Bertie Fisher

[TimD]

I've just been shocked by a report on Sky News. Apparently a helicopter carrying Bertie Fisher and his family crashed near Enniskillen tonight.

Two of the Fisher children were killed in the accident, and Bertie and his wife are described as critically ill in hospital.

If anyone's got any prayers for the family, now's perhaps the time. What an awful, dreadful thing to happen.

[GURRYP]

BBC confirmed that Mark Fisher & his sister were killed, Bertie, his wife & his other son are all seriously ill in hospital.

[touringlegend]

That is a complete tragedy losing their children. Hope they get better soon.

[GURRYP]

More bad news I affraid. Bertie's life support machine was turned off during the night.

[bobdrummond]

As an Irish rally fan, this news is extraordinarily sad. Bertie Fisher is one of the most fantastic rally drivers the island ever produced. Northern Irish he may be, but he score so many successes down south, we claimed him as our own. John McIlroy's tribute on Autosport.com says it all, Anyone who does Moll's gap in 10mins is a hero to thousands of us. For sure he had state-of-the-art cars for the past few years, but they were bought with the sweat off his own brow and driven with uncommon skill. He was modest too, and extremely sensitive. When his brakes failed and his manta sailed close to spectators, he was upset enough to quit rallying, though he eventually made a comeback.

As for Mark, this is most sad. On the way to the top, he waited patiently to complete his engineering studies (a first from Oxford), worked hard at his dad's company (along with 179 others) and only went pro when he felt right. A pair of Subaru's on the '99 RAC for Fishers Snr. & Jr. was a torch-passing exercise.

First Joey Dunlop and now Bertie, It's been a terrible few months.

My sympathies to the family.

[Peter Mallett]

Having been overseas for the past two months I picked up a copy of Motorsport Magazine today and was saddened to learn of the death of Bertie Fisher, probably the world’s most famous amateur rally driver.

I met Bertie though my work in November 1999. Along with my colleagues we were visiting a number of Structural Steel companies in order to assess the market for a project in Ireland. The level of organisation and efficiency, which his factory displayed, impressed me.

He was obviously a very well respected man in the local community and this was highlighted by the extremely short time it took him to divert a game fishing river in order to develop the site and improve production and therefore employment. He did the whole thing in about six months.

He was extremely proud of his factory and the work it was doing. I have to say that in the brief meeting I had with him he was pleasant and straightforward and obviously a businessman of integrity and determination. I liked him.

My sympathies go to his brother and remaining family.