Jock Horsfall's Fatal Crash @ Silverstone 1949
- 6 months ago
Born in 1910, St.John Horsfall, “Jock” Horsfall as he was nicknamed by his family and friends, was the seventh son of a family of Morningthorpe, near Long Stratton in Norfolk, England, where he started riding a motorcycle as a boy.
In 1949, Horsfall drove an ERA R11B 1.5-litre "Humphrey" in the first edition of the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) International Daily Express Trophy Race at Silverstone. He had been involved many years in developing Aston Martin cars and was not used to drive the old, uprated pre-war ERA. He tested the car several weeks before the event and found that it was very nervous and quite uncontrollable, being the supercharged engine too powerful for the ill-prepared chassis. He said his doubts about the performance of the car to his mechanics, but after another testing run he quietly said: "That's fine!"
Came race day and Horsfall finished 6th in his heat but, on 13th lap of the final he lost control of his ERA which went off the track at Stowe Corner, hit a straw bale and rolled over. The driver was thrown out and the car which landed on top of him. Jock Horsfall had his neck broken and was killed on the spot.
After the accident the race was not stopped and Alberto Ascari eventually was the winner in a Ferrari 125 , from team mates Giuseppe Farina and Luigi Villoresi. Horsfall was the first fatality involving a competitor at Silverstone since it was inaugurated in 1948.
R.I.P
In 1949, Horsfall drove an ERA R11B 1.5-litre "Humphrey" in the first edition of the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) International Daily Express Trophy Race at Silverstone. He had been involved many years in developing Aston Martin cars and was not used to drive the old, uprated pre-war ERA. He tested the car several weeks before the event and found that it was very nervous and quite uncontrollable, being the supercharged engine too powerful for the ill-prepared chassis. He said his doubts about the performance of the car to his mechanics, but after another testing run he quietly said: "That's fine!"
Came race day and Horsfall finished 6th in his heat but, on 13th lap of the final he lost control of his ERA which went off the track at Stowe Corner, hit a straw bale and rolled over. The driver was thrown out and the car which landed on top of him. Jock Horsfall had his neck broken and was killed on the spot.
After the accident the race was not stopped and Alberto Ascari eventually was the winner in a Ferrari 125 , from team mates Giuseppe Farina and Luigi Villoresi. Horsfall was the first fatality involving a competitor at Silverstone since it was inaugurated in 1948.
R.I.P