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Top Doorslammer Champion Kelvin Lyle has been cleared of serious injuries after a frightening crash that concluded Nitro Up North at Hidden Valley Dragway in Darwin on Saturday night.
Lyle’s 1967 Ford Mustang Doorslammer hit the wall in the Final round of the event while racing John Zappia.
Earlier in the night, he had wrapped up the Australian Drag Racing Championship Top Doorslammer title.
His Mustang snapped hard right at around ¾ track, impacting the right-hand side concrete wall before darting back across the track into the left-hand wall, almost hitting the now slowing car of Zappia in the process.
The car did not appear to slow and there were no signs of the parachutes being deployed as it left the end of the track, with TV cameras losing sight of the car as it entered the grassed runoff area that the drag strip shares with Turn 1 of the Hidden Valley circuit.
It is understood that the car hit a retaining wall lined with tyre barriers almost head on.
Lyle was extracted from the car by safety crews and rushed to hospital where he was placed in an induced coma in the Intensive Care Unit.
Miraculously, Lyle escaped the crash with only four broken ribs, some bruising and abrasions – a testament to the construction of the car and safety equipment.
Lyle is now awake, and it is hoped that within the next 48 hours he will be released from intensive care and begin preparations to return home to Western Australia.
The team are carefully analysing the crash footage and data from it as they look to understand what happened.
“We’re starting to piece together the elements in the impact and what was going on for Kelvin at the time,” says crew member Darren White.
“Obviously with the data we can access these days there is so much we can learn from what happened. What we don’t want is for people to speculate.”
“We are working with the authorities so we can understand and learn from it all. What we do know is that Kelvin had the best safety equipment and components that money could buy in that car in every sense and all of that combined did their job.”
“It’s a testament to that car that Kelv’ has been able to survive a 250mph (402km/h) plus impact.”
“Kelvin’s been overwhelmed by the amount of people concerned for his wellbeing. As you know he’s a very quiet and private person, so this kind of thing isn’t something he’s used to or comfortable with but he’s very grateful,” says White.
It is unknown if the Electrimotion safety system was in use at Hidden Valley. The system is designed to automatically deploy the parachutes and shut the car down in the case that the driver is incapacitated and is unable to do so.
