"What have YOU done today to make you feel proud?" Heather Small (2000)
"What have YOU done today to make you feel proud?" Heather Small (2000) |
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4th March 2002 |
Two dead at car festival
Horrified
spectators told today of the crash at the Goodwood Festival of Speed which left
two people dead. Driver John Dawson-Damer, 59, was killed when his Lotus 63
collided with the finishing post during a hill climb near Goodwood House. Marshal
Andrew Carpenter, 40, from Polegate, was seriously injured in the accident and
later died at St Richard's Hospital in Chichester. A second marshal, Steve
Tarrant, from Poole, was also badly hurt and last night was in a critical but
stable condition. Both men were working for the British Automobile Racing Club,
responsible for the organisation of the festival.
Festival
officials have vowed to carry out a full investigation into the cause of the
crash, which happened at about 2.30pm on Saturday. Horrified
onlookers saw Mr Dawson-Damer's car crash into the finishing post, hitting the
two marshals, and flip over into a hedge. The
three-day festival continued as planned yesterday with 110,000 motorsport
enthusiasts attending the final day. Michael
Pearson, 48, of Sackville Gardens, Hove, went to all three days and saw the
Lotus crash. He said: "I suddenly heard an almighty bang and when I looked
up I saw the car flying in the air and crashing into the hedge. "It was
horrible. There were some people screaming but a lot of others were just in
shock. Everyone was pretty quiet for the rest of the afternoon." Peter
Barnes, 61, from Storrington Road, Horsham, said: "You always know there is
a lot of risk when you take part in events like these, but it is only when
something like this happens that it brings it home how dangerous it is." Mike
Havers, 38, from Portsmouth, said: "I was here yesterday and I heard there
had been an accident but I didn't know it was that serious. I'm surprised they
decided to go ahead with the last day." A
Goodwood spokesman said: "We did think about calling off the third day but
it was felt that it was better to carry on because of the thousands of people
planning to attend the event. This
has been a great tragedy. We make every effort we can to ensure safety standards
but unfortunately sometimes no matter how hard you try an accident happens. Police are investigating the accident and we will be carrying out an
internal investigation." Mr
Dawson-Damer was born in Britain but moved to Sydney, Australia, where he ran a
company called Austral Engineering. He and his wife Ashley had two adopted
children. Mrs Dawson-Damer was at Goodwood when the accident happened. Mr
Dawson-Damer's brother, the Earl of Portarlington, paid tribute from the family
home in Melrose, in the Scottish Borders. He said: "Obviously his family is
devastated by what happened. We all are. I was very close to him and will miss
him. It was a terrible thing to happen. "Collecting and racing Lotus cars
was his biggest passion." The
Earl of March, founder of the festival which is now in its eighth year, said:
"I am extremely upset by the accident and I offer my deepest sympathy to
the families involved." Despite
Saturday's tragedy, thousands of people flocked to Goodwood for the annual
Festival of Speed. The
three-day event, now in its eighth year, attracted a host of top names from
Formula One as well as pop star Jay Kay from Jamiroquai and comedian Rowan
Atkinson. Big names including former world champion Damon Hill, driver Martin
Brundle, rising star Jenson Button and the legendary Stirling Moss were also out
in force. Other
attractions included the chance to see classic Wacky Races cartoon characters
Penelope Pitstop and Dastardly and Muttley, who launched the new soapbox races
on the last day. Bitter
rivalries and classic old racing battles were brought back to centre stage as
the festival reunited many cars and their original drivers to once again battle
it out. Jonny Herbert was also at the event in his latest F1 Jaguar and Sir Stirling Moss drove a Jaguar MK VII while former motorbike racer Barry Sheene took a ride on on a Suzuki 500.
The
thousands of visitors were also treated to a flying display by an RAF Tornado
fighter bomber and a performance by the Red Arrows. There were also a wide range
of stalls and displays showing hundreds of old and modern racing cars. Four
top Formula One teams, Jaguar, Williams-BMW, Jordan and McLaren, attended. Thousands
of pounds are expected to have been raised the NSPCC Full Stop Campaign which is
this year's key charity at the festival. The charity entered a soapbox in the
Goodwood Gravity Racing Challenge which was built by Aerosuperbatics and driven
by Alain de Cadenet, brother of Amanda. Jenson
Button and former EastEnders star Troy Titus-Adams, who played Nina, were also
on hand to carry out a prize draw at the charity's stand yesterday. This
year saw children have their own brand-new event with the launch of the Junior
Festival of Speed. They were able to choose from traditional fun such as Punch
and Judy, face-painting and a funfair with pint-size Austin cars or try DVD
players and a PlayStation in a specially-equipped Renault Scenic. They were also
given the chance to learn off-road motorcycling techniques with Motor Cycle
Industry inspectors.
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