55 seconds to you and me 55 seconds is nothing they pass Us by in the blink of an eye but for Nikki louder 55 seconds stretched into an eternity it was in those 55 seconds that the Formula 1 World Champion came face to face with death and it was in those 55 seconds that he spat at death's door picked up his helmet and walked out this is the story of Nikki louers dance with death I suppose the truth is that I am as well known for surviving that terrible fiery accident in the 1976 German Grand
Prix as I am for winning three World Championships Nikki louder was a man who refused to live under any Illusions calculating cold ruthless he casts a long Shadow on and off the track that is of course to be expected from a Formula 1 Champion something louder boasted going into the 1976 season but louder was so much more than just a champion with a decade spanning his first and third title wins he had seen Formula 1 change and evolve before before his eyes he had seen the likes of Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart race as well
as upstarts like Nelson PK and Alan Prost and yet Nikki's impact on the sport was much bigger than being just a champion the things and causes he fought for keep drivers safe even today and yet what it took to get there was horrifying Nikki louder had dominated the 1976 season up until the 10th round at the nurur ring racking up 61 points 45 more than his rival James hunt hunt was the media dar articulate handsome irresistibly charming and audacious willing to stake his life for Glory louder was different he was all about thoroughness discipline and
precision lacking Hunt's effortless charm and sporting a thinf face and prominent teeth that earned him the unflattering Monica the rat he couldn't compete in the looks Department however his speed was unmatched blisteringly fast owed as much to meticulous preparation as to courage and aeden foot by the 1976 season he had claimed the mantle of the fastest driver on the grid by far in fact during his tenor at Ferrari louder had earned quite a reputation for bluntness fortunately for both him and denzo Ferrari they did not share a common language lder was not a man who
was afraid of standing up for himself he knew he was capable of getting through anything doing anything winning anything so when the cars lined up on the grid at the nurburg ring in 1976 another championship victory for Ferrari and louder seemed all but inevitable the nurburg ring winding through the densely forested Eiffel Mountain had an incredibly notorious reputation for modern Grand Prix Motorcars having already claimed five lives louder understandably had voiced his concerns and advocated for a boycott at a Grand Prix Drivers Association meeting pointing out the unacceptable standards of the fire engines and safety
Crews and yet louder would be outvoted by the rest of the grid and the race would go ahead time would bring louder's fears to life and fast when louder lined up in second on the grit he had no idea how hard he would have have to cling to life on the second lap a light shower before the started convince louder that he should start the race with rain tires once the race started though louder realized his mistake and rushed into the pits after the first lap to change for slicks and tore off to make up
some ground however with his new tires struggling to get warmed up he lost control at bergar on the second lap and that is when all hell broke loose the old footage of this near fatal accident has an eerie quality to it watching the approach to the Corner barely anyone could tell how quickly this arrow likee car would transform into a blazing death trap given that the race had just begun the car still contained a full load of fuel much of one side of the car was sheared off upon impact turning it into a fireball spinning
across the track with the car quickly becoming engulfed by flames and for louder that was bad enough but things would get worse yet Brett lunga SES approaching the bent made efforts to break but still collided head on with the burning Ferrari redirecting the car towards W the track's Edge and consuming precious seconds seconds that could be the difference between life and death the events that followed vary depending on the account you consider the excerpt from Maurice Hamilton's 2020 book Nikki louder the biography is one that is widely accepted in this account Hamilton describes a critical
moment during the Nur buug ring race where only one Marshall ill equipped and lacking proper attire was present faced with the urgency of the situation the drivers knew they had to act swiftly Harold erto managed to locate a fire extinguisher and activate it to douse the cockpit Brett lunger a seasoned veteran from the Vietnam War positioned himself at the cast Center seconds continued to pass for the drivers for the crews for the audience but for louder it felt like a lifetime progress felt difficult until marzario a former Ferrari driver familiar with seat belt mechanisms bravely
entered the intense heat and released the Buckle of louder's sixo harness mitario vividly recalled the difficulty of the situation stating it wasn't easy Nikki was obviously in agony straining hard against the belts trying to get away from the Flames thank God he eventually lost Consciousness it was only when he relaxed that I could free the Buckle the release of body weight caused lunger to topple over taking louder with him in later years mataria reflected on the incident moio's heroic intervention that day likely saved louder's life louder never forgot these acts of bravery and remained grateful
to the Italian throughout his life Nikki said there was a guy called aturo mataria who jumped into the fire alone and pulled me out of of the wreckage so I survived so he really saved my life there because a couple of seconds more I would have never made it Nikki's injuries were severe particularly to his head and hands accompanied by a broken collarbone he was swiftly airlifted to the hospital where his condition deteriorated rapidly in fact it became so bad that many started preparing for his death a priest was even called to administer the last
rights 3 days after the harrowing crash and yet louder would survive and according to the legend once louder woke up he said tell the priest of I'm still alive for 55 agonizing seconds louder had been in Hell his injuries were terrible causing him to lose his eyelids practically all of his right ear and his scalp to burn so badly he was never seen in public without a hat later he would remember I asked a nurse in the burns Clinic when can I look in the mirror anytime she said it should never have been alloud she
switched on a neon light and because of the Heat and the water attention my head went straight into my shoulder ERS I thought of course it got better and better I had seen my injuries at their worst despite the grave incident lder was Resolute not only to return to racing but also to defend his world title less than a month after the accident he demonstrated his Readiness to Ferrari's team management and Enzo Ferrari himself by showing up at the fiorano test track near bolognia it was a powerful statement as Ferrari had already enlisted a replacement
driver within a day of the accident a move that deeply offended louder given his reigning world champion status Danielle odetto the Ferrari team manager vividly remembered the sight of louder's arrival he was a vision that I can never forget in my life Nikki arrived in fiorano in his plane that he apparently flew to Bologna himself he was so pale the scars he'd lost his hair he could not close his eyes he was like a ghost he had a world championship to defend and had already missed two races missing another was not an option and just
33 days after a Dan with death at the nurburg ring with Burns still painful and bandages holding him together the world champion would finish fourth at Monza he had outraced death as The Season's Grand Finale roared into Tokyo louder still LED hunt by a solid three points yet Relentless pain coupled with impaired vision due to the fiery damage to his tear ducts forced louder into a decision he did not want retirement from the race this opened the door for James Hunt to win the title and yet the spotlight remained on the man once dubbed the
rat he had come back from a situation that shouldn't have been humanely possible to survive and not only that he had stayed in the fight until the very end even more incredible the very next year louder Rose to the top of the summit once more as he reclaimed his status as world champion in 1985 after clinching his third world title with just half a point ahead of his McLaren teammate Alan Prost he gracefully took his leave from the track he was an icon that had become synonymous with the sport and yet it was those 55
seconds that defined everything he did the memory of the crash stayed in his side mirrors all his life following him into every Walk of Life he would pass away on May 20th 2019 a few months after receiving a lung transplant a consequence of the toxic fumes he had breathed in while firmly strapped into the cockpit four decades prior if you liked this retelling of Nikki's story why don't you go check out some of my other videos on the biggest names in Formula 1 some of them aren't this heartbreaking
