Thread: Paul Warwick
View Single Post
Old 26 Jun 2006, 12:31 (Ref:1641577)   #10
nycuk
Veteran
 
nycuk's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
England
Banbury, Oxfordshire, England
Posts: 591
nycuk should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
Thought I'd add my memories of Paul Warwick. I recall his days in FF & F3 but it wasn't till he entered Brit F3000 in 1991 that I became a fan. He signed with Madgwick Racing, based in Brackley, where I then lived and as they were the local team (pre BAR / Honda obviously) they were always well supported in town. I and my family travelled up to Oulton Park that weekend to see the race and although it's a scary 15 years ago now I still remember it like it was yesterday. I watched the race from the inside of the run down to Cascades. It was a typically dominant performance from Paul and I took several shots of him as he built a comanding lead. Then the red flags came out and the cars came in. I wasn't close to a loudspeaker so couldn't hear what had happened. There had obviously been a fire as I could see black smoke coming from the direction of Knickerbrook. I had no binoculars but through my cameras telephoto lense I was able to make out the parked car of Richard Dean, plus the wreck of another car that I couldn't identify. I knew it must be bad when the marshalls began holding up blankets to shield the view of what we soon found out was Paul Warwick. I recall the police being on the scene too. The F3000 race was called, with Paul declared as the winner as he'd been leading when he crashed, and I think the support races continued - but we left the track. We'd seen enough and it was obviously bad. The news that Paul had died came through on the radio as we drove back to Brackley. I'd attended countless races with my dad since the mid seventies and had never witnessed a fatality - I haven't since either thankfully. It was a huge shock - Paul was a mega talent who would have shone in F1. I certainly rated him above his Brit contemporaries like Hill, Irvine and Blundell - and look what they achieved.
nycuk is offline  
Quote