Tag Archives: Darracq 200hp

Goodwood 74th Members Meeting – Sun 20th Mar 2016 Part 2

The Perils of High Speed Circuits.

As Goodwood circuit is not used all year round due to local noise restrictions – it’s easy to forget that it’s is a very high speed circuit and therein lies the risk to race drivers and to spectators.

At the end of the first lap of the first of Sunday’s races a really scary crash  unfolded right in front of me on the start/finish straight when Richard Wilson’s Lotus Cooper Climax T51 collided with Stephen Bond’s Lotus Climax 18.

Instead of both cars coming to rest on the track or in the tyre wall – the collision caused Bond’s Lotus to go into an end-over-end  cartwheel which lifted it over the wall and hedge of an access road before it plummeted down into a pedestrian tunnel right next to the viewing area for wheelchair users.

Possibly because it was early in the day – the pedestrian tunnel was empty so by a miracle spectator injuries were avoided. Stephen Bond also came out of it with broken ribs but was extremely lucky not to come out worse particularly as fuel was pouring from the car as he hung suspended in his seat belts.

It’s horrible to contemplate but with slightly more forward momentum the cartwheeling car could easily have cleared the pedestrian tunnel and landed on the wheelchair spectator viewing area.

Luck was with  a number of people as it looked like the accident could have shaped up to be a 1955 Le Mans type incident.

I was rooted to the spot watching the accident in slow motion but a few yards further along the viewing platform Tim Quinlan captured this remarkable footage of the accident:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=021GVfHJ_YE&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

Continue reading Goodwood 74th Members Meeting – Sun 20th Mar 2016 Part 2

Prescott “La Vie En Bleu” – Sun 24th May 2015

The particular theme for the Prescott Hill Climb event on Sun 24th May 2015 was “La vie en bleu” – a celebration of all things French.

This provided a welcome focus on French car marques with representatives from Alpine Renault, Amilcar, Berliet, Citroen, Darracq, De Dion Bouton, Delage, Delahaye, Hotchkiss, Lorraine Dietrich, Matra, Renault and a whole range of other famous and some less famous French marques. The turn out of vintage French cars was particularly spectacular with some that I’d never heard of before.

Mixing the French contingent of cars amongst other cars competing on the day – made for a great spectacle.

Continue reading Prescott “La Vie En Bleu” – Sun 24th May 2015