Discussion
hkp57 said:
Here is a guy I know from the kit car world, wheelchair bound but drives his car very quickly with all hand controls
Right had has a twist throttle and a clutch from a motorcycle. pushes the whole assembly forward for brakes.
paddle on the wheel for gear change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afmScGleQBU
That's impressive, I had a Striker with auto box and hand controls, pull for throttle and push to brake. Took a long while to get used to it.Right had has a twist throttle and a clutch from a motorcycle. pushes the whole assembly forward for brakes.
paddle on the wheel for gear change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afmScGleQBU
drainbrain said:
I lost both legs above the knee aged 63 in an auto incident in Nov. '15. The NHS in Glasgow are superb. The prosthetics they've supplied me are Otto Bock Genium X3's which are the absolute state of the art bad boys. The NHS physios are an amazing crew as well and my rehab's run in consultation with Headley Court who are the country's most experienced amputee rehab crew, but strictly for military personnel only. The NHS get your rehab started as soon as possible after your amputation. And if Billy goes NHS his prosthetics will be upkept and upgraded for the rest of his life.
Hopefully Billy's are below-the-knee amputations which are a lot easier and quicker to rehab from than above the knee. But at his age, given as a racer he's probably got a big set of balls, he'll be starting to 'walk' again in only a few weeks, and within a year he'll be back in competitive sport again if he wants to be. He'll have all kinds of mentors including 'wounded warriors' not much older than himself. They'll soon have him showing what he can do - and inspiring him to do what he can't too!!
He's probably already watching youtube videos of Cameron Clapp and Heath Calhoun (if he's double above). DAK amps aren't allowed to drive manual cars on the road in UK, but there are plenty of vids of Staff Sgt. Calhoun driving various machines e.g.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUJbub1hG04
They and others are rehab'd by Kevin Carroll at the Hanger Clinic in Oklahoma. But don't underestimate the NHS, and the networking available for amputees in the UK. Put it this way, I'm just back from a half-mile walk along the promenade at Port de Soller in my 'training legs' and I'm flipping' 65!!
Billy'll be back in no time.
Thank you for sharing your experiences. Good you're getting on well, I can only imagine how much it turns your world upside down. Don't mean to sound patronising but well done on the recovery, sounds like you're bossing it. Hopefully Billy's are below-the-knee amputations which are a lot easier and quicker to rehab from than above the knee. But at his age, given as a racer he's probably got a big set of balls, he'll be starting to 'walk' again in only a few weeks, and within a year he'll be back in competitive sport again if he wants to be. He'll have all kinds of mentors including 'wounded warriors' not much older than himself. They'll soon have him showing what he can do - and inspiring him to do what he can't too!!
He's probably already watching youtube videos of Cameron Clapp and Heath Calhoun (if he's double above). DAK amps aren't allowed to drive manual cars on the road in UK, but there are plenty of vids of Staff Sgt. Calhoun driving various machines e.g.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUJbub1hG04
They and others are rehab'd by Kevin Carroll at the Hanger Clinic in Oklahoma. But don't underestimate the NHS, and the networking available for amputees in the UK. Put it this way, I'm just back from a half-mile walk along the promenade at Port de Soller in my 'training legs' and I'm flipping' 65!!
Billy'll be back in no time.
hkp57 said:
Here is a guy I know from the kit car world, wheelchair bound but drives his car very quickly with all hand controls
Right had has a twist throttle and a clutch from a motorcycle. pushes the whole assembly forward for brakes.
paddle on the wheel for gear change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afmScGleQBU
Neat setup, fast and tidy lines...Right had has a twist throttle and a clutch from a motorcycle. pushes the whole assembly forward for brakes.
paddle on the wheel for gear change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afmScGleQBU
It's quite nice spending five minutes reading the comments under the latest donations every so often, after all the horrible stuff we're subjected to in the news each day it's great to see we're not all selfish/evil etc.
Closing in on £750k now, Jean Alesi, Jeff Smith, 'A. Newey', Michael Conway, Graeme Lowdon etc all adding big numbers today. But more heartening are the many small karting clubs, motorsport associations etc that have been adding £300, £500 etc after holding fund raising events over the weekend.
Closing in on £750k now, Jean Alesi, Jeff Smith, 'A. Newey', Michael Conway, Graeme Lowdon etc all adding big numbers today. But more heartening are the many small karting clubs, motorsport associations etc that have been adding £300, £500 etc after holding fund raising events over the weekend.
AWRacing said:
It's just a shame people aren't showing the same love to Craig Walker (the other guy who suffered life changing injuries that weekend).
Sadly these sorts of injuries aren't uncommon in motorsport, but it depends on how high profile the race weekend and championship are as to whether they get reported and how widely. My team-mate suffered serious leg injuries in 2009 and it wasn't mentioned anywhere.RobM77 said:
AWRacing said:
It's just a shame people aren't showing the same love to Craig Walker (the other guy who suffered life changing injuries that weekend).
Sadly these sorts of injuries aren't uncommon in motorsport, but it depends on how high profile the race weekend and championship are as to whether they get reported and how widely. My team-mate suffered serious leg injuries in 2009 and it wasn't mentioned anywhere.I see that Craig's total has exceeded £11k thanks to many generous donations.
I wish Craig well in his road to recovery and his JustGiving page reads as if there is chance of him successfully recovering. Therefore, those donations are to make life easier for the family whilst he is off work. Let's hope he is back racing and working very soon.
It is always uncomfortable comparing charitable funds, but in Billy monger's case we are certain that his life has changed. Also, he was competing in a championship which is on the ladder for aspiring full time professional race drivers, so potentially this can change his future career.
I hope that we can see Craig and Billy back on track soon.
I can’t speak for others, but for myself there are probably a couple of factors that combine to have a greater than usual impact. The first is that I was watching the live TV coverage when it happened, and the producers had switched to the on-board camera a couple of seconds before the crash. That was pretty shocking, and I’ve avoided watching it again. When they reported ‘leg injuries’, I was relieved that it wasn’t head injuries, and figured he’d be back racing by the end of the season. So the second shock was when I read that both legs had been amputated. If it had been a news story about a 17yo lad I’d never heard of, I’d probably have thought “that’s terrible”, and then not thought about it. But having been ‘on board’ to see the impact and fearing the worst, then feeling relief that he was going to be OK, it hit quite hard on Wednesday night when I read he had lost both legs.
Human sympathy and empathy are not bound by the rules of logic.
Human sympathy and empathy are not bound by the rules of logic.
Nigel_O said:
Now past three-quarters of a million
I hope that the trust that will be set up can use some of this money to help other race drivers with re-habilitation, as it's clearly way more than was originally needed to help Billy
A slippery slope, potentially. Donations are quite explicitly to support Billy and a huge percentage of donators have done so well after the initial target, so they knew it was already way more than aimed for. I really don't think anyone would have an issue, but there have been issues before when donations have gone well above target and the funds have been used (albeit well meaning) elsewhere.I hope that the trust that will be set up can use some of this money to help other race drivers with re-habilitation, as it's clearly way more than was originally needed to help Billy
Considering he's still growing I guess multiple sets of legs will be required over time, and the vast majority of comments support him trying to get back into motorsport, which is quite clearly a big financial drain.
So said:
Anyone know how this was allowed to occur? I've read esewhere that there was a yellow flag out, but it got ignored. But I've also read there were no flags. Anyone know the situation?
IIRC All the cars were travelling at the same speed when one lost power and slowed very suddenly. The 2 or 3 cars between it and Billy avoided it but he simply couldn't see what was happening so went straight into the back. There wasn't time for yellow flags to make any difference- it all happened too quickly.
Edited to add - good video here sets out the timeline of the accident and response. https://youtu.be/R5wimABS2io . Warning- this does include the on-board live broadcast of the crash.
Edited by rscott on Saturday 6th May 11:25
rscott said:
So said:
Anyone know how this was allowed to occur? I've read esewhere that there was a yellow flag out, but it got ignored. But I've also read there were no flags. Anyone know the situation?
IIRC All the cars were travelling at the same speed when one lost power and slowed very suddenly. The 2 or 3 cars between it and Billy avoided it but he simply couldn't see what was happening so went straight into the back. There wasn't time for yellow flags to make any difference- it all happened too quickly.
Edited to add - good video here sets out the timeline of the accident and response. https://youtu.be/R5wimABS2io . Warning- this does include the on-board live broadcast of the crash.
Edited by rscott on Saturday 6th May 11:25
I saw it unfold from the bottom of Craner Curves, thankfully no closer
MyVTECGoesBwaaah said:
From what I remember Patrik came around the old harpin, got a bit wide and went into a spin before coming to a halt on the outside of the corner. The pack of cars Billy was in would have been coming up to or around the old harpin at the time Patrik came to a stop, the last flag point before the incident I think is the old harpin so realistically there wasn't time for marshals to put the flags out and the drivers see the yellows.
I saw it unfold from the bottom of Craner Curves, thankfully no closer
There is a flag point on the inside of the track, about 3 seconds before the impact. He would have been able to see the point ( had there been flag etc) about 6s impact (due to sight lines) before so while the car was still spinning at best. He crashed more or less in front of the fire truck which can be seen in the video in the shot down the hill, the flag point is about the same distance away again. I saw it unfold from the bottom of Craner Curves, thankfully no closer
ajprice said:
He's been to Oulton Park this weekend at the BTCC. A couple of photos came up on my Facebook, one of him in his wheelchair giving the photographer a thumbs up, another of him driving a hand control adapted golf cart around.
YEP, he was interviewed by ITV4 during the BTCC coverage.The golf cart was adapted by Senna Proctor & family for him.
Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff