It was thirty years ago... Yesterday!

When you think of Moustache’s and motor racing you inevitably turn your thoughts towards everybody’s favourite brum.

However there was one notable Austrian who made even Mansell's facial topiary look distinctly second division.

Harold Ertl was an Austrian driver and Journalist who raced with much success in 1970’s Tin Tops.

In an interesting twist Ertl had been at the same school as 1970 World Champion Jochen Rindt, and fellow Austrian driver Helmut Marko.

Why was nobody I went to school with ever Formula One World Champion?

Anyway, Harald got his formula one chance with Hesketh towards the end of 1975, and managed to get some great results. He was to race a full season with the team for 1976.

“This is all well and good Nige” I hear you cry, “But what’s suddenly brought on this short biography of a little known hirsute racing driver?”

Well I am coming to that…

It was whilst racing for Hesketh at the Nurburgring in 1976 that he struck the Burning wreckage of Niki Lauda's Ferrari. Lauda, pushing hard to catch the leader after an early tyre stop had crashed at the Bergwick corner, and was now lying trapped in his burning car.

Harald Ertl and the American Driver Brett Lunger, who had also struck the wreckage, rushed to help. They were joined by Ertl’s British team-mate Guy Edwards and the Italian driver Arturo Merzario.

Harald Ertl managed to get hold of a fire extinguisher and was able to beat back the flames around the cockpit enough for Lauda to be pulled out of the car.

It was thirty years ago yesterday!

Thankfully as we all know Lauda, despite being horrifically burned, was back in action just six weeks later, and would take the Championship battle to the final race of the season.

Guy Edwards was awarded the Queen’s medal for bravery for his role in the rescue. 1976 was to be Edwards only season of GP racing, although he carried on racing for another decade. After retiring he works helping to secure sponsors for up & coming drivers.

Harald Ertl remained in F1 until 1980, he was killed two years later in a light aircraft accident in Germany.

In a moment that would change all motorsport forever, four men ran into the flames without a thought for themselves, to save the life of another.

Now if that’s not inspirational on a Wednesday afternoon then I don’t know what is!

The BBC website currently shows a video of the accident and rescue, you can view it by following this link