Broken Neck, Broken Dreams

My early days of racing gave very few opportunities, starting with a Sprite I slowly progressed to Formula Ford and then onto Formula Three. However, had it not been for the support of Alan McKechnie, I may not have “made it” at all. Injury, too, was something that hindered me. While testing at Castle Combe I sustained a broken neck following a crash, Nigel Mansell-like, but with a lot less fuss, of course. The accident happened mid-season in July 1971, the wrong time of year, in a motor racing sense, to have an injury like that—not that there’s ever a good time to break your neck. I was taken to Bath Hospital and after a while transferred to Chertsey Hospital where I had a bone graft, three or four vertebrae wired together, and nursed back to full fitness by November—they did a great job.

Racing wise, I was offered a Formula Ford drive by Neil Trundle and his partner, Ron Dennis, I think they built the car together to pass an engineering exam. The drive was arranged by a friend of Neil’s who later worked at McKechnie Racing. I remember feeling very tired after the race, but at least I came through it. Following that, McKechnie Racing rented an F3 March in the Christmas race series, and I remember that Alan clubbed together with Tony Hilder (designer of the McKechnie Puma) to pay for it.