CO-DRIVER Karen Watts had a lucky escape when the Ford Fiesta she was racing in struck a tree at speed and caught fire on the Trackrod Rally in North Yorkshire.

Karen was competing in the BRC Challenge event with Becky Girvan. She said: "Six miles in on stage six we were going downhill quite fast when we realised we had no brakes. We went into a tight square right and there was nothing to slow us down. Becky did her best to get round but we hit a tree and I took the full impact above my head.

"Luckily, I was in a good car with a good roll cage.

"We flipped upside down and I lost my bearings. The car was smoking and there were some big flames at the back end of the car."

Marshals smashed a window to get Karen out of the car. At the time they didn't know if she had been badly hurt or not.

"They were shouting at us but because we still had our helmets on we couldn't hear them properly," said Karen. "They put a neck brace on me and took me to hospital as a precaution but I'm just a bit sore and bruised. It was nobody's fault."

The girls had the consolation of winning the BRC Challenge Ladies' Championship and finishing second in the RC5 class.

Karen, who is all set to compete on this year's Rally GB, added: "It wasn't the ideal way to end the season but I'm fine, Becky's fine and the car can be fixed.

"They say things come in threes so hopefully that's my last crash because I went off on my first ever event with Nigel Jenkins and had to be air-lifted to hospital, and I also had a crash with Darren Pinchin.

"That's just rallying."