Jon Minshaw was among those involved in the pile up at Eau Rouge in the early part of the race. “I was running about 45th when the crocodile [behind a pace car which had not yet picked up the leader] speeded up from 50mph to 80 or 90mph. As I went up the hill [towards Raidillon] I thought I saw [the cloud kicked up from] a wide line of cement dust covering the oil from the Chiles Cobra. In fact, it was tyre smoke over the brow, where the safety car had backed everybody up on the [Kemmel] straight. “When I went over the top it was bedlam. I saw three wrecks and lines of cars stationary the full width of the track. Somehow I stopped without hitting anything, but a nanosecond later was hit hard up the back by a Daytona Cobra. I got back to the pits expecting the boys to be able to knock the back of my car out, but the impact had split the fuel tank. That was that. It was the most dangerous situation I’d ever been in, so I went [with a “livid” Allen Tice and American Fred Wakeman, whose Marcos and E-type were also extensively damaged] to remonstrate with officials. The clerk of the course denied any responsibility and his attitude was that it was entirely the [race] drivers’ fault. He did say, however, that he wanted a second safety car but was not allowed one.”
