84 with McLaren but what you probably remember him most for a surviving the horrific crash in the 1976 German Grand Prix just a horrible scene and he suffered serious burns his helmet came off his face was burned heavily and he was forever badly scarred but he made this incredible recovery and return to racing just six weeks later the movie Rush featured his longtime rivalry with British race car driver James Hunt going back to the injuries and 76 headlong down what you needed a lung transplant about 8 months ago and complications from that he was as I said 70 years old but that's just some of what we're remembering today lots of discussion about this in Britain of course and Thomas dad and joining me this morning and I London Bureau to remind us more about the Life and Legacy of this great driver Thomas got giant in Motorsports to Heather a figure who defied death in that crash but also apparently just a pleasant down-to-earth man according to anyone who knew him really a statement from his family today underlined what they call his unique achievements and indeed they are unique how many people do you know who won the F1 world champion through it and ship three times and then went on to become an airline executive remember he founded Lauda air that's where they got his name it was later bought out by Austrian Airlines but even in the final years of his life he serve as a non-executive chairman of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team today they said it was a Guiding Light they say loud it was always brutally honest and utterly loyal and their words that one of the top drivers in the world. Valtteri bottas with that Mercedes team also shared a picture with Niki Lauda online today saying r i p Nikki hashtag legend that I don't think any fan of that sort would she thought Heather as I was mentioning Thomas you know younger viewers would remember the film probably in 2013 Rush got a lot of attention at the time a fictionalized account of his life in his rivalry but a lot of attention that film to the horrific crash in 1976 remind us and some more detail about the facts of that it really horrific allowed is a Ferrari hit an embankment burst into flames then another car came around and hit it head-on it wasn't just the crash that was horrific but the Flames well louder suffered damage to his lungs from smoke inhalation eventually when he pulled out of the rack he's rushed to hospital is actually given the last rites and everyone thought that was at the crash had killed him but somehow we hung on and survive. Even when the race again 40 days later and indeed when two more World titles here is a bit from extraordinary interview and 1976 the year of that German Grand Prix crash talking about resisting death just fight with the brain you hear noises and you hear voices and you just try to listen what they saying in to try to keep your brain working and to get the body ready to fight against it and I think this was very good that I did that because that way I survived I'll problems persisted is whole life you underwent two kidney transplants had a lung transplant done last year his family says louder passed away peacefully yesterday at the age of 70 haven't Thomas thanks very much remembering that to Thomas Day from London.
