26-01-2014, 02:35 AM
'Redman won the Spa 1000Kms in a GT40 with Jacky Ickx as his partner, but when he returned, a fortnight later, to drive a Cooper T86 in the Belgian Grand Prix, a horrifying accident awaited. At Les Combes, the left-hander at the top of the hill after Eau Rouge, his car’s front suspension broke.
“I went over the Armco, and as I did so my right arm was trapped between the car and the barrier. As it turned out, I was very lucky not to lose it. Big one, that. When the car landed, it hit a Vauxhall Cresta that someone had thoughtfully parked there. I suppose he probably thought it was out of reach…”
For all that, Brian adored the ‘old’ Spa circuit. “I thought it was the most difficult circuit, because mentally it was so hard, simply because the corners were so fast. I derived more satisfaction from a good race there than anywhere else. And generally it was a lucky circuit for me: I think I won five times there.”
Years later, the accident at Les Combes was to pay him a dividend of a kind. In the 1972 Spa 1000Kms, Redman was leading in one of the factory Ferrari 312PBs, but Ronnie Peterson’s similar car was closing. “After my shunt at Les Combes, I always took an odd line there, went in early, to give myself a little more room.
I saw all this activity, which always means an accident round the corner or something, and I backed off and just got round. It was raining at that part of the circuit, and the activity was people putting up their umbrellas. And Ronnie never made it – he went right round the corner on the barrier. We won.” '
![[Image: Brian-Redman-Cooper-Spa.jpg]](http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Brian-Redman-Cooper-Spa.jpg)
The start of the accident: the suspension on Redman’s Cooper collapses at Les Combes
Excerpt taken from http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/race/r...an-redman/
Interesting what he says about the Porsche 917 '“I drove one in practice at Le Mans in ‘69, and it was the fastest I ever went there – 238mph. But the thing was all over the road; going down the Mulsanne Straight you were constantly having to correct the steering, and you just hoped that when you arrived at the kink you were on the right side of the road… If you weren’t, you had to brake!'
That's how I feel in the fast Howston models lol
“I went over the Armco, and as I did so my right arm was trapped between the car and the barrier. As it turned out, I was very lucky not to lose it. Big one, that. When the car landed, it hit a Vauxhall Cresta that someone had thoughtfully parked there. I suppose he probably thought it was out of reach…”
For all that, Brian adored the ‘old’ Spa circuit. “I thought it was the most difficult circuit, because mentally it was so hard, simply because the corners were so fast. I derived more satisfaction from a good race there than anywhere else. And generally it was a lucky circuit for me: I think I won five times there.”
Years later, the accident at Les Combes was to pay him a dividend of a kind. In the 1972 Spa 1000Kms, Redman was leading in one of the factory Ferrari 312PBs, but Ronnie Peterson’s similar car was closing. “After my shunt at Les Combes, I always took an odd line there, went in early, to give myself a little more room.
I saw all this activity, which always means an accident round the corner or something, and I backed off and just got round. It was raining at that part of the circuit, and the activity was people putting up their umbrellas. And Ronnie never made it – he went right round the corner on the barrier. We won.” '
The start of the accident: the suspension on Redman’s Cooper collapses at Les Combes
Excerpt taken from http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/race/r...an-redman/
Interesting what he says about the Porsche 917 '“I drove one in practice at Le Mans in ‘69, and it was the fastest I ever went there – 238mph. But the thing was all over the road; going down the Mulsanne Straight you were constantly having to correct the steering, and you just hoped that when you arrived at the kink you were on the right side of the road… If you weren’t, you had to brake!'
That's how I feel in the fast Howston models lol