ouch

[den]

A RUNAWAY roo ruined the plan for a Richards family celebration at Bathurst yesterday. The big brown kangaroo bounced out of the bushes and straight into the path of Jim Richards, who was roaring up Mount Panorama at more than 160km/h. Herald Sun

Racing drivers find all sorts of strange ways to lose races but crashes, spins and rollovers are, if not everyday race occurrences, then, at least, expected occupational hazards.But pre-race favourite Richards yesterday discovered one of the weirder ways to put himself out of business in the Bathurst 1000 when his Castrol Perkins Commodore was badly damaged in a collision with a kangaroo. The Age (subscription required)

It was pretty amazing to see this live on telly. They showed the accident a couple of times from different angles, then edited it from all the replays because the switchbord lit up with complaints.

Lap 110 of 161. What a bugger.

Comments

[kelloggs2066.livejournal.com]

Now that's just Roode!

[kamau-d-lyon.livejournal.com]

When will people learn that racing and hunting just don't mix.

I seem to recall an AFV show where geese were the cause of a wipe out in a road rally.

[http://users.livejournal.com/killjoy_/]

Coulda been worse though; imagine if that were in an open-wheel car.

Still, a crummy way to end a race.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

It didn't actually end their race, but they did finish 10 laps behind the winner. The crew, replaced the bonnet, took to the car with sledge hammers and pry bars, then held it all together with duct tape.

[makovette.livejournal.com]

Holy crap! That's a helluva way to get bounced out of the lead :)

I'll bet Tivo vid caps of that are avialable for DL somewhere...

CYa!
Mako

[http://users.livejournal.com/killjoy_/]

Well, ended chances of finising well at any rate. That is the nice thing about steel bodied cars though... you can just take sledgehammers to it. Well, you can take sledgehammers to a carbon fiber formula car too, but you'll end up with much less acceptable results.

[lostwanderfound.livejournal.com]

There was a case a few years ago of a motorcycle GP racer who had a snake strike his knee slider mid-corner...

(Then there was a 250GP rider about five years ago who had his collarbone broken after hitting a bird at 200km/h. The same rider, at the same race the next year, hit another bird...but this one impacted exactly on the ram air intake of the bike. Not good for the bird, but cleaning it out of the engine can't have been fun for his mechanics, either...)

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

I just want to know what happened to the kangaroo.

Weegirl is a Friend to Kangaroos (her two favourite stuffed toys are 'roos called Bouncer and Sheila).

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

If WeeGirl asks, the kangaroo was taken to the vet. The reality is an impact at 160kph means the animal didn't need a vet.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

(I figured that might be the case.)