Saboteurs threaten race driver's life

By [jhayward]

SABOTEURS who targeted a Gillingham racing driver's car put his life at risk.

Stuart Clarke, aged 32, spun off the Brands Hatch track on Sunday after someone tampered with the suspension on his Vauxhall Astra VXR888.

Mr Clarke, who was competing in his first race for new team Thorney Motorsport, had qualified in pole position in practice the day before, but at the third bend of the race he lost control and skidded off the track. He was able to resume and eventually finished sixth.

After the race, engineers examined the car and found the suspension had been tampered with to make it softer.

Mr Clarke said: "I was very surprised, upset and then furious that someone feels that they needed to sabotage the car. It was dangerous and very unsportsmanlike. I have my suspicions as to who may have been responsible, but we cannot prove anything."

Team leader John Thorne said: "We were watching from the pits and saw Stuart come round the corner massively under-steering. We checked the whole car and found that the suspension had been turned to full soft. This cannot happen by accident and would have to have been done deliberately."

Two other Thorne Motorsport cars experienced similar problems.

Mr Thorne said: "This could have been very dangerous. If one of the cars had hit a kerb at high speed, the suspension would have completely broken and the car could have rolled."

The team reported the incident to race officials but are powerless to improve their situation.

Mr Thorne said: "This makes our team look bad and will not please our sponsors. I cannot believe someone would do this. It is incredibly disappointing."