Richard still has plenty of miles left on the clock
Heart scare hasn’t stopped 81-year-old from racing cars
A VETERAN racing driver is staying in the fast lane at 82 after having his heart reset.
Octogenarian Richard Swindall lives for competing against people often less than a third of his age on race tracks.
His trusty Lotus Elan travels at speeds of up to 130 mph, often beating competitors in their 20s.
But when his heart went out of sync with an irregular beat he was faced with giving up.
An NHS consultant deemed him too old for a repair telling him that they “didn’t treat gentlemen over 80”.
And it forced him to get private treatment to have it fixed.
Grandad Richard said: “Motor racing is a huge part of my life and has been since the 1970s.
“So I was taken aback when a hospital consultant said, ‘We don’t treat gentlemen over 80’.
“But I wasn’t accepting that and resorted to going privately.
“It is wrong that people are written off because they are too old to save.
“Many like me will be very fit with a few more miles on the clock.
“I am sure this is done to save money.”
Untreated irregular heartbeats, which doctors call atrial fibrillation, can lead to fatal strokes and heart attacks.
Now with his heart’s electrical timing reset he is back behind the wheel regaining his track record.
His treatment involved stopping the heart and starting it again.
Richard was only in hospital for two days.
Sitting snugly behind the wheel of his nifty sports car, 5ft 11in Richard said: “I am never happier than when I am racing.
“I do not feel particularly old at 80. Age is just a number.”
Richard, a retired marine engineer, bought his trusty sports model in 1970 for £1750 and assembled it himself.
It has more than 530,000 miles on the clock and raced in more than 300 events since he began competing in 1980.
The iconic car was the favourite of actress Diana Rigg who played sexy Emma Peel in the 1960s hit TV show The Avengers.
“The car is in a class of its own,” Richard said.
“It can reach 90mph on hill climbs and 130mph on the racetrack.”
Richard’s racing success includes winning the Scottish Sprint Championship seven times.
After his treatment he was fourth in the Paul Matty Lotus sports car championship.
This weekend he is racing in the Paul Matty racing championship at Loton Park in Shropshire.
His private treatment was carried out at Glasgow’s Ross Hall by consultant Dr Robin Northcote.
Dr Northcote said: “Interestingly, athletes and other sports-loving people are more likely to develop atrial fibrillation.
“One theory is that very fit people live for so many years with a lower pulse rate that their heart responds by going out of sync and has episodes of erratic heartbeat.”