22/08/2016
A framed/mounted 18x12 inches B&W Gloss Portrait Photograph of the late Roger Williamson 1948~1973 with a extremely rare signature of him, which i would personally think is more rare and valuable than a Jim Clark or Ayrton Senna!!
Roger Williamson was a young rising star of the early 1970's , British F3 Champion in 1972 , the following year of 1973 he moved up to the highly competitive european F2 championship, Winning at Monza and leading at Thruxton & Misano before engine problems struck , buy now he was establishing himself as a truly serious talent with many Grand Prix teams showing serious interest his goal was for a full season of Formula 1 for 1974,
However his Mentor & Sponsor Tom Wheatcroft had decided to hire F1 March chassis and enter the British & Dutch Grand Prixs of 1973 to get him acclimatised for F1 the following season,
At Silverstone for the British GP he was eliminated in the notorious first lap pile-up and then came the Dutch race a week later
having qualified Mid-Grid he settled into a midfield dice with team mate David Purley until lap 7 when it was suspected a front tyre failed pitching him into the barriers on the outside before the fast right-hander before Tunnel Ost which launched his car across the track coming to rest upside down and on fire and him trapped in the cockpit.
what came next was to become one of motorsports darkest days and in front of millions of television viewers as his team mate Purley stopped his car and ran across the track and single-handedly attempted to right the the overturned car. scandalously, nobody came to help him and the race continued as the fire caught hold and the nghtmare scenario was complete
A scene as a 13 year old lad at the time I found difficult to deal with having witnessed him race in those dominant F3 days in 1972 at Silverstone with my Dad.....when going into the paddock after his races will always remember his smiling face and how popular he was chatting to everybody.....He also had the coolest road car in the paddock also ....A white E-Type Jaguar!!
Have never forgotten Roger Williamson 43 years on , 29th July 1973...RIP my first true hero