6 – 2013 starts and ends with a bang – literally!
The two topping and tailing meetings at Brands Hatch proved to be expensive for several BTCC teams, particularly in between Paddock Hill Bend and Druids corner it seemed…
Gordon Shedden famously started the season with a huge slide at the downhill Paddock Hill Bend in the season-opening race of the year, before going one better by saving a monster broadside moment in the middle of the road during the penultimate encounter of the season at a much damper Brands Hatch circuit, miraculously not being collected as he collected up the double tankslapper.
The Scot’s heroics were not quite enough to help him towards back-to-back championships, but were enough to claim the ‘save of the season’ honours.
The third race of the season produced the first major accident of the year, instigated when a big slide for Dave Newsham exiting Paddock Hill’s downhill right-hander sent his Speedworks Toyota Avensis cannoning into the path of Rob Austin, the unfortunate latter slamming into the barriers and demolishing the Audi in the process.
Amazingly, ‘Sherman’ was rebuilt for the following event, and while Austin would become a winner with it at Rockingham, the 10th and final meeting at the same Brands Hatch circuit proved just as messy for others.
Austin’s ‘Sherman’ was a sorry state after Brands shunt (Photo: btcc.net)
Second practice on Saturday saw possibly the biggest shunt of the 2013 season, as Aron Smith’s Airwaves Racing Ford slid out of control into the barriers approaching Druids and suffered a huge connection that sent the blue Focus into a roll, coming to rest on its side.
The Irishman emerged unscathed and would enjoy a strong Sunday 24 hours later, but that Saturday also saw Matt Neal come to grief at the exact same location in qualifying just a few hours later.
Neal slid broadside over the kerbs and his Honda Civic speared across the road exiting Paddock Hill Bend, slamming head-first into the barriers where the Honda required a new sub-frame before a forgettable Sunday in the end was endured for the triple champion.
(Photo Credit: PSP Images)
