Mark II hits the track.

First things first, here's the video of the crash in August:



I warn you, it's not pretty. That said, they do gloss over the fact three of us were injured pretty much entirely in that kind of "All's ok!" way club motorsport tends to cling to. Bad things don't happen. And if they do, try not to mention them too much.

Anyway, as far as I'm aware, there was little left of the old car to make into a new one but with it being one of Aly's track cars - we broke it, so we bought it and a new one has been built. It was completed and hit the track for a shakedown this Friday just prior to the next round of the Championship and as Rory was determined to keep going, he hit the track. He did well, especially in the first race where he actually led for a while before dropping back while he got used to the car. Still, three solid results were had and most importantly given recent events he brought it back with no dings... Here's a couple of pics of the new incarnation:





I dunno if I'm expecting too much when I say once again there was a lot of trouble in the races. A gentleman's grid was introduced to have drivers who aren't on the pace of the big boys start in a grid of their own at the back ahead of the newcomers and this saw the potential for slower guys bunching the field reduced. The slower guys are generally the scapegoat even though those standing at Duffus on any given raceday would tell you the problem at the moment is more the aggressive and occasionally kamikaze driving style sometimes on show. Indeed, there were two red flag incidents with Ali Thom's day ending backwards in the wall off the main straight with the roof ripped off and big rear end damage, and Sanford Imrie being flipped onto his roof at Clark. Frank Hynds received a bump on the arm after a big pileup at Clark which saw a number of cars damaged while Rich Crozier had the left side wheels ripped off his car in another first lap crash at the bottom of Duffus. Even father and son Marshall took each other off the road! If you add the national series crash at the BTCC meeting that saw Derek Pierce and another car rolling bigtime, that's massive accidents in the last three outings of Legends at the 'Hill. Hope we have a quiet finale in October.

Last but not least, well done to Carol Brown on winning the Championship with a round to go - great stuff!

Fleeting moment of notoriety.

Recovered from the aches and pains now, the week after the crash wasn't much fun. Went back to work a week later (couldn't really afford much downtime) which was uncomfortable but ok. Still waiting to hear from Aly about the car, that said he had a lot of repairwork to trackday cars to do and preparations to run some cars at the BTCC meeting last week so the wreck is probably still in the corner of the garage awaiting salvage. Really not looking forward to the bill (neither is Rory) as the car was totally fecked what with the rollcage being cut through to recover my remains so it's going to be a big one.

Here are my moments of fame in Autosport and Motorsport News the week after (click for readable versions):

Going out the wrong way...

In true Hollywood "Police Chief retiring in 2 weeks" style, my last race weekend for the time being ended in disaster. I'll post more thoughts later but the traffic stats for this blog have shown quite a few people have looked at it in the last couple of days so I've copy & pasted the forum post I made at SCR.co.uk and I'll post more thoughts a bit later when I feel up to it.

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Couple of days on and I'm going to be feeling it for a while but nothing lasting it seems which is a relief - my neck, back, shoulders, arms, finger joints and right ankle are all very sore though and I'm getting a selection of pretty bruises too!

As Mike Strong says, the car's clearly a gonner but given that they had no option but to take the roof off while I sat there muttering about back pain and elephants being orange that's not a surprise. I recall the initial incident in that when we reached Duffus Andrew Donald was turned across the front of my car and we ended up going very slowly off to the left of the track, at which point (due to a further accident taking place behind us) Sasha had to dive left and slammed straight into the back of me at full pelt. I got a brief word with her at the hospital as I was leaving and she says she saw me with about 10 feet to go so could barely do anything about it.

When she hit the world just exploded around me - it was utterly brutal. I recall more impacts (one of which being Alex Knight as he was sent into three rolls, so I'm told) as my car pinballed across the track to where it ended up on the outside of Leslie's in the gravel but I lose 2 or 3 minutes at this point as the next thing I really remember is the roof being removed and being surprised at how many other cars there were sitting in the gravel around me. F1 driver time as I'm lifted out on the board with blankets held up and up to the medical centre, my lower back really starting to hurt so it's off to hospital when another ambulance arrives (Sasha having been taken away in the one already at the track.) After all the tests and so on I get the all clear for any bad injuries at which point I foolishly demanded that my parents drop me off at the track so I can let everyone know I'm ok and so I can see the Legends Final and pick up my roadcar. Once the adrenaline started to drain though I really started to hurt but did manage to do all this and now I'm at home for a few days, sore but at least with everything still attached.

I can't tell all the marshalls and rescue guys on here just how grateful I am for all the work they do now that I've been at the (very) sharp end of their work - I know lots of you read the forum so PLEASE let your fellows know just how much I appreciate all they do - you're the real heroes out there, drivers be damned.

Just so that my thanks list covers (hopefully) everyone, here's the post I made at the SMRC forum:

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"Just a quick note to thank all those involved in the rescue work and marshalling at Knockhill on Sunday with regards to the big legends crash - my recollection of events is still on the hazy side but I do recall all the concerned faces throughout and hope thanks can be passed on to all the fantastic marshalls and rescue crew at the circuit along with the medical staff I encountered en route to and at the hospital. They all made a very unpleasant situation as easy-going as could be expected. Thanks as well to Nick Clarke, Ian Forrest and anyone else who stopped by before I was taken from the circuit. Nothing broken in the end but I'll be feeling every joint and muscle for the next while, that much I do know. Aly Hunter builds quality cars and for that I'll always be grateful given the impact involved.

Also, thanks to the SMRC and Knockhill staff who gave my parents information and guidance as best they could too straight after the accident. Your help was much appreciated."

Farewell To Arms

My last race weekend of 2008 got underway today with two practice sessions in the legend. The first session was on a sodden track coated in oil so I couldn't really learn anything but the second was in the dry and the car felt good. Aly Hunter seemed to think I was doing ok too so that gives me some confidence for tomorrow if we get some dry running.

Fingers crossed for a good day!

Solid Day

Good day for the #07 in the hands of Gordon this weekend - he took it easy on the first laps of the two heats to stay out of trouble and brought the car home in 14th and 15th places followed by 13th in the final, avoiding a pile-up out of Scotsman/McIntyre which would see the red flag fly.

That's it until the August 3rd meeting which will be my last run of the year.

Next round is this coming weekend with Gordon at the wheel of the #07. In the meantime, here's a video of one of my two incidents on April 27th. The other wasn't really caught by the cameras so I probably wont upload it.

Winners!

I know the part played by myself and Gordon was fairly minimal, but we're still on a high after Sunday's events and the fifth round of the Championship as part of the Scottish Speedfair event.

For various reasons I couldn't be at the track on Saturday when the first heat was run but the race was a dnf for Rory due to a perceived problem with the gearbox which thankfully turned out to not be the case. Plus for whatever reason the brake balance had been moved all the way back so he's lucky he didn't crash the thing before he realised.

On to Sunday and the second heat in which he started towards the back and stayed there for most of the race, unhappy with the pulling power of the car in a straight line where he just couldn't compete. Clearly something wasn't right so in the big gap between the two races while Knockhill sent endless parades and track demos out various things were tried. The engine was rebuilt between the last race and this one so something had obviously not gone to plan. Thankfully, as it would transpire a second or so a lap would be found by changing the oil.



So on to the final. Due to the fact the final is made up from the results of the previous two heats, Rory started a promising third as the only one of the quick drivers to have a really bad day. He managed to jump the two rookies starting ahead of him and proceeded to vanish into the distance while the quickest drivers had to fight quite hard to get to the front. Indeed, it took 8 of the 10 laps for that to happen, Carol Brown eventually appearing in second but unable to close the gap with Rory winning by a pretty decent margin!

There were joyous scenes in the paddock afterwards as Rory had his entire family on hand and it's fantastic that the group has achieved something, especially as Rory was our only realistic chance of a really good result - though we'd expected a possible podium or two, not a race victory!