SCOTLAND'S ALLAN McNISH survived one of the biggest crashes in the 79-year history of the Le Mans 24-Hours when he miraculously emerged from the unrecognisable wreckage of his new Audi R18TDI Coupe.
The 41-year-old from Dumfries, who just 50mins and 43secs earlier had started the race from fifth on the 56-car grid, had just seared into the lead when his Audi was clipped by the Ferrari 458 of Frenchman Anthony Beltoise.
In a nano-second, and in a surreal moment amid the carnage, the car was rotated anti-clockwise and upwards, pitched into a 360-degree spin and pirouetted on its nose before falling back to Earth in a tangled mess; what was left was almost unrecognisable as a car.
As the pair exited the Dunlop Curves, McNish's Audi was travelling around 130mph; Beltoise, who had just emerged from the pits, was gradually getting back to his full race speed. Behind the Frenchman, McNish's team-mate Timo Bernhard in another Audi slowed and the Scot took advantage to dive down the inside of the ultra-fast right-hander.
Impact with the tyre wall was inevitable
Clearly unsighted and unaware of McNish, Beltoise turned-in just as the Audi swept past him. The front right of the Ferrari tapped the rear left of the German car and that was enough — at that speed — to send McNish spearing sideways across the gravel trap.
Impact with the tyre wall was inevitable. McNish, an hapless passenger at the wheel of his state-of-the-art racer, could only prepare himself for the imminent impact. When it came, it was explosive.
A split second before the out-of-control car reached the tyre barrier, it took off sideways. That the car actually caught the top of the tyre barrier was a miracle; 20-feet behind it was a packed grandstand.
As photographers behind the black wall of rubber darted for safety, the right-rear of the Audi caught the tyres and millions of shards of carbonfibre flew from the shell of the disintegrating CAR.
In a nano-second, and in a surreal moment amid the carnage, the car was rotated anti-clockwise and upwards, pitched into a 360-degree spin and pirouetted on its nose before falling back to Earth in a tangled mess; what was left was almost unrecognisable as a car.
Eased himself out of the cabin
But even before the dust had begun falling from the sky, the French marshals rushed to the side of McNish's car which had finally come to rest upside down on its right-hand side.
Slowly but steadily they eased the Audi back on to a flat plane with the front left of the car perched precariously on the top of the tyre wall. One marshal could be seen making hand signals to McNish inside and, as the door was opened, he eased himself slowly out of the cabin.
The Scot took a few steps before stopping to bend forward, hands on knees, to take a few good deep breaths. Then, as he walked away supported by a marshal, he stopped once more to look slowly over his left-hand shoulder at the car which had just saved his life.
After being checked by the circuit's medics, and his own doctor from the Audi team, McNish was taken to hospital in the nearby town of Le Mans where doctors quickly gave him the "all clear" after completing a full body scan.
Back at the circuit the Scot, who survived a near-200mph crash at the infamous 130R turn during practice for the 2002 Formula One Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, commented briefly on the crash.
"It was frightening"
"It's one of those instances when everything happens so quickly, yet it's in slow motion," he explained. "I knew it was going to be a massive shunt, but it's testament to the strength of the Audi's build quality that I survived.
"That's probably the biggest crash I've ever had in 30 years of motor racing. And while I'm obviously gutted to be out of the race with less than an hour gone, I'm glad to be alive."
The ferocity of the crash left the Audi team shell-shocked. As he watched McNish emerge safely from the wreckage, the head of Audi Sport Dr Wolfgang Ulrich could be seen fighting back tears, such was the heightened emotion.
And McNish's team-mate, eight-times Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, admitted the crash had been 'scary'. Ironically, the car had been rebuilt after Kristensen was involved in another high-speed crash at the end of qualifying on Thursday night.
"I saw it on the TV screen in the garage, and it was frightening," the Dane admitted. "Thank God nothing happened to any spectators or photographers. The barrier did a good job and the monocoque did a fantastic job; thank God Allan's ok."
The race was essentially neutralised for the best part of an hour behind the safety car as repair work was carried out to the barrier, but when the action resumed it was McNish's Audi team-mate Benoit Treluyer who held the lead after three hours ahead of the two chasing Peugeots of Anthony Davidson and Simon Pagenaud. The second remaining Audi of Romain Dumas was fourth.
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Jim McGill