KEY POINTS:
New Zealand V8 Supercar driver Paul Radisich admitted yesterday that he would have retired had it not been for the prospect of driving Team Kiwi's highly competitive Ford Falcon this season.
Radisich was injured in a high-speed crash at Bathurst in October when his Holden Commodore ploughed into
earth-filled tyres near the end of Conrod Straight. He has spent the past four months recovering from a broken sternum and a shattered left ankle.
"I gave a whole lot of people a hell of a fright, none more than me," he said in Auckland yesterday. "I thought it was the end for sure. I remember pumping the brake and there was nothing there.
"The Hans device stopped my neck from breaking but I was all twisted up and I couldn't breathe. I thought I'd broken my back."
Recovery was a frustrating business as he could not get out of bed or move around for the first few weeks. Intense physiotherapy and two or three hours a day walking in a pool have restored his fitness, except for some niggling pain in his left ankle that may need another operation later.
Confirmation of his fitness to race again came only in the past week when he completed a three-day punishing course of cycling, swimming, canoeing and exercise in Queensland alongside Ford Performance Racing drivers Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards.
"People ask me why I don't just go to the beach and retire, but there's a part of me that won't let me be beaten.
"I'll be honest, I would have retired if the new car hadn't given me the best opportunity I've had since coming to Supercars. It's a proven package with Jason Bright's car from last year and the results are up to me."
Team Kiwi had intended to pay for the car by selling its Holden but when that was destroyed, 10,000 donations from New Zealanders raised $330,000 to fund the purchase.
This season there will be a full working partnership with Ford Performance Racing, for whom Winterbottom finished third and Bright fifth in the championship last year. The team will have three $150,000 race engines supplied by Prodrive.
Because of his weakened ankle Radisich will have to change his driving style from left-foot braking to right-foot control and he has only a two-day test session at Winton, Victoria, on February 19-20 to get up to speed.
The Bathurst crash was the first injury accident the 44-year-old had experienced since his teenage motocross days, so is he apprehensive about the first race at Adelaide on March 3?
"I'll be a bit ginger for the first few laps to get my brain back up to speed, but at the end of the day I'll be knocking down the door."
The two Adelaide 250km street races are the toughest of the season and a good result would bolster Team Kiwi's hopes of a top-10 finish in the championship.