[MG Rover Sport]

Originally Posted by RGM

The nut that split caused the off at Silverstone, the picture at the top of the page was from the Mewla/Epynt off... which was caused by too much speed...! :-) The strut was removed to enable the car to be moved as the wheel was jammed in the wheelarch.

Many thanks for the clarification of the two crashes Mike, and your previous posts. Reading them back through again, it all makes perfect sense now.

Originally Posted by RGM

John Blackford, not jean. John had/has the company Wessington Cabins which was/is based in Calne Wiltshire and is a very long standing friend of Sams. Lovely bloke.

Agree, John not Jean. Added his first name from memory, so can I be forgiven?

Originally Posted by RGM

B697CMG was Sams wifes MG Montego Estate... number plates and tax disc borrowed for the Rally at Colerne Airfield, stupid rules about rally cars having to be taxed to run on single venue events where none of the event took place on public roads.

Thanks for that Mike - never knew the Reg No came from Sam's wife's Montego!

Originally Posted by RGM

The car wasn't reshelled following the Mewla prang, stripped to a bare shell, painted inside and out and repaired. The only Metro Nelson Engines had was the temperature test car. But enough parts were "new" (painted and refurbished) to satisfy the authorities that E264AAM was a "new" car. Quite remarkable that you know what time in the morning we finished building the car for Longleat, I don't remember and I was there building it!

I'll check my files again regarding Sam's car(s), and come back to you with what I have jotted down because I see no reason for having inaccurate information recorded!

Originally Posted by RGM

I was prepping Mark (?) Bennets car at the same time, if I remember correctly, it was his first event with the metro, that he later rolled down a hillside in Wales, still one of the most violent crashes for a 6R4 I think.....

It was Paul & Brent Bennetts' car that you must have been working on, and I agree that it didn't look a pretty sight once it had stopped! I have some photos here that Paul's son sent to me in 1989, but I think I'll refrain from posting them on this occasion. Paul debuted his rebuilt car at the same Silverstone race meeting that Sam crashed at in August 1989.

Originally Posted by RGM

I didn't actually know that the temperature test car was hit during transport to Donington prior to Sam buying it, just remember picking it up from a seedy bodyshop just outside London, who had jigged it up and painted it to sams specifications.... I also managed to be given some computervision bodypanels from a works car, which they were throwing out... and like a muppet I gave them to Sam Nelson, when I could have saved at least a door pod as a momento...

Don't talk to me about 'ifs and buts' Mike - I have a 48 volume encyclopedia full of them!

Originally Posted by RGM

Terrible business that accident at Longleat.... peoples lives changed forever in an instant.... it was the first fatality that I had experienced at an event, and it haunts me even today. The rally just continued and I remember John Price at the prizegiving saying words to the effect of "life goes on and these things happen, we all love rallying and it is what he would ahve wanted that we continue".
I remember thinking.... what about his family... apparently Dave Adams had stepped in at the last minute, I can't start to image how the original co-driver felt when he heard the news, and as I recall, Steve was never really the same following the accident either.

I couldn't agree more with you on this Mike. To be honest I didn't really know Steve or Dave that well, but our paths had crossed a couple of times the year before when the 6R4 Owners Club was established. It was certainly a very sad time amongst anyone connected with rallying, the Superchallenge, or the 6R4.