Tag: crash

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MINI Challenge

Two spectators injured after MINI Challenge crash

MINI Challenge crash @ Ipswich 300

An incident in the first race of this weekend’s MINI Challenge round at Queensland Raceway has resulted in injury for two race goers.

A statement from MINI Challenge organisers reads, “Two spectators were injured and transported to Ipswich Base Hospital. The extent of their injuries appears to be relatively minor, pending full medical evaluation. Both were conscious whilst being treated at the scene. There were no other reported injuries.”

The accident happened after a car was involved in an accident and flipped into the air, cartwheeling over a safety barrier. According to the official statement the driver was taken to Ipswich Base Hospital by ambulance for precautionary tests and is believed to be uninjured. FoxSports have reported the driver involved was Kain Magro.

More details as they come to hand. The full statement from MINI Challenge is available below.

[Pics: 7 News]

UPDATE #1: A Channel Ten news segment reporting on this incident can now be seen below. It is worth noting that the Channel Ten report stating the driver was injured is incorrect. Thanks to smarm providing a separate link to crash footage.

UPDATE #2: News footage from host broadcaster Channel Seven is also available below.

Continue reading “Two spectators injured after MINI Challenge crash”
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Random wallpapers

Travis Pastrana: “Hey I think that’ll buff out”

Travis Pastrana NYE practice jump

You will remember Travis Pastrana leaped into the new year by smashing the car jumping record at Pine Street Pier, Long Beach, California. Travis raised the bar to an extraorindary 269 feet (82 metres). However, as you can see from the screen grab above, that wasn’t the only smashing he did in the build up to his massive jump.

Some behind-the-scenes footage was available at the time of Pastrana’s new year’s leap, now, though, a new more detailed clip is available and shows that practice really does make perfect. Well, almost.

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Ferrari News

Cristiano Ronaldo’s fortunes take a dive

Cristiano Ronaldo is a prat

Cristiano Ronaldo. He earns eleventy squillion dollars a minute, has a stable of auto exotica that would make any captain of industry blush and has the world’s best footballers at his mercy. But plenty of people say he is a prat, and worse, they say he is a filthy diving cheat. If you happen to think that is the case, then you’re probably indulging in a touch of schadenfreude and relishing this chance to get one up on a guy who seems to think he can do no wrong. For he has done wrong, very wrong, by writing off his new Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano in a Manchester tunnel. (What is it about these cars?)

Of course, like any good footballer it wasn’t his fault and he is protesting his innocence to the ref by claiming there was oil on the road that caused him to lose control.

Ronaldo was on his way to a training session for Manchester United when the crash took place. He was uninjured in the incident and given a lift to United’s training ground by teammate Edwin Van der Sar who was following Ronaldo as he put the Ferrari into the wall. Apparently Ronaldo was all smiles as he drove home in his Bentley Continental GTC.

I think those people could be right (looks like they read guardian.co.uk).

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

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Subaru Video

Look mum, no hands!

This clip from the Bettega Memorial, held during the Bologna Motor Show, captures a rather embarrassing moment for former WRC champion Petter Solberg. The event was run in mid-December, and the news was about to get a whole lot worse for Petter and Subaru.

(Thanks to Tiaan for the tip.)

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MINI Challenge

2008 MINI CHALLENGE – Round 7 TV highlights

Round 7 of the 2008 Australian MINI CHALLENGE was held on 21-23 November at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains raceway, south of Launceston. Here is a five part television package including full coverage of Race 1 and Race 3 from the round. Also included is a brief interview with golf professional Stuart Appleby and AFL triple premiership player Jason Akermanis. Of course, Akermanis’ now infamous warm up lap rollover is covered in this interview, which can be seen after the jump in part 3.

The round was won by local lad Paul Stokell in the DecoRug MINI—a full wrap up of the round, including all results, can be read HERE.

The first clip, shown above, is the first half of Race 1. The rest of the race can be seen after the jump, followed by the UBER-STAR interviews with Stuart Appleby and Jason Akermanis. Race 3 comes next and is also split into two clips.

Continue reading “2008 MINI CHALLENGE – Round 7 TV highlights”
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Safety Issues Volkswagen

Volkswagen Golf VI crash test video

Last month we brought you the news that the new Volkswagen Golf VI has received a 5-star crash rating from Euro NCAP. Here’s the video. Clips like this make quite sobering viewing.

Take note of the lateral head movement of the infant dummy with the side impact test towards the end of 1 minute 20 clip. Despite this, the Golf VI scored highly for infant protection, with a portion of the report stating, “Based on the dummy readings from the dynamic tests, the Golf scored maximum points for its protection of both infants.”

More detail on the Golf VI crash test can be read at the Euro NCAP website. Further information about how the tests are conducted can be read HERE.

Categories
MINI Challenge

2008 MINI CHALLENGE – Round 7 wrap up

Last weekend’s MINI CHALLENGE racing at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains raceway had plenty of action at both ends of the field. Up front, former Tasmanian Paul Stokell had a dominant weekend winning all three races. However, at the back of the tightly packed field UBER-STAR driver Jason Akermanis got off to an eventful and rather embarrassing race debut by rolling his car on the warm up lap (see clip above).

Akermanis, often a human headline in the world of AFL, certainly attracted plenty of attention. Both he and Stuart Appleby had set solid qualifying times for Race 1, although both were starting from the rear of the grid. Appleby’s time was 1.3 seconds off pole, while ‘Aka’ was 1.5 seconds from the front. But Akermanis didn’t see any race action after his roll on the parade lap, although he did return for Sunday’s two races after a mammoth effort from the UBER-STAR team. The crew worked until 4am to have his car ready and to Akermanis’ credit he finished race 3 with his head held high, setting a best lap time of 1:03.7. His time compares well with the fastest lap from the race, of 1:02.9, set by former Bathurst winner Jason Bargwanna.

But it was Stokell creating all the headlines at the front of the pack, finally bringing an end to Bargwanna’s great run of consecutive victories by stringing together three of his own. Stokell’s success created the biggest impact on the series leader board as well, moving him into second position behind Neil McFadyen.

Continue reading “2008 MINI CHALLENGE – Round 7 wrap up”
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MINI Challenge

2008 MINI CHALLENGE – Round 6 wrap up

MINI CHALLENGE crash at Bathurst

Hard to go past the most spectacular imagery from this round, Ryan McLeod and Darren Berry’s accident. The incident has been covered here (including a MINI CHALLENGE press statement on Darren’s condition). The good news is, despite the horrific looking wreckage above, Darren Berry’s injuries will not be long term.

Back to the racing and it was the familiar story of Jason Bargwanna at the head of the field. His domination since joining the field full time seems to know no boundaries, even dual British Touring Car champion Matt Neal couldn’t match Bargs—who started from pole, scorching around the Mount Panorama circuit in 2:31.1762, some 1.25 seconds faster than Neal. The Brit grabbed his second place in the dying seconds of qualifying snatching a front row position from the other Team Bargwanna entry of Scott Bargwanna.

Jason Bargwanna felt his V8 Supercar experience at the track gave him an edge, “I came down the mountain at the end of the session and saw the 97 and 79 one and two on the scoring board, which was a very exciting thing to see! Although Matt pipped Scotty, it’s still a great result for us. Personally, the extra 50kg (success ballast) that I’m carrying definitely makes a difference under acceleration. I think the miles I’ve done around this place may have contributed to the result!”

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MINI Challenge

MINI CHALLENGE race cut short at Bathurst

The Australian MINI CHALLENGE had a great position in the television broadcast today. Race 3, the final race for Round 6, was to be beamed live into Australia’s lounge rooms as the last event before the Top 10 Shootout for the V8 Supercars. The first two races, both won by Jason Bargwanna, were tight and exciting, and after a few ups and downs for the series management this year the MINI CHALLENGE would really benefit from a full grid and a national live telecast.

All was going well until a brutal accident on the first lap involving Darren Berry and Ryan McLeod. The crash happened towards the back of the field, on the downhill run, between the Dipper and Forest Elbow. McLeod’s MINI tagged the back of Berry’s Clipper Motor Yachts MINI and forced him head on into the wall. McLeod also slammed into the concrete, before parking on the in field just after Forest Elbow. The Safety Car was sent out, but race organisers stopped the race and declared it a no result. No points will be awarded.

The impact of Berry’s MINI into the wall was shocking. A statement from MINI CHALLENGE (shown below) reveals that Berry suffered a broken ankle and was complaining of back pain. He has been transferred to Orange Hospital where we hope he makes a quick start to a full recovery.

Berry’s accident comes on the back of Grant Denyer’s absence from the series after his incident at the NSW Monster Truck Championships last month.

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Holden News

Mechanics mangle Monaro

Mechanice mangle MonaroIn a story that is sure to send shivers down the spine of AUSmotive readers The Daily Telegraph reports of a shocking tale of Heartland Holden employees joyriding and crashing a customer’s car. Residents close to the Parramatta dealership were alarmed when Colin Chaffen’s Holden Monaro lost control and went crashing through a residential fence.

NSW Police are investigating the incident, however the Telegraph have quoted Mr Chaffen saying top brass at Heartland Holden attempted to deceive him by giving numerous explanations as to the cause of the accident. Raising his anxiety further were insurance payout complications from the Western Sydney Holden dealership.

But perhaps the most alarming revelations were claims from a former employee at Heartland Holden. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph the anonymous former employee claimed this was not an isolated incident, “They’re hoons. Whenever a nice car came in they were all itching to take it for a drive. I saw them do burn-outs, speed and drive erratically on test drives, and their attitude was ‘it’s not my car’.”

While it is difficult to verify the accuracy of the former employee’s claims, they do tend to support the worst fears for many innocent customers who have a right to expect their cars can be trusted when left with a supposedly reputable workshop. I’m sure I am not the only one that has heard anecdotal evidence of similar stories, although I personally haven’t heard of joyriding mechanics crashing a customer’s car before.

Source: The Daily Telegraph
(Thanks to Dave for the tip)

Categories
News Safety Issues

Pay attention – It could save your life!

AAMI Crash Index 2008If you believe the shock tactics of many state governments around Australia all it takes to be a safe driver is to make sure you stay under the speed limit. That’s it! An over simplified view, perhaps, but filed in the tell-us-something-we-don’t-know drawer is a new report from AAMI that declares “almost half of all crashes on Australian roads could be averted by drivers simply paying more attention”. Nothing could be more simple than that.

Commenting on the release of the 2008 AAMI Crash Index, Public Affairs Manager Geoff Hughes said, “Absent-mindedness is a factor in 44 per cent of all car collisions, with drivers much more likely to crash due to their own inattention than from speeding, fatigue and alcohol combined.

“While speed, fatigue and alcohol are factors in 37 per cent of car crashes, AAMI’s research shows inattention is the number one reason drivers crash into another vehicle or stationary object.”

Given the fact there is so much shock advertising in our daily media it is astounding to see that 34% of those surveyed knowingly exceeded .05 yet still chose to drive. A bit hard to pay attention if you’re pissed. Again, in keeping with the theme of inattention AAMI’s research showed that 20% of crashes happened due to a failure of a motorist to give way.

AAMI’s media release is shown below and the AAMI Crash Index can be downloaded from their website, or here on AUSmotive (700kb PDF).

Continue reading “Pay attention – It could save your life!”
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Aston Martin

James Bond’s new Aston Martin goes fishing

James Bond's Aston MartinUPDATE: YouTube clip added, see below…

Filming for the latest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, took an unexpected twist recently when delivery of an Aston Martin DBS went horribly wrong. The official word seems to be that the car was being driven to the film set in Italy early one morning during heavy rain, the driver lost control and got a closer than expected view of Lake Garda. But, I dunno, that story sounds a bit fishy to me.

The driver is said to be okay while recovering in hospital.

Sources: BBC, Yahoo! News and WorldCarFans