QUESTION: "NOW THIS DIDN'T HAPPEN ON ONE OF THE NOTORIOUS BENDS. DO YOU THINK IT WAS THE TRACK THAT KILLED HIM OR WAS IT JUST ONE OF THOSE TWIST OF FATE?"



MOSS: "I DON'T THINK IT WAS THE TRACK, I THINK IT WAS A TWIST OF FATE. IT MIGHT BE A SLIGHT MISTAKE - I DON'T KNOW. I WASN'T CLOSE ENOUGH, I AM GLAD TO SAY, TO SEE EXACTLY WHAT HAPPEN. AN INVESTIGATION IS BEING CARRIED OUT BUT I THINK IT COULD HAVE HAPPENED IN MANY OTHER PLACES.




Initials IM/EUROVISION-B/JF/LW


EDITORS NOTE: POOR QUALITY ON CRASH DUE TO EUROVISION TRANSMISSION.
PLEASE DROP FADER ON SCENES OF RACE AND BRING UP ON CU OF STIRLING MOSS.

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: SOON AFTER THE START OF THE FIRST LAP IN THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX ON THE MONZA TRACK, SEPT 10, GERMAN DRIVER WOLFGANG VON TRIPS WAS KILLED IN A 140 MPH COLLISION WITH ANOTHER CAR. HIS FERRARI (No. 4) WAS ABOUT TO TAKE THE SOUTH CURVE WHEN HIS REAR WHEEL TOUCHED THE FRONT WHEEL OF THE LOTUS (No. 36) DRIVEN BY JIM CLARK OF BRITAIN.

THE FERRARI WAS THROWN UP THE BANK AND SMASHED INTO THE STEEL SAFETY FENCE LEAVING A TRAIL OF DEAD AND INJURED IN ITS PATH. IT THEN LEAPED INTO THE AIR AND THREW THE DRIVER OUT AS IT CRASHED BACK ON TO THE TRACK. ELEVEN SPECTATORS LAY DEAD BY THE SIDE OF THE FENCE WITH ABOUT 19 BADLY INJURED. TWO LATER DIED IN HOSPITAL BRINGING THE DEATH TOLL TO FOURTEEN.

CLARK LANDED IN THE DITCH STILL INSIDE HIS LOTUS. HE WAS SHAKEN BUT UNHURT. LATER HE SAID THERE WAS NOTHING HE COULD DO, "HE JUST PULLED STRAIGHT INTO MY PATH". THE RACE CONTINUED WITH MOST OF THE LARGE CROWD UNAWARE OF THE DISASTER. PHILL HILL THE MAN WHO WON THE RACE AND THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FOR 1961, ONLY KNEW OF THE DEATH OF HIS FERRARI TEAM MATE AFTER THE RACE. AT THE START VON TRIPS HAD A FOUR POINT LEAD OVER HILL IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE.

RESCUE WORKERS PUSHED THE WRECKED FERRARI OF THE TRACK AS THE RACING CARS WEAVED THROUGH THE WRECKAGE. THE GERMAN WAS STILL ALIVE WHEN A RACE MARSHAL REACHED HIM BUT HE DIED ON THE WAY TO HOSPITAL.

TWO OTHER CRASHES NEAR THE SAME SPOT CAME BEFORE THE RACE WAS OVER. ONE WAS A COLLISION BETWEEN THE COOPER OF JOHN SURTEES (No.42) AND JOACHIM BONNIER (No.44) IN A PORSCHE. NEITHER DRIVER WAS INJURED. GERALDZ ASHMORE (No.18), OF BRITAIN LOST CONTROL OF HIS COOPER AND THE DANGEROUS CURVE AND WAS TAKEN TO HOSPITAL WITH A BROKEN RIB.

STIRLING MOSS OF BRITAIN INVESTIGATED THE CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT AS CHAIRMAN OF THE GRAND PRIX DRIVERS ASSOCIATION. LATER HE SAID THAT THE RACE ORGANISERS AND JIM CLARK WERE IN NO WAY TO BLAME FOR THE CRASH. MOSS WITH OTHER BRITISH DRIVERS BOYCOTTED THE TRACK LAST YEAR BECAUSE IT WAS TOO DANGEROUS. ON HIS RETURN TO LONDON MOSS WAS QUESTIONED ABOUT HIS FINDINGS.