Harald Ertl and his yellow helmet

Harald Ertl is strapping his yellow helmet before jumping into his Hesketh 308E, at the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix held at Zeltweg (picture-above). The Austrian is 20th on the grid in a field of 25, will produce a solid race and finish in 8th, a lap down on winner John Watson (Penske PC4).

Ertl (1948-1982), who sported a huge moustache and full beard,  was born in Zell am See and attended the same school as Grand Prix drivers Jochen Rindt, Helmut Marko and Niki Lauda. He worked his way through the German Super Vee and the Formula 3, before a successful switch to touring cars.

During this period, he gained sufficient sponsorship to enter Formula One, where he drove for Hesketh, Ensign and ATS between 1975 and 1980, without scoring a championship point. Ertl was one of the four drivers who helped to get Niki Lauda out of his burning Ferrari at the 1976 German Grand Prix.

Sadly, Ertl was killed in an aeroplane crash in 1982, when the small plane he was travelling in suffered from engine failure. He is seen here-below at the wheel of his Warsteiner-Hesketh 308E, during the 1975 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring where he finished in eighth.