Ian Mountain & James Young's Fatal Crash @ Gnoo Blas 1955 (Aftermath)
- 7 months ago
Born in 1930, Australian racer Ian Mountain began his career as a teenager, riding motorcycles. He was passionate about cars from an early age and in 1951, with his friend and fellow engineering student at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) Bruce Young, he built his first race car, the MYF (Mountain-Young Ford) Special, fitted with a 4.2-litre V8 Ford engine. Mountain drove the two-seater car with relative success in hillclimbs and in 1952 he filed an entry in the Australian Grand Prix at Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst. He had to retire after 24 laps of the 38-lap race.
Ian Mountain spent the year-end holidays tuning the IKM to show its plenty potential at the second edition of the South Pacific Trophy meeting, a race held on Monday, 31 January 1955 in the 3.750-mile (6.035-kilometer) Gnoo Blas circuit, a somewhat triangular, dangerous and narrow public road course in Orange, state of New South Wales, Australia.
During the event Mountain lost control of the car on the Connaghan's Corner that was notoriously tricky and frequently covered in gravel. According to some accounts he had to swerve suddenly to avoid a group of spectators on the track. The IKM Peugeot Special plunged off the road at a speed of more than 80 mi/h (129 km/h), spun backwards, demolishing ten metres of barbed wire fencing before dropping into a ditch and crashing into a group of more than 12 spectators watching the race in a private paddock. One of them, James Young of Gordon, state of Victoria, Australia, was killed instantly and seven others suffered injured.
Mountain's car somersaulted and rolled over him. He was extracted from the wreck still alive, but he died in the ambulance before he reached the Orange Base Hospital. He was 25 years old. Amongst the injured spectators were James McMahon and Paul Marlan who were listed in critical condition.
The tragedy occurred on a remote section of the track and few people in the 20,000 crowd knew about it. After the accident the race was not stopped and Britain's Peter Whitehead eventually was the winner in his Ferrari, from Brabham, second in a Cooper-Bristol and Tony Gaze, third also driving a Ferrari.
R.I.P
Ian Mountain spent the year-end holidays tuning the IKM to show its plenty potential at the second edition of the South Pacific Trophy meeting, a race held on Monday, 31 January 1955 in the 3.750-mile (6.035-kilometer) Gnoo Blas circuit, a somewhat triangular, dangerous and narrow public road course in Orange, state of New South Wales, Australia.
During the event Mountain lost control of the car on the Connaghan's Corner that was notoriously tricky and frequently covered in gravel. According to some accounts he had to swerve suddenly to avoid a group of spectators on the track. The IKM Peugeot Special plunged off the road at a speed of more than 80 mi/h (129 km/h), spun backwards, demolishing ten metres of barbed wire fencing before dropping into a ditch and crashing into a group of more than 12 spectators watching the race in a private paddock. One of them, James Young of Gordon, state of Victoria, Australia, was killed instantly and seven others suffered injured.
Mountain's car somersaulted and rolled over him. He was extracted from the wreck still alive, but he died in the ambulance before he reached the Orange Base Hospital. He was 25 years old. Amongst the injured spectators were James McMahon and Paul Marlan who were listed in critical condition.
The tragedy occurred on a remote section of the track and few people in the 20,000 crowd knew about it. After the accident the race was not stopped and Britain's Peter Whitehead eventually was the winner in his Ferrari, from Brabham, second in a Cooper-Bristol and Tony Gaze, third also driving a Ferrari.
R.I.P