Race Against World's Billy Monger's 'traumatic' crash that claimed both legs
As a contestant on Celebrity Race Across The World, racing car driver and pundit Billy Monger is set to take on a huge challenge, and it's a sight those who rescued him from a horror crash will no doubt be glad to see. Back in 2017, shortly before his 18th birthday, Billy was severely injured in a near-fatal collision at Donington Park, a motorsport circuit in Derby. The other driver involved in the collision, Patrik Pasma, thankfully didn't sustain any serious injuries.
The teenage Formula 4 racer was left trapped in the ruined vehicle for 90 minutes while paramedics fought to free him from the wreckage, and he was later airlifted to a Nottingham hospital where he was put in an induced coma. Unfortunately, both of Monger's legs had to be amputated during surgery - his left leg amputated above the knee, and the right below the knee.
Billy lost his legs in a near-fatal crash back in 2017 (Jordan Mansfield/Comic Relief)Speaking with DerbyshireLive five months after the accident, Ian Dixon, a crew member at Donington Park Rescue Unit, described the crash as being "one of the most catastrophic" he'd ever seen, adding that the memory of the scene still affected him many months on. Ian said: "Billy's car had smashed into the back of another car at such a high speed that it was left wedged inside the other almost like two paper cups. When we arrived, Billy was in a bad way and we couldn't see his legs or how badly damaged they were so we couldn't move him."
"Due to how the vehicles are designed, it was very difficult to cut through to see his legs. It was an extremely complicated and difficult extraction but we managed to free him eventually. The whole process was extremely traumatic for everyone involved and it had a massive impact on us."
He continued: "If we had had an angle grinder at the time, we could have extracted Billy far quicker because we could have cut through to see his legs. There was nothing more we could have done at the time to help the poor boy. We're a team of volunteers but I believe we performed exceptionally well to get him to hospital as soon as we could. Doctors said his legs were so badly damaged from the impact that they would have needed to be amputated anyway even if we had got him out quicker."
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The heroic team has since received a donated angle grinder – a type of tool used to cut holes through metal – thanks to funds raised at a fellow crew member's father's funeral. Following the crash, Billy also received support from Formula One stars, including Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, and Max Verstappen, with a JustGiving page set up for his treatment raising more than £500,000 in just one day.
Billy has gone on to achieve incredible things (DAILY MIRROR)
The motorsports star returned to racing just one year after his accident (Getty Images)In the years since, resilient "Billy Whizz" has gone on to achieve incredible things, returning to racing less than a year after his crash at the British Formula 3 Championship in March 2018. That same year, Billy was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award to mark his outstanding achievement in the face of adversity
Billy, who is now 24, told the Mirror: "I like to be able to feel I can do stuff by myself. That’s wired into me from the age I had my accident, you’re at an age where you want independence. So I’ve always chased independence and I make sure that I’m not relying on other people."
Celebrity Race Across The World currently airs Wednesdays at 9pm on BBC One, and can be streamed on BBC iPlayer
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