I remember the old Russell in great detail, it was a corner that deserved a lot of respect! My most memorable attempt was in about 1984 in a FF 1600 Tiga, I was competing in the BARC 74-80 FF 1600 championship and as Andrew correctly states it was just about flat out in top. As I turned into the left hand kink at the start, Andy Woods in a Sparton touched my rear tyre, suddenly the car half spun at well over 100mph and hit the armco protecting the start of the pit lane. The impact broke the engine mounts which dropped the engine out of the back and the gearbox and rear suspension flew approx. 15' into the air and landed several yards away from the rest of the car. The impact also broke the armco retaining post. Inside the Tiga the fuel tank was held in by a 1/2" diam. round tube running across the width of the chassis, this also supported the seat, during the impact I was forced onto this tube and bent it backwards about 2" with my upper back! Apart from numerous bruises my only injury was a sprained wrist from the steering wheel whiplash.
For some photographs of the Tiga and another spectacular accident, but this time at Donington! have at look at the gallery on
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