Accidents are part of rallying – and here’s a proper one. Subaru driver Chris Atkinson lost control of his Impreza WRC at well over 160kph (100mph) on the 2008 Rally Great Britain, which actually turned out to be the very last rally for Subaru’s factory team.
This might be just as well in some ways, as Atkinson’s Impreza looked distinctly second-hand afterwards. The Australian says that it’s a crash he will always remember.
“It was the biggest shunt of my career by a long way but, looking back on it, there’s not so much to tell as it was over pretty quickly. We were just into stage seven, Walter’s Arena, in the middle of Wales at the end of the first day of the rally. Because it was November, it was pitch black and we were hammering along nicely. Not a care in the world. Then, for some reason that we’ll never know – maybe there was some ice under the mud – the car just didn’t turn for what should have been a flat left corner. I think I just had time to say ‘fuck’.
We were in sixth gear and when we touched the opposite bank all hell broke loose. The first impact bounced the car off the ground and the data showed we were in the air for one and a half or two seconds. It landed quite hard and I was knocked out. Then it rolled about six more times and we stopped 150–180m from where it started. That’s about all I remember. I went to hospital, but they let me out the same evening, and apart from a stiff shoulder and a few bruises, I was basically OK. But it’s not an experience that I’m too keen to repeat.”
Both Chris and his co-driver Stephane Prevot suffered no long-term ill effects from the crash, with the Impreza’s survival cell remaining intact. Another important factor ensuring that the crew emerged unscathed were the wraparound safety seats fitted to all modern world rally cars.
But the toughest component in these situations is inevitably the driver. As Colin McRae once commented after a particularly dramatic encounter with a mountain in Corsica: “It was a big shunt, so they took me to hospital for a brain scan. But it was fine in the end – they didn’t find anything…”
Luckily, a spectator with a camcorder was on-hand to film the aftermath of Atkinson’s Rally GB accident when they brought what was formerly his Subaru back to service. Watch and cringe…
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