Bill Brown, Bathurst survivor

“The car rolled down and cut in two.

“I walked away from it and drove home that evening.”

They’re the words of Bill Brown in reference to his spectacular and famous accident at Bathurst in 1971. That’s him there in the picture above, you can see his head about to make contact with the wooden fence.

Back in the day, that’s all there was separating spectators from the competitors at McPhillamy Park. Not the best place to have a tyre blow out at around 180km/h.

Speaking to Speedcafe, Brown explained, “I thought we were in trouble then there was banging and crashing and I was rested upside down.

“I went around to have a look at the car and they said they’d take me to hospital, they wanted to put me on a stretcher, but I refused.

“The car didn’t have a roll cage as such, I was fortunate though when I came to rest my hat was only grazed on the left hand side, I was pretty lucky.”

You don’t say! Having seen footage of that crash many times we’ve always wondered how on earth Brown survived.

Follow the link below to read the full article. It’s a fascinating insight into Australian motor racing in the 1960s and 70s. There’s also a video of the incident after the break which shows rescue crews working on the car after the crash.

[Source: Speedcafe.com]