26 August 2003

BRANDS HATCH CRASH REPORT

A good test on Saturday brought optimism for the remainder of the Bank Holiday weekend. Sadly this was misplaced, although qualifying saw me in eighth place only 0.6sec off the pole time. The top 10 were covered by only a second so a close race was on the cards.

We duly lined up on the grid for Monday's single race following a very light shower of rain and a drop in the air temperature. It was crucial to get some heat into the rear tyres and I was sure that I did on the warm-up lap. Another poor start lost me a place off the start and, as we exited Druids, Pead lost it and managed several large tank slappers before exiting stage left. The field then arrived at Graham Hill bend in the usual melee to find, on the exit, Paul Rivett had lost it too. Carnage ruled as competitors tried either to swerve or stop to avoid an accident. I smacked into the back of Neil Waterworth and, as I tried to gather some momentum to get out of the mess, Onslow Cole literally tried to join me in the car by driving through my passenger door. I limped from the scene with a car full of smoke and a lovely wobble courtesy of a bent axle and continued in fifth place until the red flags were shown.

Back on the grid the team managed to prise the bodywork off the wheel while I gave a live TV interview; not the reason I wanted to be on TV but you take it as it comes! At the restart I was just happy to be racing and, with several notables unable to restart themselves, a good finish could be achieved. Sadly I was tagged by Rob Cullum in yet another avoidable incident and was sent to the tyre barrier, which removed the front of the car.

I didn't want to give up yet - what else could possibly go wrong now? - so I immediately banged my poor wreck into first gear and set off in pursuit of the pack and, in truth, had some good battles, particularly with Jason Porter, on my way to 13th. Frankly I was amazed the car made it to the finish. As you would imagine the handling was awful as all the wheels were now pointing in different directions and the bent rear stub axle made for some interesting moments in left-hand corners.

TCR will, no doubt, have the car back to health by Donington as they continually work wonders with their superb preparation and we have three races left to go before a well earned rest after Oulton Park.