Back home and speaking exclusively for the first time about the horrific accident during this year's festival, he added:'My surgeon, Mr Mobbs, worked on soldiers with bomb blast injuries from Iraq but he said this was the worst smashed up leg he had seen.'

Nick was at the peak of his career with five TT wins behind him and lap records at all of the British road circuits including Scarborough, the TT, Southern 100 and Jurby. He broke the TT sidecar lap record at 116.667mph in 2007 and was reigning British sidecar champion 2008-09.

But leading the second 2009 TT sidecar race his outfit hit a hare at Ballacobb near Ballaugh and crashed heavily hurling debris across the road and leaving him and passenger Mark Cox with serious injuries.
The race was red-flagged and never re-ran.

During a long spell in hospital Nick lost part of his right arm and came close to losing a leg too, but is now finally back home in Jurby trying to plan his future.

'I don't remember anything of the accident, only talking to John McGuinness and Steve Plater on the start line before we set off,' he said.

'These things happen but I'm still kicking and still here. My right arm's knackered anyway — that's never going to get any better, it's ripped all the nerves and they don't come back.'

He still has a surgical cage around one leg to support and strengthen it and that is likely to stay in place for 12 months, but he was fortunate that he retained the leg at all.

'They wanted to amputate it, but I said I had feeling and movement in it. At first they didn't believe me so the surgeon blindfolded me and touched and prodded the leg asking what I could feel — which toe he was touching and so on.'

This was enough to persuade him there really was feeling in the leg and a chance of saving it so the intricate process of piecing together the fragments began.

'I couldn't have had a better surgeon in Mr Mobbs,' he said. 'They were going to take the leg off and it was only because of what he said and did that it was saved.'

'When I came to after the accident I was so high on drugs the leg didn't look that bad, but the break was opposite to the way it is supposed to bend. It had clobbered the engine which was directly in front of where I was sitting.'

Of the accident itself he has no recollection at all.

'It happened so quickly I had no time even to close the throttle.

'At Alpine I was clocked at 151mph. By all accounts I couldn't steer it after the impact and you can see from the pictures what happened to it.'

Remarkably the only damage to the leathers, apart from where the medical crews cut them open, is a small scuff from an earlier accident at Donington Park.

The scarred Arai helmet, however, is testament to the impact.

After initial treatment at Noble's Hospital, he was flown two days later to Whiston Hospital in Liverpool with leg, arm and pelvic injuries.

'I can't remember much about it because I was out of it for a few days, semi-conscious,' he said.

His sister Gaynor who was at the Grandstand said she knew something had happened because the radio commentary said Dave Molyneux and John Holden had gone through — no mention of Nick.

'I knew something had happened but couldn't find out what,' she said.
In a panic she rang a friend who was marshalling only to be told it was indeed Nick who had crashed but no other details were known.

'Apparently there were sidecars stopped in shock in Parliament Square and one person was almost sick,' she said.

She described the scene at the hospital when they arrived as 'like an abattoir'.

Gaynor said: 'At the hospital there were well-wishers from the paddock who had all gone up there — so many they had to allow us a separate room for them.'

Nick's wife Danny added: 'It was just horrible. They came out and asked for all the next of kin to go in and we feared the worst.

'There was so much uncertainty about his condition and whether his leg would be saved that we didn't want to give too much information and feed the skeet until we knew for certain.'

After a transitional spell at Ramsey and District Cottage Hospital, Nick is eager to recover as quickly as possible.

'The big challenge now is to get the leg moving again so eventually I can drive again and do something,' he said. 'I need to work, plus I'm getting fat with all the sitting around.'

As for coping with his injuries, he added: 'Well it's great to be here! But every day you need to set yourself a task. It's hard to believe I can recover, but I keep reminding myself that eventually things will get better.

'I have a lot of pain most days but if you sat around and just thought about that you would never get any better. My main goal is to achieve something every day: I wake up in a morning and plan what I'm going to do rather than sit around watching daytime TV all day.'

He is hugely appreciative of the mammoth fundraising effort on his and Mark's behalf.

'I've had good support from all my family and friends and from so many other people. I can't say enough thank yous for that. I just don't know where to start.'

Among the many people who helped him out he mentioned Rosie Christian at the Sulby Glen, his wife Danny, sister Gaynor, sponsors past and present, including Dave Hudspeth and Andy Faragher of A and J Groundworks, and everyone who helped support him and Mark and raised funds.

Planning for the future is hard at this stage as it will depend on his recovery, but nevertheless he's retaining a positive outlook and keeping his sense of humour.

'Before I left Whiston I was assessed by the psychologist who passed me 100 per cent!' he said. 'That's got to be an improvement on what I was before! I'm sure before the accident they would have sectioned me!'

A fundraising dinner for Nick and Mark Cox takes place at the Hilton Hotel, Douglas, on November 6. Tickets, priced at £35, are available from Rosie Christian the Sulby Glen Hotel.