Australian Production Cars brought to you by Liqui Moly competitor Matthew Holt has given an account of his spectacular crash that resulted in a part of his car being lodged in a bridge at Sandown.
In the final minutes of the one-hour endurance race on Sunday, the Class A2 competitor was racing with Jimmy Vernon, when he went off the end of the ripple strip at Dandenong Road, resulting in his HSV Clubsport colliding with the fence at the base of the bridge.
The heavy impact resulted in the fence folding, causing the Clubsport to be launched into the air and collecting the bridge, with a part of the bumper bar lodged in the structure two metres off the ground.
Holt quickly exited the car, however the damage to the fence meant officials had no choice but to declare the race.
The crash resulted in a slight delay in the race schedule as repairs were carried out on the fence.
Holt said it was a monumental crash.
“We got off the back straight a bit slow and I knew he was close to me, so when I got down to Dandenong Road there, I looked up to see where he was to see if I had cleared him,” Holt told Speedcafe.com.
“Instead of just coming straight back down off the ripple strip, I have probably stayed up a bit longer than what I normally would and ended off the road.
“I think the tyre has dropped off the end of the ripple strip and once it did that, it spun and turned me around.
“From there, the car rotated, I’ve hit the guard rail almost backwards, the guard rail leaned over, it shot me up in the air, and the back of the car has gone into the bridge.”
“When I got out one of the flaggies pointed out that part of the bumper bar was stuck in the bridge at about two metres high.”
It was a disappointing end to the weekend for Holt, who picked up the Class A2 win and an outright podium finish in Race 1.
“We were batting above our weight really all weekend in a rear-wheel drive Commodore.
“In the wet and in the dry, it was really good.”
Round 4 of the Australian Production Car series will take place at The Bend Motorsport Park on October 21-23.