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.
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