Bad Week in Oz

The death earlier this week of serial croc-chaser Steve Irwin had a certain inevitability about it, but the news that Oz motorsport icon Peter Brock was killed yesterday during a rally event in Western Australia has come as a real shock.

OK, its a risk of the job, but Peter Perfect was never one of those drivers who took unnecessary risks, and in a driving career spanning probably 40 years I can remember him ever having a serious accident. And so his death, while driving a replica of my all-time favorite car - a Shelby Daytona Coupe - comes as a real shock to this lifetime motorsport tragic.

The Daytona Coupe, raced with great success in '64 and '65 against the might of Ferrari back when motorsport really meant something, will forever symbolize the victory of big, loud American muscle over Euro finesse and guile. I've still got a model of it sitting next to my computer. Often copied, only six of the original cars were ever made. Ironically they were designed by someone called... Peter Brock (no relation).