|
Now how's this for off-topic!
Sparky, I'm delighted to hear of someone else with the same opinion of ol' Noel. He gets a bit of a pasting these days, but I've seen the efforts he used to put in to help my uncle with some Lions Club charity events in the early eighties.
Top fellow in my book - but why did he have to come up with Mr Blobby...
The last Escort Celebrity race I ever saw (to bring it back to one-make races!) was very nearly the last race I ever saw at all. The morning of the British GP at Brands in '85 had a Rally vs Rallycross drivers race, in XR3i's - the early shape ones with the pastrycutter wheels.
Very definitely one of those "life flashing before your eyes" moments. I was standing on the outside of Clearways opposite the pit lane entrance, when Per Eklund and Trevor Reeves gave Mark Rennison (I think) a nudge while they were on full power for the exit.
It was on the second swing of the tank-slapper that it dawned on me and the rest of the morning crowd that the Escort was now on slippery, dewy grass and heading - fishtailing - straight for us at about 90mph.
Crowd barriers weren't what they are nowadays. There wasn't a lot of armco between us and the track in 1985.
Typical bloomin' rallycross driver. He was more in control on the slippy stuff than he was on tarmac. Missed the barrier by about 10 inches, and went on his way to go do some damage to Eklund's car.
|