Rally car just misses family
12:00a.m. 9th July 2007
Did we hit anybody? - that's what a stunned rally driver was heard to ask just seconds after his high-powered Ford left the road and careened towards a group of terrified spectators on the Sunshine Coast on Sunday. Picture: Barry Leddicoat
Spectators jumped for their lives as an out-of-control rally car ploughed towards them during a leg of the Aeromil Pacific Suncoast Classic yesterday.
Watch the movie here.
A terrified mother threw her baby daughter up an embankment to ensure her safety while other spectators could only watch in horror as the Ford Falcon lost control on loose gravel and headed straight for them.
Witnesses said the car came within “inches” of hitting the group when it struck a street sign and became airborne before slamming into a pole just metres from a 30,000 volt electricity sub-station.
While the group of about 25 people made sure everyone was okay, Scott Coupland ran to check on the Falcon’s occupants, Joseph Haber and Andrew Crossley.
“When we got to the car, the two drivers were in shock. All they asked was ‘did we hit anybody?’,” Scott said.
“There was a strong smell of electricity. We just looked for the fire extinguishers in the car.”
The group was standing on the corner of Black Mountain Range and Blanckensee roads at Black Mountain to watch the action – a spot which rally officials later claimed was out of bounds.
The Falcon had been attempting to negotiate a curve when it hit the gravel and, instead of turning, went straight ahead towards the spectators.
Rally media manager Jon Thomson said a police car had cleared the area for the rally stage but it appeared the group of mostly locals had gained access via a bush track.
No-one was seriously injured in the crash, but both occupants of the vehicle were taken to hospital for observation.
Ben Zauner had been filming the rally while his partner Skye Waters watched with their 17-month-old daughter Thaiger.
When Skye saw the car headed toward them, she instinctively threw her daughter further up the embankment.
“It just missed us by inches,” she said.
“We were too close. We were standing there with my daughter,” Skye said indicating a spot scarily close to the car’s path.
Ben was shaken by the fact he had almost lost his wife and daughter.
“We were on the embankment, but there were no signs,” Ben said.
“That car, it was (going) too fast,All we saw was that big blue machine coming through,” he said.
“The car lost it in the gravel. I almost lost these two,” he said, pointing to Skye and Thaiger.
Emergency services were quickly on the scene and The race was stopped for about two hours while emergency services cleared the site. was cleared.
The race resumed on the next leg a little over two hours later.
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Recent Comments
It was a tragedy waiting to happen. Just down the road two dogs were allowed to wander on the road as the "rally" was in progress. An official just shrugged and walked away. Maleny people were absolutely right to have this dangerous event banned from their streets, with the help of Caloundra council. I love fast cars.... on racetracks where they belong. From what I saw of the standard of drivers on Sunday, many of these hoons would not last half a lap on a race track.
I was going to go, and checked the spectator areas, and this was not one. Did hear that the police did move people on from here, but they came back.
Looks like the driver didn't have many options.
Hit the crowd, hit the substation, or hit the concrete post.
If the spectators hadn't been there, the car may have come out of it with only minor damage. Shows how safe racing is with roll cages, 6 point seat belts and other safety features, only minor injuries to the passengers. Pity normal road cars are not as safe. One big plus is that every one was going the same way. This was like a head on smash in suburbia with both cars doing about 50km/hr. Only a minor accident in suburbia,
A motor sport fan who wouldn't have been standing in such a location.
if you don't have your facts wright, don't give your opinion at all.
I was there ,almost 6 of my family/ friends got killed.
they were at a spot were they were supposed to be. we were not in the corner, we are not stupid, we were at least 50 meters up.
stop giving your opinion if you don't know all the facts!!
max
Also I dont see why you are calling them "hoons", they are racing in a sanctioned event. Clearly you are an old fart who drives a Camry.
To Max... sitting anywhere on the outside of an apex is suicide... I know it might sound hard but try using common sense next time your at an event like this.
Oldplodder is right, watch the video and see that - your family and friends standing there where the car exited was so in the wrong place. It shows that no matter how much you try to make it safe there are people who want the thrill of the danger and not to be responsable for any results - some even get verbal when warned. As sportsfan said common sense is sometimes in short supply.
standing on a hill, 30 metres above the road level, around 90 metres from the road on top of a hill, should be safe enough.
otherwise the people of the organisation should have told us but they told us to go up there ?
were you there as well ?
max
and also we were told by officials to go there.
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