A TALENTED young rallycross driver was speeding in the moments before he was involved in a fatal crash, an inquest heard.

Jordan Bowes, 19, was driving his Audi along the B1257 towards Great Broughton when he lost control on an S-bend and crashed into a horsebox.

At the inquest into his death held on Wednesday, Traffic Constable David Taylor said the evidence suggested that Mr Bowes was travelling at an estimated 82mph - allowing 10 per cent either way - on the 60mph road.

The excessive speed caused Mr Bowes to lose control of the car on the bends, as TC Taylor explained: “He is going to hit anything that is there; if the horsebox wasn’t there he would have just gone into the field but he would never have regained control.”

In a statement read by coroner Michael Oakley, the driver of the horsebox, Michael Hoggard, said he knew he was going to be hit when he saw Mr Bowes’ Audi approaching at speed.

He said: “I have never seen a car so fast on a normal road other than a motorway.

“As it came round the bend it was twitching and I knew instantly it was going to hit me.”

He added: “I shut my eyes in anticipation of the impact.”

Mr Hoggard, who was on his way to a hunt in Skelton, was not seriously injured in the crash and nor was the horse he was transporting.

Motorists - including an anaesthetist - who had been following the vehicles stopped at the scene to help Mr Bowes.

But despite their best efforts, he died from a serious head injury.

Coroner Mr Oakley concluded the inquest by saying that Mr Bowes died as a result of an accident and therefore recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Mr Bowes, who lived in Great Broughton, was a promising Rallycross and Retro Rallycross driver and was well-known in the local racing community.

Following his death on October 25 last year, Shirley Gibson, who set up Retro Rallycross, paid tribute to Mr Bowes and described him as a “chirpy chap” and “a shining star”.

She added: “He was such a pleasure to be around; it would just lift you to be around him.

“We all loved him so much in rallycross.

“We all feel this loss.”

Mr Bowes was studying mechatronics at Teesside University and was an apprentice at the global robotics and automation company Labman in Seamer near Stokesley.