A Tipperary rally driver, Mr Frank Meagher, died while giving a "spin" to a rally fan, an inquest into his death heard yesterday.
Mr Meagher died when his Ford Sierra Cosworth Sapphire car overturned and struck a tree on a forest track at Anner Wood, close to his home in Cloneen, Fethard, Co Tipperary.
A statement was read out in the South Tipperary Coroner's Court yesterday by a passenger in Mr Meagher's car at the time of his death on the afternoon of March 10th last.
The inquest heard that Ms Helen O'Riordan, of Lyredane, Greenagh, Co Cork, received only minor injuries, while Mr Meagher (39), a father of four, sustained traumatic injuries.
Ms O'Riordan said that she was looking at a stopwatch on her lap when she heard Mr Meagher shout. She looked up and saw the car driving along the bank of the road. After it came to a halt, she tried talking to Mr Meagher and checked for a pulse, but there was no response.
She had always wanted a "spin" in his car, and he had agreed on that occasion, the inquest heard.
The coroner, Mr Paul Morris, heard a pathologist's evidence that Mr Meagher died from dislocation fractures to six of his cervical vertebrae and rupture of the underlying spinal cord.
A jury agreed with the coroner's verdict of accidental death due to a road traffic accident.
A popular figure in motor sport, Mr Meagher won the Circuit of Ireland Rally Championship in 1992 and the Tarmac Championship in 1995. He won the Tipperary Stonethrowers Rally a record nine times. He was also a successful businessman.