Just hours after testing Matt Neal’s title-winning Honda at Donington Park, John George closed Cardiff Airport so he could make a dramatic emergency landing after a mid-air scare at 18,000 feet.
George, aged 45, and close pal Andrew Whitaker were returning home to Bodmin in Cornwall from East Midlands airport near Donington when their Cessna aeroplane’s electrics failed last week.
A ‘may day’ call enabled them make an emergency landing at Cardiff, whose airport put 15 fire tenders on standby.
“There was a four-letter word when we realised something was wrong, but it was the may day call that got us really excited – it was a horrible admission that something really was wrong,” George told BTCC.net.
“We’d switched on the de-icers and the electrics blew. We had no instrumentation and by that time it was really dark up there. Luckily, the engines were still working and we were able to let ground control talk us in to land.
“But it was still scary – we were hobbling along at about 250mph and couldn’t really see where we were going until we got beneath the cloud. We didn’t even know if the landing gear would work but it all turned out OK.
“The important thing was to keep cool on the way down. It was when we touched the ground that we went a bit mad.”
George is planning to return to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship in the car Neal drove to this year’s title, the ex-Team Dynamics Honda Integra run by TH Motorsport. He last raced in the BTCC in 2004 in a Honda then a Peugeot, both powered by LPG (liquid petroleum gas).
He tested the car last Thursday at Donington Park (pictured above - photo: Peter Still), with Neal on hand to set a benchmark time.
George added: “I always wanted to come back tot he BTCC – it’s the championship to be in – but I wanted to do it properly. Matt came along to the test and did a few laps and everything went really well. The car feels great with loads of front-end grip and a very smooth gearbox. The engine also sounds really raw, likes it’s going to ignite, which makes it feel very racy.”
George hopes to use his BTCC return to build his rapidly developing company’s profile – his mobile communications firm JAG now has 85 stores across the south of England and Wales.
He said: “Because the BTCC travels around the UK and is so high profile, it’s a great opportunity to invite along business customers and staff regionally in a corporate environment. It’ll be a great motivator for everyone involved to be a part of the team on race days.”
Source: www.btcc.net
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