HSCC Cadwell 13th Apr 2008
Posted 19-05-2008 at 21:59 by Harv
Back at Cadwell again this weekend for a days racing with the Historic Sports Car Club.
This started out as a great days racing before the clouds opened up and let rip with sheets of hailstone which left the circuit slippy again.
I was on post with one other guy ( trainee of the year 2007 ) and I was doing the flagging. A car decided to slide off the track at our post and then rejoin by sliding sideways down the embankment in front of us. As he did this he got the gears stuck and couldn't select a forward gear properly. My fellow marshal went to help push the car off the circuit while i frantically waved yellows in the rain and approached to help. Found out that the driver was trying to rejoin and a few seconds later he slammed it into 1st and rocketed of leaving the marshal to roll about on the live circuit and getting nice and wet in the process.
Well we reported the incident and got cleaned up a bit in our hut and carried on with the racing.
Then the next few laps and the race was stopped. Apparently there had been a fatality at the top of the mountain
a 68 year old had had a heart attack in the car and had gone off the circuit and crashed into the barriers. The medics were in attendance within 5 secs of him stopping but despite there best efforts and speedy response he had died before he hit the wall. The racing was called to an end and we all exited the circuit in a saddened mood. My best wishes to the drivers family and his friends but, and this view is shared by many I have talked to about it, at least he went out doing something he loved.
This brought home to me the fact of just how dangerous the hobby I had taken up could be and I found myself feeling down for the next few days coming to terms with what had happened. ( I talked at a later meet with the observer that was on the post which he crashed at and felt better knowing that it didn't spoil his enjoyment of marshaling and that he held the same views as others that he had gone out doing his thing ).
Made me appreciate my wife and family more though.
This started out as a great days racing before the clouds opened up and let rip with sheets of hailstone which left the circuit slippy again.
I was on post with one other guy ( trainee of the year 2007 ) and I was doing the flagging. A car decided to slide off the track at our post and then rejoin by sliding sideways down the embankment in front of us. As he did this he got the gears stuck and couldn't select a forward gear properly. My fellow marshal went to help push the car off the circuit while i frantically waved yellows in the rain and approached to help. Found out that the driver was trying to rejoin and a few seconds later he slammed it into 1st and rocketed of leaving the marshal to roll about on the live circuit and getting nice and wet in the process.
Well we reported the incident and got cleaned up a bit in our hut and carried on with the racing.
Then the next few laps and the race was stopped. Apparently there had been a fatality at the top of the mountain
a 68 year old had had a heart attack in the car and had gone off the circuit and crashed into the barriers. The medics were in attendance within 5 secs of him stopping but despite there best efforts and speedy response he had died before he hit the wall. The racing was called to an end and we all exited the circuit in a saddened mood. My best wishes to the drivers family and his friends but, and this view is shared by many I have talked to about it, at least he went out doing something he loved.This brought home to me the fact of just how dangerous the hobby I had taken up could be and I found myself feeling down for the next few days coming to terms with what had happened. ( I talked at a later meet with the observer that was on the post which he crashed at and felt better knowing that it didn't spoil his enjoyment of marshaling and that he held the same views as others that he had gone out doing his thing ).
Made me appreciate my wife and family more though.
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Recent Blog Entries by Harv
- Grande Passione Donington Park Masters weekend (27-05-2008)
- HSCC Cadwell 13th Apr 2008 (19-05-2008)
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