DAVE Cox is one of our top endurance racing drivers and has enjoyed huge success in recent seasons, particularly on the major European circuits like Nürburgring and Spa.

But when he suffered a very serious accident, ironically when not driving, the Gravesend man thought his days of burning rubber were over.

Cox said: “During the Easter weekend I impaled my left leg on railings and at that time I was fearful as to whether I would ever walk again, let alone race.

“The fire crews, paramedics and surgeons at Darent Valley Hospital did a wonderful job, and apart from carrying the scars I’m now fully mobile.

“But it was quite unbelievable that I was fit enough to return to compete in a 24-hour race at the world-famous Nürburgring, in Germany, just six weeks later.

“After Formula 1, this event is the largest motor-racing event in Germany, at which a staggering 196,000 fans attended, while there were eight hours of live coverage on German TV.

“Nürburgring is the longest race circuit in the world, with each lap covering more than 15 miles. There were 230 entries for this race, with the fastest 210 in qualifying allowed to start.

“There were two ex-Formula 1 drivers competing – Karl Wendlinger and Pedro Lamy – plus countless professional German Touring Car drivers with five works teams, with unlimited budgets – two each from BMW and Opel and one from Audi.

Cox added: “I was driving our BMW M3 3.2-litre touring car, which has a six-speed sequential gearbox, pushing out approximately 420 bhp, reaching top speeds of 175 mph, with my usual team run by Moore International Motorsport, sponsored by Philips and my family’s firm – W.E. Cox & Co (Recoveries) Ltd.

“Willie Moore, the car and team owner, and I have been competing together for seven years, taking part in numerous European endurance races with great success, picking up a number of wins.

“But we have never mastered the most difficult event in the racing calendar – the Nürburgring 24-hour race.

“This has been due to either technical problems with the car or crashes due to driver error, although we have had more than our fair share of success there in races of much shorter duration.

“This time we decided to engage Nick Barrow as an additional driver to share time behind the wheel.

“With a 120-litre fuel-tank, the car was able to run two hours between pitstops and the plan was to do two hours on, four hours off, throughout the 24 hours.

“After both day and night practice, we were fairly pleased to have qualified 26th overall and second in class.

“As the 3pm start-time approached, all three of us were praying the car would be reliable and that we could keep the car on the ‘black stuff’ and avoid the crash barriers.

“Willie, my permanent co-driver, started and drove flawlessly, pitting just before the two-hour mark for me to take over, and at the end of my two-hour stint we were doing extremely well, up to 15th overall and leading in class.

“Despite those distractions, by the end of my second spell we were up to sixth overall and still leading in class.

“However, during Willie’s third drive he had to make our first unscheduled pitstop due to a broken differential carrier.

“The mechanics, led by Paul Denchfield, did a sterling job to replace the broken parts and get us back out on the circuit 50 minutes later.

“Unfortunately, this stop dropped us back to 30th overall and third in class.

However, the rest of the race went without a hitch and, having driven flat out to the chequered flag, we managed to climb up to 10th overall and second in class, just 10 minutes behind the leading car in our category.” In 24 hours, Cox and his co-drivers completed 129 laps of the 15-mile Nürburgring circuit, covering 1,935 miles at an average speed of 80.62 mph, including pitstops.

Cox added: “After seven years of trying and particularly after my terrifying accident just six weeks before, I was, to quote that well-used phrase, ‘over the moon’ to come away from the most demanding and dangerous circuit in the world with a beautiful second-placed trophy for our class and having finished 10th overall out 210 cars.” Cox then revealed the jinx which beset the team prior to racing in Germany has hit their pockets hard.

“Since our win at Spa Francochamps last September, we have encountered nothing but bad luck,” he said.

“Prior to Nurburgring, we were leading our class in each race we took part in, but then encountered technical problems which caused our retirement each time.

“Two blown engines have made a sizeable dent in our budget and we were not sure when and where we will be racing again.”