ROB COLLARD GETTING BACK ONTRACK
HOW SIDELINED BTCC DRIVER IS PLOTTING A RACING RETURN
Ricky Collard is a podium finisher in the British Touring Car Championship, but he very nearly wasn’t. The 22-yearold deputised for his dad Rob in the WSR BMW 125i M Sport after his father had been stood down on medical grounds following a reoccurrence of concussion he had first suffered at Silverstone in 2017.
Collard Sr was actually cleared to race in the days leading up to Silverstone this September, but decided to err on the side of caution and let his son continue at the controls of the tin-top.
There was no prouder person at the foot of the race one podium than Rob.
“Because Ricky had done so well at Silverstone, we decided to let him stay in the car for the Brands Hatch finale too,” says Collard Sr, who has been a mainstay of the BTCC’S top flight since 2003.
It was tough being on the sidelines for Rob. The first impact at Silverstone in 2017 in race one was the one where the major damage was done.
He was the innocent victim of some midfield contact which left him with broken steering and he was catapulted into the path of the pack.
“The impact was a rear impact which then twisted me around – those are the worst ones to have,” says Rob Collard. “I was concussed, and that was it for the rest of my season.”
Collard actually took part in free practice at Brands Hatch at the end of the year, but further tests at the track meant he was advised not to race.
“The doctors kept in touch and monitored me closely. Dr Naomi Deakin worked alongside the BTCC quack Dr Paul Trafford and she did some amazing work,” says Collard Sr. “They kept an eye on me and were there all the way through my journey.”
Collard’s journey in the BTCC has been a successful one – he is in the top 20 race winners in the series’ 61-year history with 15 victories under his belt.
He has been with WSR since 2010 and is a regular at the front of the pack. Qualifying has been a bugbear, but that isn’t surprising when you realise that Collard is a full-time businessman and only a weekend racer, unlike many who he is up against. “I have to switch off from work mode on Saturday morning when I get in the race car, and it takes a while,” he says. “But put me in a race session, and it brings the best out in me – I think that is my Hot Rod background. There you start behind 30 other cars and you have to make it to the front.”
The Hampshire racer says that the demolition business commitments have often been a hindrance to performance on track, but it is something he doesn’t regret.
“I love the industry I am in, and I wouldn’t change it. But I think that for the benefit of my racing, I maybe should have taken more time away from the office,” he explains. “But the business is still growing, and I can’t seem to step away from it.”
Stepping away from the cockpit for an enforced period was tough, but even the driver himself admits that maybe he pushed himself too hard to make a return to the door handle-to-door handle action of the British Touring Car Championship.
Collard was cleared to race at the start of 2018, but there were still some concerns. He explains: “I was getting headaches – not all the time, just occasionally.
“Sometimes in the car I was flying, like when I won at Oulton Park in June and I was very competitive at Donington Park too. At those times, there was no physical problem for me at all.
“But there were other times where my head was throbbing when I got out of the car. I had to cut short the two-day tyre test at Snetterton in mid-july because it was just so bad. I thought it was just part of the process – part of the healing that I had to go through – but looking back, it was clearly a legacy of the 2017 shunt,” says Collard.
He battled on and was running in 12th in the standings by the time the competition reached its half way point at Croft in June, but there was another severe impact at Snetterton’s race weekend in late July which would have lasting effects for the remainder of the campaign..
“In fact, I had a shunt away from the start line when there was some bunching up and I sideswiped the pitwall in race one. Not a lot of people saw that,” he recalls. “Then I hit the wall – not hard – at Riches in race two. After that, the doctors checked me again, and I failed the concussion test quite badly.”
That led to Ricky stepping into the car, but Collard Sr is now raring to go again However, there is something which is making his return all the more difficult: the success of his sons. Ricky, a BMW Junior driver, is pursuing options in international GT racing and single-seaters for 2019, while the younger son, Jordan, finished third in the Mini Challenge after a decorated campaign. Jordan is planning to either remain in the Mini series or looking at a move into the British GT competition.
“My main priority is to sort the boys out,” says Collard Sr. “There are all kinds of options out there for them, but things are up in the air. I want to return, and I would love to be back in the BTCC but that is not high up on the list right now.
“A few people have been telling me it is time to give up, but I am not so sure. I feel that if I could get in a car, I still have the ability to do the job,” adds Collard. “I did a track session at Silverstone for BMW in a 2-series cup car and I was quickly back in the groove. I am not finished yet and my career isn’t over. I can’t wait to make a race return.”
Collard says that he has spoken to WSR and others about remaining in the British Touring Car Championship, but that is clearly not the focus.
He has even had his eyes on the British GT Championship himself too. While 2019 becomes clearer for both Collard and his two sons, there is something else on the agenda further down the road. “I would love to share a car with the boys one day,” says Collard. “Maybe somewhere like the Spa 24 hours, Daytona or even Le Mans. That would really be a dream come true. I have got to keep racing until I can do that, haven’t I?” ■