WARNING: if you are thinking of stopping to pay your respects or just have a look - DO NOT! This road is extremely dangerous
and fast - it's also illegal to stop there. A few seconds of inattention and you could be another statistic.
Also note that the road contours have changed since 1959 (we'll try to provide an overlay of current vs original soon) but the area immediately
adjacent to the crash impact point appears to be pretty much the same...
The above image is an overhead view of the A3 from around 2500ft elevation showing the major areas of interest - North is at the top.
At bottom left is the garage of John Coombs (to the left of the white modern garage building) and approximately at centre, the crash location.
The cars were heading left to right downhill. The road has been remodelled
since the time of the crash - the upper carriageway of what is now a UK dual carriageway trunk road was part of a wide single road with four lanes,
two in each direction, in 1959. The road slopes downwards about 70 feet between Coombs Garage
and the crash site. Further down the page you can find a 3D view that is reconstructing the location seen from a police photograph of the time.
You can fly to this location - as long as you have Google Earth installed -
by following this Placemark. The series of views below are derived from it.
A closer view.
And an even closer view - the crash location within a few yards is marked by the cross.
This is an attempt to match the police photo (inset) taken at the scene with a
Google Earth 3D view of the location. In the police photo, you will see a line of trees on the hill
in the distance and just below and slightly to to the left, the goal posts (select the image for a larger view).
The posts will be the right hand (as viewed here) set of two on the playing field.
There are far more houses now to the right than in in the police photo.
Alternative views - above: where the cars would be running right to left on the upper carriageway.
Immediately below: seen in the direction you travel now away from Guildford on the left hand carriageway towards the old Coombs Garage
at top left - the crash spot is marked with an X
The TT garage as was lies at the centre of this image, the forecourt adjacent to East Street in Farnham running left to right. Note that
there is little left of the original site as of 2006 (See our Tourist Trophy Garage entry)
And below is another, closer view, from 2007. We hope to eventually bring you a plan of how the Garage was laid out in the mid-late 1950s.
Mike is buried in West Street Cemetery in Farnham, Surrey. The cemetery is at the western end of the road, near the roundabout with the A31
- entrance is just by the red car on the right of the road above. The grave's location is marked here with an X and the entrance leads straight to it.
His father Leslie is buried nearby. We have a page on Mike's funeral and the grave itself.
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