before a
quarter distance whilst last) the Brabham team journed to Paul Ricard to take
part in a test session along with a number of other F1 teams. Riccardo
Patrese was intitially pencilled in to journey to Ricard to carry out the test
session, however Elio specifically asked if he could do the test primarily out
of his disappointing showing in the Monaco Grand Prix. During this test
session the unthinkable happened - Elio's car suffered a rear wing failure
going into the high speed 180mph verrerie curves which in turn pitched the car
into a series of somersaults before vaulting the guardrail and coming to rest
upside down.. Some reports suggested that the car may have been in
the air for as much 100 yards, although the only known witnesses to the crash
were two Benetton mechanics who were operating speed guns.
The marshalling shambles that followed
was nothing short of a scandal, as Elio remained trapped upside down in the
cockpit for as long as 10 minutes whilst the car started to slowly catch fire.
The first person in attandance was Alan Jones, who later commented that "There
was nothing I could do, I just stood there with my hands in the air.
Bloody dreadful". Jones was soon joined by fellow F1 drivers Alain Prost
and Nigel Mansell as they attempted to right the car, but found that they could
not get near it due to the heat and crackling. Eventually they were joined
by a marshal wearing nothing but shorts and a tee shirt as he attempted to put
the fire out. However, as Alan Jones noted "most of the powder went into the cockpit rather than on the engine fire. Apart from anything else, the
powder would have done Elio no good...".
After around 10 mins trapped inside
the car, Elio was finally extracted. However, as the circuit had no
helicopter another 30 mins elapsed before one could be flown in from nearby
Marseille and Elio finally could get taken to nearby Marseille hospital.
Despite the
massive impact, the Brabham BT55 had stood up well to the accident, a tribute to
the build quality of chief designer Gordon Murray. This
was proved when the full extent of Elio's injuries became apparent - a broken collar
bone and light burns to his back. What became clear however, was that the ensuing fire in the cockpit had almost certainly
deprived Elio of oxygen and in any case this proved fatal. On the night of
Elio's accident, Syd Watkins was called by a surgeon at the Marseilles hospital
and was informed that Elio had suffered massive brain damage and the situation
was hopeless for him. It was perhaps a blessing when Elio died the
following day, the official cause being "serious head and chest
injuries".
To lose any driver in this sort of fashion was totally
inexcusable. What appalled most of the F1 community was the manner in which his life was just
tossed away, and had Elio received prompt medical attention, he would have
been giving at least a fighting chance of survival.
The aftermath
Soon after Elio's accident, the then "President" Jean-Marie
Balestre introduced a series of reforms, the most noteable of which were the
reduction of engine power for 1987, and the bi-sectioning of the Paul Ricard
circuit to cut out the S bend where Elio suffered his accident. Many felt
that these reforms were just a "knee jerk" reaction, particularly as there was
no evidence to suggest that the ultra fast 'Verrerie' curve had in fact been the
cause of the accident. The real issue that needed addressing was the
shocking state of marshalling present at the circuit that fateful Tuesday.
In all honesty the French GP should have been cancelled pending a full enquiry,
but that would have been far too logical for Jean-Marie Balestre.
The serious shortcomings in safety at the Ricard circuit were present
for all to see when in n July 1986, Paul Ricard hosted the French GP and
millions who watched were treated to a marshalling display that resembled
something out of the keystone cops. Anyone who saw Phillipe Streiff's
Tyrrell incinerate itself whilst the French fire brigade drove the wrong way up
the pit lane, and then spew foam all over the track might perhaps have been
forgiven for laughing. But deep down it really was no laughing
matter.
F1 has come a long way in terms of safety. The sad death of
Ayrton Senna in 1994 cannot be attributed to poor marshalling or circuit
facilities, and it was a relief to all watching to see such prompt medical
attention given to the driver (as was the case in Gerhard Berger's 1989 shunt at
Imola).
How ironical then, that Elio loathed testing and perhaps never
really understood the point of it all. He always felt that F1
drivers got enough practice during race weekends and was once rocketed by Colin
Chapman for saying so. However, he was unwittingly to become one of the
drivers who has helped to contribute to today's stringent safety standards
within the sport of F1.