Purley was born in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, the son of Charles Purley, founder of LEC Refrigeration, whose original surname was Puxley. His mother was Welsh, born in Cwmfelinfach. He attended Seaford College and Dartington Hall School in Devon.
Purley’s early career began after service in the British Army. He was an Officer Cadet at Sandhurst on Intake 38 and commissioned into the Parachute Regiment, where he experienced a parachute malfunction during a training jump, landing on his Platoon Sergeant’s parachute. After action in Aden, he left the Army to pursue motor racing. He initially raced with an AC Cobra and a Chevron, before moving into Formula Three, achieving three wins at Chimay between 1970 and 1972.
In 1972, Purley attempted to race the Connew Grand Prix car in its original Formula One configuration at the World Championship Victory Race at Brands Hatch, but did not start after an electrical malfunction on the warm-up lap. In 1973, backed by his family’s refrigeration company, he hired a March and made his Formula One debut.
The 1973 Dutch Grand Prix became a defining moment in Purley’s career. Witnessing Roger Williamson’s crash, Purley abandoned his own race and attempted to save Williamson, who was trapped in his overturned and burning car. Purley recalled hearing Williamson calling for help as the fire grew, but his efforts were hampered by a lack of assistance from track marshals and emergency workers. Despite encouraging them and other drivers, no one came to his aid, and Williamson died from asphyxiation. Photographer Cor Mooij captured the sequence of events, winning the Photo Sequences category of the 1973 World Press Photo. Purley was later awarded the George Medal for his bravery. The incident is featured in the 2010 BBC documentary Grand Prix: The Killer Years.
After a one-off participation with Token at the 1974 British Grand Prix, Purley competed in Formula Two with Chevrons and Marches for Bob Harper, and Formula 5000, winning the British Championship in 1976 in a Chevron powered by a Cosworth GA 3.4-litre V6 engine. He also won the Brighton Speed Trials in 1974, driving a Trojan-Chevrolet T101, and again in 1975 in a Chevron-GA B30. Following his recovery from injuries sustained in 1977, Purley confined his racing activities to the Aurora AFX series of Formula One races in Britain.
Purley returned to Formula One in 1977 with his own LEC chassis, designed by Mike Pilbeam and run by Mike Earle. During practice for the 1977 British Grand Prix, he suffered severe injuries when his throttle stuck open, causing him to crash into a wall. He survived an estimated 179.8 g deceleration when slowing from 108 mph to 0 in 26 inches. Following the accident, Purley’s left leg was shorter than his right, requiring corrective surgery in Belgium.
After quitting motorsport, Purley moved into aerobatics. He died on 2 July 1985, when his Pitts Special aerobatic biplane crashed into the English Channel off Bognor Regis. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Nicholas Church, West Itchenor, near Chichester.
The remains of Purley’s crashed LEC CRP1 and its replacement were displayed at the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition until 2011, with the second car subsequently restored and now competing in historic Formula One racing, alongside a more recent replica. A memorial sculpture by Gordon Young was erected in Bognor Regis in 2017, inscribed with the words from his gravestone: “Gone now your eager smile, high held head and soldier's stride, etched were skies by your elegant style, and this earth enriched by your pride”.
This article is based solely on the corpus provided: David Purley from Wikipedia. No external sources were consulted, including primary archives, autobiographies, period programmes, or specialist publications.
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