A SPECTATOR died yesterday and three others were injured, two

seriously, after Scotsman Allan McNish's Lola racing car vaulted a

barrier after colliding with another competitor at the Donington race

track, near Derby.

McNish, 20, escaped from the wreckage of his 180mph Formula 3000

machine after it hit the marshal's post, rolled down an embankment and

landed near the mouth of a spectator's subway access, scattering

onlookers.

He was unconscious for two minutes and later treated for shock in

hospital where he was reunited with his father Bert, who had been

watching his son's first race of the season. He was detained overnight

for observation.

Witnesses said McNish, driving a the 450hp Marlboro Lola-Mugen, hit

the trackside wall after colliding with Italian driver Emanuele

Naspeti's Reynard as the two men fought for a midfield place in the

opening round of the European F3000 championship. One witness added that

the man died after being hit by McNish's engine which was detached when

the car disintegrated.

McNish had stalled on the starting grid and decided apparently to try

to take advantage of the drying surface by going into the pits for

slick, treadless tyres. It was during his fight back up the field that

the collision happened.

Herald motorsport reporter Bob Constanduros said the two cars touched

as they raced under the Dunlop bridge into the Esses bends, the red and

white Lola launching into a series of end over end rolls, before hitting

the retaining wall and breaking up as it went.

The force ripped the car's engine and gearbox from the car which both

landed in a pedestrian walkway.

A female marshal, Vicki Trumper of Willoughby, and a Mr Joyce of

Lincolnshire suffered serious spinal injuries. Mr Robert Mitchell, of

Rugeley, Staffordshire, injured his elbow.

The incident happened on the fastest stretch of the

two-and-a-half-mile Leicestershire circuit during the fourth lap when

the track surface was damp and drying. Circuit official David Fearn

said: ''I can only describe it as a racing accident.''

The track's owner Mr Tom Wheatcroft has always taken pride in the

safety arrangements at his circuit and pointed out that the accident

happened where there was a greater ''run-off'' area than anywhere else

round the track.

McNish escaped serious injury due to the immensely strong carbon-fibre

shell of the Lola which cocoons the driver and a safety roll over hoop

designed to withstand massive impact forces. Last year McNish emerged

with concussion when his Formula Three car overturned at Brands Hatch

and the roll bar broke. But at five feet five inches tall McNish was

able to crouch down in the cockpit limiting his injuries.