DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

One of the photographers who grace most motorsport events and try to sell you photos of your car at the end of the day came to see me and asked if I wanted to buy his wares. He started with a couple of very nice action shots and then looked at me with a wry smile and produced his series of pics leading up to my 'episode'.

To give you an idea of what (I think) happened my entry speed was too high so I was running wide on the hairpin, which has a downhill entry before heading left up a decent incline. I tried to pull the car back left but it was rather unbalanced at this point, having already starting to wag its tail - it headed onto the grass and as I tried to prevent it going down into a ditch, it hooked right and slid broadside across the road before impacting the banking on the opposite side of the track with the front left corner. Inevitably that flipped the tail round, which hit the bank quite gently and the car slid sideways a little until the RH tyres side dug in. Unfortunately it still had enough momentum to tip up on two wheels... From inside the car, it seemed to hang there for an eternity and I remember thinking 'please don't go over...' at which point it plopped back onto four wheels. Phew! A thumbs up to the marshalls, who were already on their way and a swift exit from the car having made sure to turn everything off.

All this happened at the very point on the 3.2km course that Sarah, my wife, had chosen to watch. Now she doesn't come to many events but loves St Gouéno because of its 'Frenchness' and I knew she would be worried sick. One of the marshalls was an older English guy who went and found her to tell her I was OK, which was really nice of him. I saw him that night in the bar and couldn't thank him enough for his thoughtfulness.

Anyway, the car is now back home and sitting on a trailer awaiting the next move. The pain amounts to a relocated LH front torsion bar mount, a creased front panel and wing, and a gently reshaped LH inner wing. It needs to go on a jig, that's for sure. I sent a message and some close up photos of the damage to Steve Kerti at Classic Fabrications near Honiton and he rang back - his first words were 'So when do you need it done?' Music to my ears. I'm away next week so will drop the car there on my return. It will be very interesting to see what it looks like on the jig...

In the meantime, here's a series of pics for you entertainment. Not quite what I was doing in the last photo!







Oh, and adding insult to injury, I had forgotten to turn the bl**dy GoPros on... Grrrrrr!

Sorry to hear of your incident but that’s racing I guess. Glad to hear you are ok and the car isn’t too bad.

Saw the pics on Facebook a few days ago.
These things happen, could have been worse of course.
Over the full time I’ve hillclimbed I’ve come off just 5 times in 34 years..

Hope the jig will show just a gentle pull will iron it all out, about 3 weeks from now I think.
Have the wheels and tyres survived?

Would love to do this French hill, but too old now!

Wheels and tyres all OK, but I think after two seasons the tyres (R888Rs) are due for replacement.

Hadn't realised it was Gueno- I've always fancied doing that - not so sure now!!

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Only saving grace is that it could easily have been a lot worse (& flipped over).

Hopefully the damage will turn out to be less expensive to rectify than you expect ...

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Looks like you’re trying to find your balance in the last pic Keith …. Glad to see you’re ok

That was a bit of a moment, glad you're ok!

Well you choose the place with perhaps the shortest walk back to the pits.

I must admit this is partly why I didn't go back (also Mrs didn't like the place. Which is strange because I loved it).

I honestly couldn't have handled a crash like this as well as you did. It was clear to me that if you search for the limits on a course you will step over them at some point.

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Glad you are OK Keith!

Thanks!

Can't park there mate

Well, just returned from Steve Kerti's Classic Fabrications at Dunkeswell, near Honiton, having dropped off the 914 and then stripped out the front left corner to see what the damage is. Sadly it's a little worse than expected as the front left corner has indeed been impacted harder than I realised, resulting in that corner being twisted up out of line and damage traceable back to the bulkhead in front of the fuel tank. The front end has all been shifted over a little but Steve is confident that it can all be repaired fairly easily. It will be on his Celette jig today or tomorrow.



The accident revealed more rust in that area than expected, which I was p*ssed off about as it had supposedly been 'repaired' by a well-known shop four or five years ago. It appears 'repaired' meant spreading a thin layer of bondo over a rust hole in the wing and, as we all know, rust doesn't sleep... Hey ho, at least it will be done right this time.



At the back, the silencer had taken a bit of a hit, bending the mounting bracket bolted to the rear of the transmission. However, the GT Racing headers have slip joints which allowed prevented the main exhaust system from sustaining any damage. My rear-mounted oil cooler and associated lines all survived untouched.



In the words of Arnie, 'I'll be back'...

Gratuitous photos of Steve Kerti and Delwyn Mallett discussing life, bent Porsches and what's for lunch. That's Del's RS on the lift behind...

Well it's in good hands and you have a plan

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Many moons ago I came a cropper at the exit of Top Esse at Shelesley Walsh, new second-hand TOYO tyres, damp track and far too little skill.

Bang into the base of a tree at about 30/40 mph.

Impact was similar to yours but taken right on the front indicator i thought, but was far deeper.

Car was driven down the hill (!) and turned out it was1" shorter on the NS than the OS.
The man crease was in the arch over the steering rack.

Bob Watson arranged for two chaps to take the car and they pulled it all out with very little damage.
I was at Prescott 3 weeks later. There is a longer tale to be said about those 3 weeks...

Good luck with the whole exercise, the cosmetics will take longer than the repairs to the chassis.