Paraskevidekatriaphobia. Familiar with it? M-Sport managing director Malcolm Wilson knows all about it.
What about triskaidekaphobia? Yep. Wilson’s got some history with that one too. Adrien Fourmaux knows all about those two ‘conditions’ as well. Prior to his arrival as a professional rally driver, Fourmaux was well on his way to becoming a medical genius, but it’s his time behind the wheel rather than his time in the library that have taught him much about paraskevidekatriaphobia. And triskaidekaphobia.
The first is known by some as the phobia of Friday the 13th. The second is a more general phobia of the number 13.
At Ypres Rally earlier this month, Fourmaux crashed M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Fiesta WRC chassis #13.
And he crashed it on Friday 13th.
“Unbelievable, eh?” said Wilson with a wry smile. “That was the last one of these chassis we’ll ever build. Chassis #13 crashed on Friday 13th.”
It’s not the end of the car though. Heavy as the impact that ruled Fourmaux out of the eighth round of the world championship was, the car will be rebuilt and readied for another day and another rally.
“It was quite a big one,” said Wilson, “but we can repair the car. We won’t have it out and done in time for the Acropolis, but it will be back out again.”
As for Friday 13th, Wilson’s not a sufferer of paraskevidekatriaphobia. A career in rallying has taught him you make your own luck. He knows that had Fourmaux replaced the word ‘line’ with the word ‘dirty’ to describe that corner of Kemmelberg, he’d have emerged from the stage and the word ‘triskaidekaphobia’ would be yet to make its debut on DirtFish.
