Chris Pye Motorsport

For those who have followed Chris' racing over the years, one of his major competitors in his Legends Racing Days was former F1 stock car star racer Des Chandler (Shown on left in Action at Mallory Park 11th May 2008).  Des was one of the men behind getting the Legends cars series running on the UK Ovals in 1996/7.  11 years later he was still competing in the series with some great success...That was until the British Long Track Championship meeting at Mallory Park on May 11th 2008. 

Having had success in the main race finishing on the podium (seen right collecting his trophy) Des and the rest of the field took part in an "allcomers" race to end the day's racing.  What happened next turned the Hinkley based company director's life upside down literally.  A very serious accident led to Des being knocked unconscious and the air ambulance being flown into to take Des direct to hospital.  This amazing humourus guy with 30+ years of racing experience is now still in hospital with very little short term memory nearly 3 months following this accident.  What brings it home for Chris, is that like most racers, we all have to get up and go to work on Monday morning....and after accidents like this , no matter how good your driving or how good your safety equipment is, you might not make it one Monday morning!  Chris Pye Motorsport in posting this message wish our sincerest best wishes to Des and his family.  Any news will be posted here in due course.  Thanks to Smiffyman for the photos used in this article.

LATEST NEWS - UPDATE 28TH JULY - Thanks to Oval Legends Website

Message from Peggyann Lilley on behalf of Des Chandler
After talking to Des today, he has asked me to write a message from him thanking EVERYONE that has sent messages of good will via email, forum messages and cards.  Your wishes of a full recovery have almost been met although he would like to tell you that, at this moment, his long term memory is good but short term memory is still very testing when it comes to reading and writing.  Sometimes he struggles to remember everyday words. Des told me ''The hospital is fantastic and everything they have done for me is unreal.''  He also includes
the Air Ambulance crew, Medical Staff and facilities at Mallory.  From their excellent work, such good progress has been made that it enables Des to go home at weekends although it will be a few more weeks before he is allowed home for good.  The medical staff at the hospital have indicated however that he will not be allowed to drive on the road for another 6 months, such was the severity of the racing accident at Mallory on 11th May. Des also has this to say ''I will never race a car again.  The accident was so serious and I did so much damage to my skull that I could well of not survived, without the dedicated support of Pat and the girls I may well of not survived!''

Also, just to let you know, Des is really hoping to be at Hednesford on Sunday to watch the racing and thank people in person.
So don't be surprised if you see him there!
Bye for now - Peggyann Lilley

LATEST NEWS - UPDATE 28th AUGUST - Thanks to an email from Des himself!

"I am finally out of hospital and recovering pretty good now all though i do have a problem with reading and writing etc, but i would like to thank the crew or the air ambulance, and the critical care at coventry hospital who sorted me out after the accident. Without the Hanns Device neckbrace and the new Simpson helmet i was wearing, i do know that i would not has survived the accident."

It was so nice to receive an email from Des, as I know a few people who have visited this website have been worried about him including Martin Burford (former Legends racer #2) & Paul Simpson (former Legends racer #69 who bought Des' championship winning car from 1997).  Again it is a reminder that sometime your life may rely on the saftey equipment, so why cut corners and save money, if your life is a risk as a result of it.

Things are not good in the Chris Pye Motorsport camp, with the car still refusing to run well.  Thanks to Daz Purdy for popping round last weekend attempting to get car running, but we are baffled as to why it is not happy.  Time to strip carbs down and give a thorough clean..... Unfortunately we are scratching our heads now, as we have tried every thing.  Anyone fancy a challenge to get a car running drop me a line!

For the 2nd year running Chris Pye Motorsport put together a racing car display at Kallum & Kia's school fayre on Saturday June 28th.  This year we only managed to get 2 cars there thanks to Andi Wood (s441) again.  The weather was great except for a strong wind which kept trying to blow the gazebo away!  Flyers for SAA and Hilsea tyres were handed out, and the kids enjoyed playing PS2 game "Driven to Destruction" a banger racing game.  The Kids were allowed to get in the cars and try them out which was a real winner.

Everyone involved with Chris Pye Motorsport are suffering from frustration at the lack of racing in past 6 weeks.  In Chris' car the head gasket needed replacing following the Bank Holiday meeting at Worthing, which was left until late on in the evening on Saturday 24th May.  Problems with the cam followers meant that Chris continued to put engine back together at the track on Sunday morning.  Having done this with the help of several people including Ade & Arron, we were unable to get the car to start.  Sunday 8th June's meeting was missed due to family commitments and the car is still awaiting repair with just over a week until the meeting.

Kallum/Danni's car still needs finishing, which is not good as Kallum has now turned 10 and is old enough to make his debut in the novice juniors, and we are going to see what we can do to get him out there on Sunday 22nd June.  Anyone able to come and lend a hand is more than welcome!  Work commitments for Chris is making it hard to find the time or energy to work on the cars....Fingers crossed!

The team features in the May issue of Short Circuit and you can preview the article and photo on their website www.shortcircuitmag.com

On Monday 28th April Chris took part in the Murco Marketing Department annual Go Karting event, which this year was held at GP Karting, Northampton.  The gauntlet is thrown down to Chris each time one of these racing events takes place, with him racing for a hobby people expect him to win every time!

The 5 heat, semi and final race format proved to be tiring especially as it was only a day after the meeting at Worthing.  Having set the fastest lap in one of his heats of 29.76 secs, Chris was not only the fastest out there, he finally won an indoor karting final!  Over the past 16 or so years Chris has competed in hundreds of karting events of this style and has never won an event before!  Chris was more than happy to return with 2 trophies to start the 2008 collection off.  Chris is pictured on the right with Jeremy Clarke, Marketing Director Murco Petroleum who finished 2nd and Martin Coutts, Regional Manager Murco Petroleum who finished in 3rd.

Further frustration as the new season opener at Hordean Raceway on the 27th April has had to be cancelled due to waterlogged pits and spectator areas.  This will now make the first points scoring round of the 2008 championship Sunday 18th May.  Due to this Chris Pye Motorsport will be racing at Angmering, Worthing this sunday 27th April.  Danni & Chris will again share Chris' car at the meeting.

Due to Horndean Raceway not being ready for the 13th April meeting, the team took Chris' car over to Angmering with the intention of it being raced by Chris in Prod Bs and Danni in Prod As.  However due to low numbers in both of these groups they were being combined for this meeting.  Therefore it was decided that Chris would race in Heat 1 and the Final and Danni would have an outing in Heat 2.  Read all about the day on the Meeting Reports page.

Further frustration as the 2nd round of the 2008 Season has had to be cancelled due to the 4 inches snow we suffered on 6th April.  When it thawed out it has left the pits and spectator areas far too waterlogged to race this weekend.  Chris Pye Motorsport are planning to race at Oval Race Club, Angmering near Worthing instead on that day.  Fingers crossed the 2008 season can start on April 27th at Horndean Raceway.

March was a month of frustrations, firslty Horndean's opening meeting was cancelled (nice & early) due to there being far too much work to do to get the track finished in time and the support vehicles overhauled.  So we planned to race at Tongham instead, only to read on Saturday morning that it too was cancelled as the pit area was far too waterlogged to use.  So we had a day out to Bovingdon to watch some racing instead.

April is upon us, and we are hoping to be at Standlake on Sunday 6th April for the 1st round of the SEGTO Championship, but this is dependant on sorting childcare out as Tam is working that day.  Fingers crossed Horndean will be ready on 13th April, but the wintery weather is not helping with the track preperations and our pits to dry out.

Following Chris' debut at Arena Essex in January in a mini, it was decided that in order to be on the pace in Prod A the diff needs to be locked, which then means sharing the car with Kallum from June onwards when he starts in Novice Juniors would not be possible.  A bargain came up to aquire the old cars of Paul Lofting (s26) and Paul Monktelow (s269) this week and a decision was made to buy them.  The shell of the former s269 car will form the basis of the 2nd team car as pictured here now in team colours of orange and black, however the gearbox from that car will be used in Chris's car as it is locked and the gearbox from Chris' car put on to this. 

A decision will be made on engines as there are 2 to chose from.  It is a large project but in the long run will be worth it for very little cash outlay.  As part of this decision, it has been agreed this car will be shared with Chris' sister-in-law Danni Reader and she will run it in the Prod A class.

The car has now been furnished with Danni's name and numbers, giving a sense of being closer to a race car than before!