Circuit Paul Ricard, southern France
That was a circuit build for speed, and the dreaded curve of Signes, followed by a 1 mile straight, launched the car at nearly 200 mph. And right at this moment, the rear wing went flying away. At such speed, and with a 1500 hp BMW turbo engine, the crash could only be devastating.
And it was.
The car somersaulted, lifted off briefly, and then started a serie of terrifying cartwheels – nearly a dozen of them over distance later found to be 500 ft. The disintegrating car hit the bareers, flew over them and started tangling into rows and rows of catch fencing, the last line of defence for the public (fortunately there was none : it was a day of private testing).
As the disintegrating car rolled again and again, catch fencing tangled around it, slowing it down but also wrapping around the car, cockpit included, trapping the unfortunate pilot inside the cell safety, which fortunately resisted the varied shocks.
What was left of the car finally come a halt. Luckily enough, most of the fuel had been burn previously or send flying all over the place, hence the car did not caught fire. But it was upside down and the pilot was trapped inside, tightly, by all the catch fencing. It was not a day of racing but of training secession, to improvethe cars. In this months of may many teams had gathered on the French track of Le Castellet, better known as Paul Ricard. Prost, Rosberg, Mansell, and others stopped by the wreck and unsuccessfully tried to free the unfortunate pilot, to no avail. The catch fencing was wrapped around the car survival cell, and, more wrrying, no safety team was in sight for at least 15 minutes. Thanksfully the pilot was fully conscious and soon thereafter a lone safety car come the rescue at least. A solid pair of scissors were used to cut François Hesnault free at least. He was carried to La Timone hospital in nearby Marseille. He was unhurt, at least physically. Inside, he was angered.
The day was May 25, 1985. Among French pilots, pretty numerous those days, Hesnault was perhaps the least known. He had been hired by Guy Ligier the year before, and then by Bernie Ecclestone in the difficult role of Nelson Piquet team mate. Hesnault was no coward: he actually had some previous military background, including as a parachutist in the French Army in Africa, and a marked taste for risk and adventure that ultimately led him to motor racing and Formula One. But THIS accident was too much, really, and Hesnault announced he was out of F1.
Now Bernie Ecclestone had to replace him. His choice was a talented Swiss pilot who had never shone, essentially because of sheer jinx and bad cars. His name was Marc Surer.
May 1985
BRABHAM FRENCH PILOT FRANÇOIS HESNAULT CRASH VIOLENTLY AT PAUL RICARD.
Alain Prost «This was private testing, as such, nobody gave a fuck about safety. Hesnault spent half an hour in the mangled remains of his Brabham that was completely stuck, wrapped in catch fencing. There was nothing we could do except to pray for the car not to catch fire, as no track marshall was in sight.»
HESNAULT SUCCESSOR AT BRABHAM WILL BE SWISS VETERAN MARC SURER
Among pilots Hesnault has a peculiar profile. The heir to a considerable family transport business, he only started racing once he had completed his military service in the French parachute corps. With such background, no-one would ever have called François Hesnault a man without courage. He was lucky to be born into a family which, as he was growing up, developed a huge transportation empire, carving out new markets in the Pacific, Asia and particularly in Africa. His father Pierre, a former paratrooper, enjoyed close relationships with leaders in a number of African countries and also within French government circles. The group moved everything, from missiles to furniture. François’s brother Philippe was a keen racer but his career was short because he was sent off to Asia by his father, to develop the business. Nonetheless he raced at Le Mans in 1975 and again in 1980. When François was 16 years old he suffered a very serious injury to one of his hands in a shooting accident. It took eight operations – and a great deal of pain – to repair the damage. By the time he was 19 Hesnault had become a junior officer in one of France’s most celebrated parachute regiments and was sent out to Africa, where he saw action when France intervened in local conflicts. Having acquired a taste for adventure, he set up his own trading company – to do business in dangerous countries – where people did not always play by the rules. When he was not off doing deals in Africa, he decided to do some racing, starting out in some hillclimbs around Paris. He discovered that he was very competitive and so enrolled at the famous Winfield School at Magny-Cours, although he was sick with hepatitis at the end of 1979 and so missed the Volant Elf finals, which could have won him a free ride in French Formula Renault in 1980. Instead he raised the money to do it himself. And then in 1984 he drove for Ligier and a year later, for Brabham.
Hesnault family is presently furious against both Ecclestone and Paul Ricard, talking about criminal negligence. They will probably take some legal action, which could have devastating consequences, considering Hesnault famility political relationships...
JOCHEN MASS AND THE DEADLY HOLLOWS
Jochen Mass, how does a merchant sailor become a racing driver?
For love – why else? And I don’t mean the love of cars. My girlfriend at the time was a member of the Mannheim Sports Touring Club and worked as a marshal at the 1967 Eberbacher hill climb in the Neckar Valley. For me, it was very exciting, looking down on the cars from our post. The noise, the smell of rubber and fuel – fascinating!
You faced so many tragedies...
«Indeed. I have no regrets, motorsport was dangerous back then, but fact is Germany paid a horrific tribute to it. And I found myself at the center of the storm, wa too many times. It looks... as if Death has some lasting feud with me. More generally, that bitch has some axe to grin against German motorsport as a whole. All those tragedies... Le Mans, 1955. Von Trips, 1961. Stommelen, 1975 - my first and only F1 victory, a day like this ? Forget it. And then
me. That accident in Silverstone, in 1978. And then Villeneuve in 1982, hell of a year, with another violent crash at Paul Ricard in July, could have been a disaster. Stommelen death in 1983.
(note: Mass crash at Paul Ricard 1982 send his burning car crashing through all the safety bareers protecting the public, except the very last one. The car was left hanging upside down to the last row of fencing ! It could have been a disaster)
Well, I have enough and I retired from F1, but not from Endurance. I currently watch for the next generation of german drivers. While ATS is presently our one and only F1 team, in endurance at least we are doing well. Look at this picture (Mass proudly shows a photo. Legends reads:
testing the ATS D6 car, August 1983. Posing in front of the car, left to right Joe Gartner; Manfred Winkelhock, Stefan Bellof.)
The future is already there.
Do you know that back in 1961 and a short time before his death, Von Trips pioneered
karting? He wanted to build a track near his homeplace, and after his tragic death his mother offered a patch of land to the city of Kerpen-Horrem. The track opened in the late 60's and nowadays it is the epicenter of German karting. We have some young talents there, they will probably rock the F1 world in the 90's. The track manager is a good friend of mine, and his two sons who sometimes race on the track, are damn fast. Meanwhile Mercedes is considering a return in motorsport, probably via Group C later followed by F1. They are actively seeking German or German-speaking pilots,Swiss, Austrians, whatever. Peter Sauber keeps an eye on the most promising talents, and I can tell you, a whole new generation of Germans are coming.»
