British Champ Car driver Katherine Legge walked away from her very own version of Mr Toad’s Wild Ride yesterday when her Lola lost it’s rear wing at Road Atlanta. Video shows the the wing coming off at the entrance to the kink, which is a very high speed section of the famed track. The car proceeded to spin and head into the fence at about 180 mph.
“I am a bit shaken, but I’m okay…as you can see,” she said. “All my bits are intact, so that just goes to show how strong Champ cars are. It was a big impact, but hopefully everything will be fine for the next race at Surfers Paradise.”
Legge went on to say, “I don’t think you are really aware of what is going on when you have a situation like I had. All of a sudden the car just sped up and hit the wall. Then I see the ground and there is dirt coming into the cockpit…and I see the fence…honestly you are thinking what is going to happen next. I think I saw parts breaking off all around me. And I think I saw the engine split away because the thing I was thinking about the most was that the car was going to catch fire, which it did. Then when the engine went away and I though okay that’s good. To be honest I think I had my eyes closed for lots of it, but it is a bit scary.”
Legge concluded by saying, “The only problem I am having now is I banged by knee a little bit against the bulkhead. It is just a bit of bruising which won’t look to attractive in my dress at the Atlantic’s banquet tonight.”
This girl is one tough cookie. Race officials hauled her off to the medical center for a short observation period and then released.
Source Champ Car via Full Throttle