A professional racing driver claims that he was suffering from automatism — which left him physically, but not mentally in control of his car — when he killed a woman in a high-speed crash, a court heard yesterday.

James Sutton, 21, said that he suffered a blackout moments before his car sped across a roundabout and into the side of another car, killing the passenger.

Mr Sutton, who races for Fortec Motorsport, claimed to be suffering automatism as the result of a crash the previous day on the Oulton Park racetrack in Cheshire. The prosecution said that the racing driver’s defence is a “ruse”.

He had killed Angela Martin, 55, after allegedly failing to slow down before crossing over a roundabout in Daventry, Northamptonshire, in December 2005, Northampton Crown Court was told.

His Ford Focus ploughed into a Renault Laguna driven by Mrs Martin’s husband, of Banbury, Oxfordshire.

After the crash the racing driver was seen rolling around on the ground and told another driver that he had suffered a blackout.

Nicola McCreath, who was driving behind the Renault, told the jury that the racing driver’s car was going “quite fast” at the roundabout and that there was no way it was going to get through the traffic.

After the crash Mr Sutton got out of this car and went over to the Laguna, she said.

“He looked at the vehicle at the passenger side and then he laid on the floor and started rolling about as if he was in pain for a couple of minutes.”

Clive Sutton, for the prosecution, told the jury: “It has been conceded this was dangerous driving. This issue is, was this defendant acting because of automatism? “Did he have voluntary control of the car? Was he physically driving it or was his mind elsewhere because of a collision the day before on a racing track?” The prosecutor said that it was too easy for someone to say that they blacked out and that was no defence.

“We say he is using it as a cover — an excuse. The prosecution say it is self-serving because he is trying to exculpate himself from a very serious situation.”

The jury was told that it would have to decide if he was acting involuntarily because of the earlier crash.

Sutton, who was in his second season of single-seater racing when the incident took place, denies causing death by dangerous driving.

He had finished fifth in the British Formula BMW Championship in his debut season in 2004, the court was told. In 2005 he switched to the Formula Renault UK Championship. On the day of the fatal crash he had left the headquarters of Fortec Motorsport in Daventry having spent the night there after the crash at Oulton Park.

The court heard that the previous day his racing car, which can reach speeds of up to 140mph, aquaplaned on the surface and broke in two.

Joseph Scott, a paramedic, said that he had seen the driver run from the car after the crash. When he examined him he said: “He was complaining of a slight pain at the back of his head.”

Dr Gromkova Mateva said that when she examined Mr Sutton at hospital in Crewe she found nothing irregular.

“He was well in himself. There was no loss of consciousness. He was alert and orientated to time and place,” she said. “He was not confused.”

Richard Dutton, the owner of Fortec Motorsport, said that the driver stayed the night at his home in Northampton after the crash on the racing circuit.

He said: “I didn’t want him to drive home.”

Mr Dutton said that when he arrived the driver was very sore, struggling to walk and had a headache.

The next morning Mr Sutton looked a lot better and he drove him to the Fortec factory to collect his own car.

“To me he looked fine to drive home. If I didn’t think he looked right I would have driven him,” he said.

Mr Dutton, who said he had been involved in motor racing for 40 years, said that having seen the state of the car: “I was amazed he survived it without broken bones.”

The trial continues.

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