Jethou

He forced me off the road twice today, that could just as well have been me burnt to death as Jethou.

The Way to Dusty Death MacLean, Alistair, 1922- 1973

It was just after the day that Jethou had died and Harlow had shown his lack of expertise both in pouring and drinking brandy that MacAlpine had first suspected that Harlow had forgone his lifelong abstention from alcohol.

The Way to Dusty Death MacLean, Alistair, 1922- 1973

Two weeks after the death of Jethou -- and this before his own home British crowd who had come, almost to a man, to forgive him for the dreadful insults and accusations heaped upon him by the French press and to cheer their idol home to victory -- he had suffered the indignity, not to say the humiliation, of running off the track in the very first lap.

The Way to Dusty Death MacLean, Alistair, 1922- 1973

It was still working when he pulled out in front of Jethou.

The Way to Dusty Death MacLean, Alistair, 1922- 1973

The Ferrari, spinning wildly, slid down the track for about two hundred yards, turned over twice and came to rest on all four wrecked wheels, Jethou still trapped in the cockpit but even then almost certainly dead.

The Way to Dusty Death MacLean, Alistair, 1922- 1973

It seemed that Harlow, too, was quite aware of this for his brake lights came on in keeping with his apparent intention of easing slightly and tucking in behind the slower car while Jethou swept by.

The Way to Dusty Death MacLean, Alistair, 1922- 1973

He took his foot off the brake and pulled out straight in front of Jethou.

The Way to Dusty Death MacLean, Alistair, 1922- 1973

Suddenly, incredibly, Harlow's brake lights went out and the Coronado swerved violently outwards as if Harlow had decided he could overtake the car in front before Jethou could overtake him.

The Way to Dusty Death MacLean, Alistair, 1922- 1973

For Harlow, the consequences of the collision were, in all conscience, serious enough for it sent his car into an uncontrollable spin, but for Jethou they were disastrous.

The Way to Dusty Death MacLean, Alistair, 1922- 1973

Even above the cacophonous clamour of engines under maximum revolutions and the screeching of locked tyres on the tarmac, the bursting of Jethou's front tyre was heard as a rifle shot and from that instant Jethou was a dead man.

The Way to Dusty Death MacLean, Alistair, 1922- 1973