I was never a big fan of Indy Car racing, I never saw the skill in it but if you have a lot of excellent drivers telling you how difficult it is then you have to take notice. The concentration required to run in close formation at speeds of over 220mph is apparantely enormous. Dan Wheldon was highly respected a long time before he made his way into Indycar, once there he gained many fans being one of the best drivers in recent years. His death has had a major impact on the sport and we’ll likely see all sorts of new regulations to make it safer but at the end of the day motorsport will always be dangerous.

Marco Simoncelli on the other hand I do know about. I couldn’t say I’m a Moto GP nut but I do watch all the races and follow the riders…he’s been my favourite since he broke onto the scene in 2010. His ride in the wet at Silverstone this year was a thing of beauty, he pushed and pushed until he found that little bit just beyond the limit. For those of you who may be F1 fans but not Moto GP think Kobayashi but with more success. Simoncelli was a balls out overtaking machine who was never afraid to leave it all out there, he was massively entertaining to watch and will be sadly missed.

In the space of a matter of days motorsport has lost 2 great talents. BUT we have to remember this. They did what they enjoyed most in life, if you asked any of their competitors I reckon a very high percentage would choose to go out the same way? We held the funeral of my step-mum last Friday, she wasn’t that hold, she died a horrible death after a 2 year battle with cancer that saw her wasted away to nothing. I can assure you that sitting in Hospice was not what she loved most in life. In some respects we were lucky in that we got to say our goodbyes. On the other they would have been gladly swapped a 100 times over for a quick painless death doing something she loved.

Somebody once said about the great Ayrton Senna, is it more tragic that he pass so young or that the world has to hear of his death at the age of 70 after a long term illness? Some people live to compete, love life on the edge, invariably they are here for a good time, not a long time.