Freak road crash proves costly for Rabbitt

JUNIOR REPORTER

Leading Irish club driver Barry Rabbitt has been left counting the cost of repairs to his Formula Renault machine after it was badly damaged in a freak road accident last week.

Rabbitt was transporting the two-litre car he races in the Irish Formula Libre class to a test day at Kirkistown when the machine broke free from its trailer straps and slid into the road, where it was hit by an oncoming van.

“I have no idea how the car got loose of its straps and I’d even stopped mid-journey to check the straps and they were fine,” said Rabbitt.

“One theory is that a tyre was flat and as it deflated on the journey its circumference reduced and that had the effect of slackening the straps.

“The car rolled off the trailer and bounced off a kerb on my side of the road before sliding into the path of the oncoming van, who had nowhere to go. The car broke in half when it was hit, with the engine and gearbox and rear wing ending up in a hedge.

“I think it can be fixed but might be beyond economical repair. I have to do a parts list and do the maths. Fortunately my race season was over anyway, but I was planning to run a Scottish karter in it to help him out with some extra mileage over the winter.”