We were at Harewood Hillclimb today, principally to watch the small group of Austin Healeys taking part. This lovely 3000 MkII came past, around 30 seconds or so into its lap. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The red flags came out just as the next car came past us, and then out came the ambulances. We found out a bit later why...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From what we heard his brakes had failed when he tried to slow down after crossing the finish line. The armco did the side damage and the tyre wall stopped it. The driver was conscious, but (obviously) not in a good way. There wasn't an available ambulance to take him to A&E so one of the two at the circuit took him (which stopped the race until its return). I didn't hear any further news before I left, so I'm hoping he wasn't too badly hurt.

 

The main point to the post is that I've loved these cars, particularly the 3000, for decades. If sufficient money ever came my way one of these (ice blue over ivory) would be mine. What this emphasised to me was that while modern cars might not look as pretty, the safety tech in them is well worth having. I'm not in quite such a rush to swap my Yeti now...

Ouch hope the driver's ok. Sounds a bit terrifying having brake failure.

Repairable?

I don't know enough to say. The body panels were out of alignment all down the driver's side and the fans & radiator were pushed right up against the engine block. I *think* the first impact took out most of the speed, as the armco looked quite twisted. What I could see of the engine still appeared to be lined up ok, and the nearside bodywork looked okay behind the door. Given that these have been stripped out for racing I don't know how much of it was original anyway. I would hope it could be fixed.

Repairable?

yer that'll go back on the road, but it won't be cheap.

get the tracking sorted, hammer the door hinges back in place and a little T-Cut for red cars and she'll be good to go Seriously, hope the driver was OK.

Ouch!, that's not gonna be cheap

Hope the driver is making excellent recovery and is in reasonable spirits. I hope they find out why the brakes failed. These Healeys are lovely cars and I'm sure it is repairable; time, money, ability and inclination required.

Just an update to this to say that the driver, Michael Walton, was uninjured, and that the car is repairable (hoping to be back at Harewood next month).