Frederik Jansen van Vuuren was a 19-year-old booking clerk at Jan Smuts Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa. Known to his friends as "Frikkie", he was a volunteer marshal at the Kyalami circuit. On March 5, 1977, during the 22nd lap of the South African Grand Prix, he carried a 40-pound fire extinguisher across the track to extinguish a fire on the Shadow car of the retired Italian driver Renzo Zorzi.
Frederik "Frikkie" Jansen van Vuuren was a 19-year-old booking clerk from Johannesburg who had volunteered to be a fire marshal at the . He was an avid fan of Formula One, and this was his first time serving as a marshal.
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As both marshals entered the live racing line, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Tom Pryce crested the blind brow of the hill at approximately 270 km/h (170 mph) while battling for position. Stuck spotted the marshals at the last millisecond and swerved violently to the right, narrowly missing William. Pryce, running completely "unsighted" directly behind Stuck's rear wing, had zero time to react or alter his trajectory. Medical Findings: Frederik Jansen van Vuuren
The catastrophic nature of the physical trauma meant Frederik's body could not be visually identified at the scene. This tragic detail forms the definitive final statement of this non-existent autopsy report: his identity was only confirmed by process of elimination. After the race concluded, the race director gathered all of the surviving marshals for a roll call; it was only by confirming that everyone else was present that the remains of Frederik Jansen van Vuuren could be identified. Frederik Jansen van Vuuren was a 19-year-old booking
The medical and forensic findings highlighted the following trauma:
Jansen van Vuuren was struck by Tom Pryce’s car at approximately 270 km/h (170 mph) Primary Trauma: Frederik "Frikkie" Jansen van Vuuren was a 19-year-old
On lap 22 of the 1977 South African Grand Prix, driver Renzo Zorzi pulled his Shadow DN8 onto the side of the main straight with a mechanical failure, which quickly sparked a fire. Sensing danger, two track marshals—including 19-year-old Frederick Jansen van Vuuren—grabbed heavy, 40-pound (18.2 kg) fire extinguishers and ran across the track to assist.
when a split-second decision led to his death and that of driver The Tragedy at Kyalami