Carel Godin de Beaufort dies after his Nürburgring practice crash

Carel Godin de Beaufort represented a disappearing route into Formula 1: an amateur entrant transporting his own ageing car between Grands Prix and competing against the works teams. His fatal Nürburgring accident came as that privateer world was being overtaken by faster cars and increasingly professional operations.

De Beaufort was a Dutch nobleman who raced under the Ecurie Maarsbergen name. His cars were painted in the Netherlands’ traditional orange racing colour, making his Porsche a familiar presence during the early 1960s.

He remained loyal to the Porsche 718 long after the car had ceased to be competitive against newer monocoque designs. The Porsche was robust and spacious enough for his tall frame, but by 1964 it was badly outpaced by the latest Ferrari, Lotus, BRM and Brabham machinery.

The accident at Bergwerk

During practice for the German Grand Prix on 1 August, de Beaufort lost control near the fast Bergwerk section of the Nordschleife. His Porsche left the circuit and struck the trees.

He suffered severe injuries and was taken to a neurological hospital in Cologne. De Beaufort died the following day, 2 August, at the age of 30.

The race proceeded without him. John Surtees won for Ferrari, while Honda made its World Championship debut with Ronnie Bucknum.

The Netherlands’ first points scorer

De Beaufort had become the first Dutch driver to score points in the Formula 1 World Championship. He finished sixth at the 1962 Dutch Grand Prix and repeated the result in France later that season. Fifth places in Belgium and the United States during 1963 raised his career total to four points.

Those results were achieved as a private entrant using machinery that was rarely close to the front on speed. His persistence made Ecurie Maarsbergen one of the final recognisable examples of the independent owner-driver tradition.

Formula 1 continued to include private teams after de Beaufort’s death, but the driver who owned the car, entered it and raced it personally was becoming increasingly rare. His orange Porsche remained closely associated with the final years in which that approach could still reach a World Championship grid.