..who without their help, I would have come home on the back of a trailer, and my weekend would have finished on Saturday afternoon.

Coming out of T13 (the 90 deg off camber left-hand corner after the bridge over the grand prix circuit), and giving it the beans on full lock, the drive shaft decided that 400+lb ft was too much to cope with and it ripped itself out. Obviously at 5000rpm in second gear, the shaft was rotating wildly and with a huge bang and bits of flying metal, I realised immediately what had happened.

After coasting round to Adenau Bridge in three wheel drive with the occasional nasty noise, we pulled off the circuit. All I could think of was to phone Guido, a German friend I had made through PF, who was having his car featured by the Fast Ford crew, in the vein hope he had a drive shaft we could borrow / rob. He said he would be right there as soon as the photo-shoot had finished, and so Justin and I started to jack the car up, remove the wheel and check the damage.

It was then we realised the depth of the shit we were actually in . Unfortunately for me, it had taken out the subframe as well . The TCA was hanging on by a wing and a prayer and the brake line was "just" about intact . All I can say is, someone up there likes either myself or Justin . Personally, I attribute it to the luck of the Irish .

A short while later, Guido arrive with the Fast Ford crew in tow, and Beardy started to do what he does with his camera (so no hiding the evidence ), and everyone sucked breath viewing the extent of the damage. I asked Guido what he thought, and he just took a few seconds to ponder, before declaring that he would have it fixed by later that evening and have it back to me by the morning .

Now this might not seem impressive, until I tell you that firstly he was with his Father-n-law's Sapphire, so had an hours drive to get back home to get his trailer and van from his workshop, then an hours drive back, load on and repeat . All that BEFORE he even starts . All this and the Fast Ford guys were trying to persuade him to come for a drink before he set off. However, Guido just binned them off and told them that I was more important and that he had to sort me out first !

Obviously we had several hours to kill while Guido went and collected the trailer, so who should show up but Gareth Lloyd in his CSL, and so he kept us entertained with an awesome lap, plus some spirited road driving around the mountain roads.

Upon Guido's return, with help from his friend Andy, at around 6.00pm, the car was loaded on and returned back to the workshop.


The car arrives back at Ellmer Autosport (Guido's Cossie worksop).



One half of the dynamic duo (Andy).


The car is on the ramp, and the stripping down of the drive train has begun.


The parts stripped out



Subframe removed.


How lucky? As you can see, the TCA was just about hanging on!


The parts removed.


Andy attempts to give his singing voice a little kick, after it starts to flag by 3.00am .


Guido gives me the subframe from his green car (front cover Fast Ford a few months back) - almost done.


4.00am, all finished!

The car was then dropped back off to me at 10.30am as promised .

You might think, geez, that must of cost a fortune, but to top it all, the guys wouldn't accept a penny . All they wanted was some breakfast, LOTS of coffee and for me to replace the parts they used. I honestly didn't know what to say, and I must confess that when Guido told me had had basically done all this for nothing, I was amazed and touched (to the extent of getting a lump in my throat ) and all I could do was give the guy a hug . I know they say that you reap what you sow, but it was still above and beyond the call of duty and I thought the least I could do was let everyone know what a top bunch of people the lads are at Ellmer Autosport .

I would also mention that it was a Saturday night, and Guido's wife was not happy, yet him and Andy STILL worked until 4.00am .

Any German RS owners reading this, you know where your car is best off! .