McLaren crash driver to be charged

The McLaren crashed on the Glenorchy-Queenstown Rd. Photo: Paul Taylor
The McLaren crashed on the Glenorchy-Queenstown Rd. Photo: Paul Taylor
The driver of a $20 million McLaren F1 supercar which crashed near Queenstown on  Saturday has been charged with careless driving.

Queenstown Sergeant Blair Duffy confirmed to media that the Australian man had been summonsed to appear before the court.

The 65-year-old was treated for a suspected broken thumb after the crash. He was due in Queenstown District Court on Monday morning.

The grey supercar, capable of reaching a speed of 386km/h, appears to have spun and skidded off the road at Closeburn at 11.45am on Saturday.

Long criss-crossed black tyre marks led towards where the car lay in a ditch, just after a tight left-hand uphill bend on the Queenstown-Glenorchy Road.

The car was covered by a black McLaren dust cover and later towed away, while its minders attempted to stop people taking photos and video.

The 1994 car was part of the inaugural Epic New Zealand Road Tour, which pays tribute to the brand's Kiwi founder Bruce McLaren.

A convoy of 31 McLarens from around the world travelled from Auckland to Queenstown last week.

Saturday was the final leg. The F1 was in a procession heading from Queenstown's Hilton Hotel to Glenorchy.

The McLaren F1 supercar. Photo: supplied
The McLaren F1 supercar. Photo: supplied
It is one of only 106 McLaren F1s built - a car which redefined performance. With a top speed of 386kmh, it was the fastest production car its launch in 1992 for 13 years, until surpassed by the Bugatti Veyron in 2005.

It has a central driving position, an engine bay lined with gold-foil to reflect heat, and was the first production car to use a carbon-fibre monocoque chassis.

British comic Rowan Atkinson famously crashed his burgundy McLaren F1 into a hedge in  Oxfordshire, England, in 2011.

His insurance company was handed a $1.6 million repair bill, thought to be at the time and  for some years after the biggest-ever single car insurance claim in the world. He sold his car  last year for $14 million.

paul.taylor@scene.co.nz 

 

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