Misadventure was the verdict on a Southern 100 sidecar competitor who died after an accident during this year’s event.

Robert Leonard Paul Thomas, known as Paul, was the passenger in outfit number 10 driven by Anthony Houghton when he was thrown out of the chair at speed on the section of the course known as Osborne’s on the final lap of the final sidecar race on July 11.

The accident happened in warm, dry and sunny conditions on Thursday - the final day of racing - and the meeting was abandoned afterwards while investigations were carried out.

Mr Houghton, an experienced sidecar competitor who took part in the TT and was a S100 regular, said they had been around 10 yards behind outfit number nine, after Ballabeg hairpin.

‘Number nine seemed to slow down, perhaps because he missed a gear and we went to the right hand side. We were slightly behind at that stage. Number nine then moved to the right and collided with our front passenger wheel-arch with its right side. The force pushed us into the right hand kerb. I don’t think he saw us. We went down the kerb for 20 yards. We got back on to the road and lurched left and rubbed the bank on the other side.

‘If I hadn’t pulled out along side I would have run into the back of him. He had slowed quite a lot,’ Mr Houghton said.

Mr Houghton said he had not been aware Mr Thomas had parted company from the outfit.

Darren Hope was the driver of the other sidecar, number nine, with passenger Paul Bumphrey. Mr Hope who had also competed previously in the TT and S100 races, said he had missed a gear after Ballabeg hairpin and he felt a ‘light nudge’ on his right foot but did not realise the seriousness of the incident until later.

‘I was packing away when the chief scrutineer came to take the bike away and I knew then something serious must have happened,’ he said.

Mr Bumphrey said he felt only a slight contact then realised the passenger was missing from the other outfit and had tried to alert someone by gesticulating with his hand.

An accident investigation by Constable Edward Radcliffe said Mr Houghton’s outfit, with Mr Thomas as a passenger, was trapped between the kerb and Mr Hope’s machine. Mr Houghton’s outfit had been raised off the ground briefly by the kerb and had twisted as it re-established contact with the road, dislodging Mr Thomas from his position in the chair.

Mr Thomas, a gardener who lived at Ballasalla, had been thrown from the outfit, making contact with the wall at the side of the road, a boulder in the hedge and a utility box at the side of the road. Two witnesses told the court how they had witnessed Mr Thomas ‘barrel rolling’ down the road.

A post mortem examination by Dr Ervine Long found death was caused by massive blunt force trauma to Mr Thomas’ head, spine, chest and abdomen and he would have been beyond help.

Recording his verdict, coroner John Needham said:

‘He was not conscious at the end and would not have been aware. His injuries were not survivable, as the post mortem report confirmed.’ Mr Needham thanked the marshals and paramedics and offered condolences to Mr Thomas’ family: ‘He died doing something he loved, but this is still a huge sadness for you.’



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