R.I.P Todd "JUDGE" Wilkes- 10 years ago today

[60three]

Was a top bloke. Tracey is in the hwy patrol now. See her every now and again on the M7

No kidding hey.. I remember chatting to her years ago on here when she was based out of Liverpool i think. Great girl, hope she's doing well

[TJ]

I still remember this. I was barely an adult, addicted to the car culture and this was a hero car.

To those of you who knew him, I hope the honour of having done so still remains.

RIP.

[WRXCORE]

Fark 12 years ago! I was about to leave my mates place to attend when the phone calls started coming in about the accident. RIP

[itsnotagsr]

Was a top bloke. Tracey is in the hwy patrol now. See her every now and again on the M7

Good to hear.

[ProVK]

Todd defiantly lead the way with turbocharged V8's in Australia. I have always wondered how far he would have gone if the accident did not happen. Without a doubt he was ahead of the pack in what he was doing.

RIP 'JUDGE' The legend lives on.

[Guido]

Rip.

[Southo]

yeah thats fair. in truth i only 'tubed it to see it it was who i thought it was. feintly remember seeing it on telle when i was about 11.

To answer this and some of the PMs...

Yeah, there were a few spectators that had video footage from the top of the pits. The normal shaky hand held stuff etc.
We had 4 Cameras there, 2 of which filmed the runs from both sides of the track and my camera that I was interviewing all the drivers just before they took off and then their starting. The 4th was an onboard lipstick camera.

When we were packing up all our stuff, we had a couple of the TV stations cameramen/reporters come and ask us for vision, but we declined saying we were not prepared to give any vision until we spoke to the Police and our Producer for the show. .Later that day (when they realised how shit the spectator camera vision was I assume), they offered us big dollars for the vision, but by then we all had a chance to talk about it and made the promise that it was far too graphic to let it out to the public domain.. We were then contacted by the police and had to make a copy for them for their investigation and I had to give a statement and evidence at the coroners inquest as I was the last one to speak to him. There were lots of stories that he was suicidal, didn't try and brake, wasn't wearing a helmet etc. Thankfully the vision we shot and the interview proved that he wasn't angry/upset, had his helmet on and you can clearly see the brake lights come on once he passed the finish line...

As for the few people that saw the interview and footage, I got special permission from the police to play it for the Friends and Family that wanted to see it. For some it was horrifying (but something they felt that they had to do) whilst others wanted to see how happy / positive / excited he was in the interview and wanted that as their last memory....

It was very surreal and I still think about it quite often and get the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.........

R.I.P

[60three]

I never knew that, nor was I interested in why you had all chosen to keep it out of the public domain. I'm glad you did though, it sounds highly personal and I can't imagine what it would be like to be the last person someone spoke to..

Thanks for sharing

[itsnotagsr]

Southo - sorry to hear about your experience.

[sirhsv]

Thanks for sharing Southo, I saw the footage on the news once and I wish I hadn't so I'm guessing your footage would've been worse so I'm glad you guys chose to do with the footage what you did. I've seen some graphic footage from Iraq etc but Todd's crash footage sticks in my mind the most even all these years afterward.

Just out of curiosity, what did he have to say when you interviewed him before the run?

[Justin Bieber]

Looks like heaps of guys here know Todd, i'd only met him a couple of times but was good mates with his business partner John. We lost touch and i'd really like to catch up with him at some stage, any chance anyone here knows him? The car he was building back then was a red? ae86 with a ca18det and heaps of garret bits, he binned it into the side of Mt Nebo. That's about all the info I could give besides he lived on the Southside reasonably close to the M1. This was when they had the computer shop on Newmarket Rd.

[WRXCORE]

I don't usually buy Summernats tees but I bought this one...

I'm pretty sure I have a copy of the accident from the stands on an old hdd but after reading southo's story I don't think I will dig it up

[tinkers]

RIP Todd you have been missed.

The computer shop on newmarket rd was Todd's house, the shop was in the garage.

[Southo]

Just out of curiosity, what did he have to say when you interviewed him before the run?

We had a bit of a lighthearted joke about the car in front - he said he hoped that he wouldn't catch and overtake it down the straight, (sounds kind of weird, but the day was running heaps behind and everyone was keen to get on with it, he was just hanging to see what it would do).

In the actual interview I intro'd him to the camera and asked him how the car was running, what was he hoping to get out of it and what was the preparation like for this event.
He basically replied that he was hoping for 300km/h and the car was running great. They had some last minute problems but sorted them all out and he was really keen to see what it will do.
There was a little bit more, but that was the basics of it.

After the camera stopped, I said good luck, hope you go well,
I didn't come all this way to come second was the last thing he said to me.

I walked about 10m in front of the car and put the camera on the ground facing back then did a lift and pan shot past him and he gave me the thumbs up with a huge grin, and then starter told him he could go..
I turned the camera and zoomed on on the rear drivers wheel as he took off and then followed the car around Turns 10, 11 and 12.

[Dexi]

Rip I remember the gio back in the day, however was unaware of the accident until now. My condolences to all that knew him, looks like a nice guy. Goes to show how precious life is. Sounds like he died doing what he loved, I hope I get to go out doing what I love.