David
Purley

David Purley was born in Bognor Regis on 26 January 1945. He served as an officer in the Parachute Regiment of the British Army, saw action with his battalion in Aden, and then left the Army to pursue a career in motor racing. He raced an AC Cobra and a Chevron before moving into Formula Three, where he won three times at Chimay between 1970 and 1972.

He made his Formula One debut at Monaco in 1973, driving a March. At that year's Dutch Grand Prix he abandoned his own race to try to help Roger Williamson, whose car was upside down and on fire. Williamson died in the accident, and Purley was awarded the George Medal for his rescue attempt. In 1974 he was entered for Token but did not start the race. After that he competed mainly in Formula Two and Formula 5000, and in 1976 he won the British Formula 5000 championship in a Chevron.

Purley returned to Formula One in 1977 with his own LEC, designed by Mike Pilbeam. During practice for the British Grand Prix he had a serious crash. After recovering he raced only in the British Aurora AFX series. In the World Championship he made seven starts and scored no points. After leaving racing he took up competition aerobatics. On 2 July 1985 his Pitts Special crashed into the English Channel off Bognor Regis. A memorial to him was erected in Bognor Regis in 2017.

Source: Wikipedia, “David Purley”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.