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The weather was dry and for once our pit area was within the oval rather than outside the main buildings.
This meant we were within easy distance of the collecting area should we need to take wheels and tools if the weather changed.
Qualifying did not go well Martyn qualified 16th and I qualified last 25th of 25. I think the term “Sunday afternoon driver” applies here to me.
I don’t really like the track and find it hard to perform to my usually slightly better level. Martyn suffered with clutch problems where it wasn’t
disengaging properly so preventing gear changes and causing a slow lap time. The clutch was adjusted between qualifying and race which sorted the issue.
The 1st race started well and I made up a few places off the grid but I saw ahead of me a big cloud of smoke and cars going all ways on the first banked corner.
I picked my way through the debris as we were still racing and thought I saw Martyn ahead. I thought at least we had escaped the carnage. Imagine my shock when we
came around again to see that it was Martyn in the wall and it looked like it had been a heavy impact. The red lights went on and the cars were all sent around to
the starting grid. I pulled into the pits to try and find out how he was. After running up and down unable to get any information I went to the Medical Centre to
await the return of the ambulance which by this time was at the scene. It seemed like an eternity before he was brought back and it was pretty nerve wracking waiting
first for the ambulance to arrive and then for the doctors to check him out. He had been knocked unconscious in the accident and was out for several minutes. Although
he was walking in the Medical Centre they kept him there for observation in case he had sustained concussion. Martyn said he was ok and that I should continue racing.
I started again from the pit lane but my heart wasn’t in it.
Race 1 from Martyn’s perspective. I made a good start to race 1 and was up to about 12th and was entering the first corner when Daniel Walker moved across on
me knocking me into the cars on the inside. I was then a passenger as the car ricocheted towards the outer wall where I impacted at approx 80mph. The car bounced
back into the oncoming traffic and it was hit again causing more damage. Once the car stopped moving I managed to turn off the electrics and then blacked out for
approximately 2 ½ minutes waking up when the cars were coming round on their second lap. Contrary to the commentary on the TV which said that Darren had hit me
rather than Daniel, it was actually Darren who stopped and shouted at the Marshalls to get to me quickly as he could see I was unconscious. Displaying a disabled
sticker on my car because of my Diabetes should have ensured a quicker response.
Overall, a disastrous weekend with extensive damage to the Beetle. All I can say is I am glad we invested in new helmets with HANS devices at the start of last
season otherwise Martyn’s injuries could have been a lot worse. The Beetle won’t be back out again this season and we are busy collecting bits to rebuild it over the winter.
Visit the Gallery to see more images of the car - an in car video of the crash will appear on the Gallery page shortly
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