Who was it?

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Discussion

Strangely Brown

Original Poster:

10,063 posts

231 months

Wednesday 19th September 2007
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A friend has asked me who was the British rally driver that was killed whilst reccying for the RAC some years ago. I cannot think who it was so I throw it over to the PH font of wisdom.

Anyone know?

GarrettMacD

831 posts

232 months

Wednesday 19th September 2007
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Dave Metcalf???

I'm going back at least 10 years, possibly 15, but he was killed while reccying in a Vauxhall Calibra. He used to rally a Nova and got some amazing results form a 1600cc FWD, long before the current electronics and gearboxes.

OllieC

3,816 posts

214 months

Wednesday 19th September 2007
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GarrettMacD said:
Dave Metcalf???

I'm going back at least 10 years, possibly 15, but he was killed while reccying in a Vauxhall Calibra. He used to rally a Nova and got some amazing results form a 1600cc FWD, long before the current electronics and gearboxes.
was a quick driver in the astra aswel

stockhatcher

4,454 posts

223 months

Wednesday 19th September 2007
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it wasn't Dave Metcalf, he died at the of '92, doing some testing of a group n calibra ( on the open road i may add) and also killed an old lady in the process, very sad.

Not sure about who was killed on the recce for the rac, i am not sure that anyone was tbh. the rac rally has generally been a very safe event for speccies and competitors alike, Sainz accident in 2??? not withstanding.

skwdenyer

16,490 posts

240 months

Wednesday 19th September 2007
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stockhatcher said:
it wasn't Dave Metcalf, he died at the of '92, doing some testing of a group n calibra ( on the open road i may add) and also killed an old lady in the process, very sad.

Not sure about who was killed on the recce for the rac, i am not sure that anyone was tbh. the rac rally has generally been a very safe event for speccies and competitors alike, Sainz accident in 2??? not withstanding.
Dave wasn't even testing it, he was showing it off to a potential purchaser up towards Shap above Kendal. Dave worked for Atkinson Motorsport in Kendal. IIRC he would have survived had he bothered to even put on a seat belt, never mind the harnesses...

anonymous-user

54 months

Wednesday 19th September 2007
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I dont recall anyone on the RAC reccee being killed, Possum Bourne sadly was killed on a reccee a few years ago in Aus though.

GravelBen

15,685 posts

230 months

Thursday 20th September 2007
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johnfelstead said:
I dont recall anyone on the RAC reccee being killed, Possum Bourne sadly was killed on a reccee a few years ago in Aus though.
Possum wasn't killed in Aus, he was killed at the Race to the Sky hillclimb in NZ. It wasn't actually a recce run either, he was driving (in a Forester) to his room at the top to get a tidy shirt for a sponsors meeting and had a head-on with another competitor who was coming back down in a 4wd on a similar errand. 2001 I think? though it doesn't seem like that long ago.

Sorry to be pedantic but Possum had a similar place in NZ motorsport to McRae in the UK, so we tend to remember the details frown

LaSarthe&Back

2,084 posts

213 months

Thursday 20th September 2007
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Michael Park was the last man killed on Rally GB.

Co driver to Marko Martin. He hit a tree in 2005 and Park took the brunt of it. frown

woof

8,456 posts

277 months

Friday 21st September 2007
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We've lost too many British rally drivers/co-driver in the last few years - Parky, Mcrae and Richard Burns RIP


ginettajoe

2,106 posts

218 months

Friday 21st September 2007
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skwdenyer said:
stockhatcher said:
it wasn't Dave Metcalf, he died at the of '92, doing some testing of a group n calibra ( on the open road i may add) and also killed an old lady in the process, very sad.

Not sure about who was killed on the recce for the rac, i am not sure that anyone was tbh. the rac rally has generally been a very safe event for speccies and competitors alike, Sainz accident in 2??? not withstanding.
Dave wasn't even testing it, he was showing it off to a potential purchaser up towards Shap above Kendal. Dave worked for Atkinson Motorsport in Kendal. IIRC he would have survived had he bothered to even put on a seat belt, never mind the harnesses...
Atkinson Motorsport??? Didn't Ian Dobson have something to do with that???

MadOnVaux!

2 posts

199 months

Monday 24th September 2007
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ginettajoe said:
Atkinson Motorsport??? Didn't Ian Dobson have something to do with that???
Yeah Ian had something to do with the Managerial arm of the Motorsport side of Atkinsons.

I used to work for Atkinsons, actually at the car dealer (once part of Atkinsons Vauxhall) who worked off the same site as the Atkinsons MotorSport base, and i knew Ian Dobson and Ian Joyce (sp?) and Nigel Arnfield, and another guy called Will who worked there, who IIRC was the bodywork guy....I've no idea what both Ian's are upto these days but i saw Nigel in something to do with Malcolm Wilsons M-Sport.

I knew Dave Metcalfe quite well and spoke to him on several occasions, once offering to wash his company car for him (Crawler lol), which was a K reg Spectral Blue Calibra Turbo...sweet as smile...i was also there when the Calibra, that Dave sadly dies in, was there being worked on...that car was going to be the next best thing in rallying at the time too.

Ray Derry, MD of Atkinsons, also was heavily involved in the Motorsport side of things.

Dave was such a nice freindly bloke and really down to earth, it really hit me when he got taken from us frown

How do you know of Ian Dobson then 'ginettajoe'?, and do/did you know any of the other guys involved with Atkinsons?...or does anyone else know any of the lads?

Edited by MadOnVaux! on Monday 24th September 15:53


Edited by MadOnVaux! on Monday 24th September 15:54

MadOnVaux!

2 posts

199 months

Wednesday 10th October 2007
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Bump for ginettajoe smile

Levy9

1 posts

91 months

Monday 26th September 2016
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The below articles are from the Westmorland Gazette which gives a bit more information into his tragic accident.

I was only 15 at the time but my school was opposite the industrial estate where Atkinson's was, i remember seeing the Calibra driving up Shap road on the day it happened.






Edited by Levy9 on Monday 26th September 12:23