8 replies to this topic

[Nanni Dietrich]

I've read an italian newspaper collection of May 1938 (newspaper Il Messaggero).

I've found also a little article about a race at Brooklands circuit, 7 May 1938: in that day a great accident happened when french driver Joseph Paul went off the track and crashed against a group of spectators, and 12 people were injured. The newspaper wrote Joseph Paul was dying. I don't know what happened to this guy because I didn't find any other news in the following issues of the newspaper.
Does someone of you know what happened to driver Joseph Paul, after this accident? What car, what kind of race, what category?

Thanks.

[Paul Taylor]

Not sure of the source, I'm afraid:

1938: At the J. C. C. International Trophy, the fiery crash of Joseph Paul into a spectator section claims two lives, those of an unnamed girl, and Austin designer Murray Jamieson:

" [...] The J. C. C. International Trophy Race was run this year on May 7th, thirty entries coming in. The previous year's course was used and again the cars left to a rolling-start, the pace-maker being John Cobb's 4½ litre Bentley. Alas, the race was marred by a very serious accident in the opening stages. As Cobb's car drew to one side and George Eyston let fall the starter's flag, Percy Maclure, driving as usual bare-headed, in his unblown 1,736-c.c. six-cylinder Riley, Louis Gerard's T.T. Delage and Raymond Mays' 1,748-c.c. E.R.A. broke clear of the jostling pack. Mays had the lead along the back-leg from "Bira"'s Maserati, Gerard's Delage and Abecassis' Alta. Joseph Paul, another Frenchman, was coming up the straight past the pits when his Le Mans V12 Delage burst into flames. He was hemmed in by other cars but, the heat becoming unbearable, he extended his left arm and pulled to the near side. Lace's Darracq did not give way and the two cars collided. Both swerved and ran up the steep safety-bank. So steep was this bank that the spectators were protected otherwise only by a paling fence. Against this the blazing Delage pinned a woman, who was released with difficulty. Many people walking back along the track to the pits were knocked over, ten being injured in all and a girl spectator killed. Later Murray Jamieson, the brilliant Austin designer, died in hospital. The driver leapt from his car in flames and suffered concussion and severe burns. Not surprisingly, Percy Bradley was beside himself with anguish as ambulances were, with difficulty, hurried to the strip of enclosure between the two straights. I saw the entire episode and, unable to help, ran back along the sandy bank towards the Fork, fearful that the tank of the Delage would blow up. Fortunately, the fire-fighters prevented that, but alone and unattended lay the dead girl spectator who had been hit by the car. I well remember the depression this dreadful accident caused, and how sadly I broke the news to friends who had gone to Lewes instead of Brooklands, when I met them that evening. Inevitably, photographs of this accident, the worst at Brooklands since the Talbot crash in 1930, were secured; they will not be found in this book. Noel Pope, Francis Beart, Kay Petre, Robert Waddy, Jill Thomas, G. E. Humphries, Douglas Hawkes and Betty Haig were amongst the injured. The race, meanwhile, went on, Lace himself eventually resuming. [...] "

[Vitesse2]

That's a quote from Bill Boddy's "Brooklands".

[Paul Taylor]

Thanks

[Egon Thurner]

There are some impressing pictures of the crashed car ...

[GIGLEUX]

With a search BB you can find this:
http://forums.atlasf...ght=1938 Delage

[dretceterini]

No one ever answered my last question in that thread..

On the picture of the crashed siluro bodied car with the engine bonnet open, it appears to me that there are circular air cleaners and downdraft carbs on the side of the engine. Is it certain that this is the same V-12 engined car? Maybe it's an optical illusion...

[Nanni Dietrich]

Originally posted by GIGLEUX
With a search BB you can find this:
http://forums.atlasf...ght=1938 Delage

Sorry Jean Maurice, I didn't know your topic.

I want to know just the fate of driver Joseph Paul after this accident, because I've read only he was dying, but I don't read the end of this story.
Nobody can help me?

[Vitesse2]

Nanni: he recovered and raced several times in 1939, starting with the Monte Carlo Rally, in which he tied for first place with Trévoux. He was 5th at Pau, drove a Gordini in the Voiturette race supporting the GP de l'ACF and crashed again (without serious injury) in the GP de Comminges. In the GP de Picardie, he apparently took over Grignard's car in the final, but was disqualified - presumably because he hadn't taken part in the heat! I do wish I knew why ...

http://forums.atlasf...&threadid=51761