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British racing driver David Charles Purley was born January 26, 1945 in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. He was born to Charles Purley, his father, the founder of LEC Refrigeration, and his mother who was from the small Welsh village of Cwfelinfach.

He attended school at Seaford College and then Dartington Hall School in Devon. However, David has a taste for adventure. He started out as a soldier in the elite Parachute Regiment. During his military career he survived the partial failure of his parachute during one of his training jumps. After he left the army he was inspired by a friend of his, Derek Bell, to try a hand at motor racing. He started out racing an AC Cobra and then later moved on to a Chevron.

In 1970 he changed again but this time to single seaters where he raced in Formula 3 in Brabham, running his own team under the LEC Refrigeration banner. A few weeks later he won his first race beating James Hunt in the Grand Prix des Frontieres at Chimay in Belgium. After spending two years in Formula 3, he again moved up to an F2 with a March. After a period of time in went by in 1973 at Monaco, David made his F1 debut.

In 1974 he left F1 and raced in Formula 5000 after an unsuccessful attempt at F1 in 1973. In 1975 he won the Shellsport British Formula 5000 title, and then in 1976 he won the British Championship in a Chevron powered by the Cosworth GA 3.4 litre V6 engine. Later that year he commissioned designer Mike Pilbeam to build an LEC F1 car and then in 1977 with the help of Mike Earle he was able to race it.

With this car he suffered serious injuries in a pre-qualifying round for the British Grand Prix. The throttle stuck open and he crashed with incredible violence. It is said that he was subjected to the highest G-force ever survived by a human being. He crashed at 179.8G when his car went from 108mph to 0 in a short distance of only half a metre. His life was saved that day by rescue crews on the scene but it took him many months to recover from multiple fractures to his legs, pelvis, and ribs.

Eventually he returned with a second LEC F1 car which he raced later in a Shadow in the British F1 serious before he decided to quit racing and run the family business. He will always be remembered for his actions during the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix, where he abandoned his race in an attempt to save his friend Roger Williamson. That same year he was awarded the George medal for his rescue attempt.

After his decision to quit motorsport, he decided to move into competition aerobatics. 40 year old David crashed into the sea off Bognor Regis when his Pitts Special aerobatic biplane went down; he died July 2, 1985.

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