MPH: Most racing drivers are 'ballsy' — but Tony Rolt was really brave

F1

The words brave and courageous are thrown around regularly in motor racing. But, as Mark Hughes asks, should such terms be reserved for the few heroic souls that truly deserve it?

Tony Rolt Crystal Palace

Major Tony Rolt slings his Connaught-Lea Francis around Crystal Palace in 1954

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Mark Hughes

Soon the F1 season will be underway and there will be many stories of epic drives and numerous examples where the skill and commitment of the drivers will deeply impress us all. It might be pulling off an improbable overtake, it could be an amazing feat of wet weather driving in appalling visibility; such things underline the willingness to risk physical harm in pursuit of the competitive goal.

From inside the car, in the moment, it may not always feel as risky as it appears from the outside, but when the driver later reflects upon things they might acknowledge that, yes, there was a significant risk involved. But you leave such concerns aside from the moment you decide to get into the car.

But although the potentially serious consequences of things going wrong are part of what makes the skill and commitment of drivers so impressive, bravery is the wrong word — albeit one which is often applied. Sure, there can be an element of overcoming fear, of acknowledging it but doing it anyway and that is surely a key part of the definition of bravery. But it doesn’t capture the full meaning. Simply because the driver has chosen this as a sport. They are not obliged to do it, it isn’t for some great cause, but purely for their own internal satisfaction. They can be considered ‘ballsy’ or ‘committed’ in the way that they race. But brave? No, that adjective requires more to be fully honoured.

Crash scene, Rush

Three drivers came to the aid of Niki Lauda during a horrific crash at the Nüburgring in 1976. Their bravery was later depicted in the movie Rush (shown above)

There are many cases of drivers actually being brave. The rescuers of Niki Lauda – Art Merzario, Brett Lunger, Guy Edwards notably – at the Nürburgring in ’76 was a case in point. Mike Hailwood going into the wild flames of Clay Regazzoni’s BRM at Kyalami in 1973 to help extricate him, briefly retreating to put out the flames on his own overalls – and then going back in to complete the job. That was brave. But that was only tangentially a racing deed.

From the archive

For a fuller definition of bravery than any derring-do on track we can look to the exploits of racing drivers in the French Resistance, most notably Robert Benoist, executed just before the war ended.

We can look also to Tony Rolt, one day after the anniversary of his passing 17 years ago. Considered to be Britain’s brightest young racing talent just before the outbreak of the Second World War, he was made a lieutenant in the army’s rifle brigade. He was awarded a Military Cross after helping stall for three days in Calais a German offensive’s progress towards Dunkirk in 1940. Part of his exploits included rescuing several wounded comrades while under heavy fire and later driving them in a truck through the barrage to safety.

After being captured by the German army he made seven escape attempts from various prisoner of war camps until he was eventually sent to the highest security of Colditz castle. There, he was the brains behind an audacious project of secretly building an escape glider. He was still helping construct it behind a false wall when the camp was liberated. For his many escape attempts he was awarded a bar to his Military Cross (essentially meaning ‘more of the same’).

Jaguar’s breakthrough: the XK120 of Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt crosses the finish line to record the brand’s first Le Mans win in 1953

Tony Rolt crosses the finish line to record Jaguar’s first Le Mans win in 1953

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I interviewed Major Rolt in the early 2000s for a feature re-uniting him with his Le Mans-winning Jaguar C-Type at his home in Stratford-upon-Avon (bought on the proceeds of his Le Mans win). I’d been advised he would not talk about his wartime exploits and so we stuck to the racing, which he covered with a natural humility. But seeing him easing his stiff old limbs into the cramped Jaguar and imagining that day when he was doing it for real, it was very easy to sense the steel behind both his wartime and racing exploits.

Let’s take the recent anniversary of Rolt’s passing to salute and celebrate the skills and commitment of the racing stars and look ahead to the new season, but let’s use the short b-word sparingly.

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