Standing at the entrance to the Nordschleife, with around 50 hopeful RingTaxi customers, I hear some bad news on the radio. There’s been a crash in the industry pool. It’s a big one. A fast one.
10% DISCOUNT: "BTGBLOG"
At the exit of the foxhole.
After a flurry of activity, involving paramedics, safety workers and the super-special covered Bongard wagon for ‘sensitive’ incidents, we finally enter the track. At this point I didn’t know it was the Koenigsegg Agera One:1 that had crashed.
But when we see the skidmarks, from the top of the Foxhole to the barrier before Adenauer Forst, it’s obvious that something went badly, badly wrong.
Why?
Because when braking in a straight line, an ABS equipped car will NOT leave a skidmark.
Which means that in pushing to the limit at the world’s toughest track, the Agera has happened upon a problem that might not be dissimilar to the Camaro earlier this year.
I haven’t got permission to post the photos of the Koenigsegg crash from Stefan, I doubt I have the budget for it, so you’ll have to go here to look for yourself.
But the TL;DR is simple… just from the perfect “Number 11” skidmarks alone, it’s a good guess to say that one of the following things happened:
- The driver braked hard, the ABS failed and the driver didn’t release the brake pedal in time to avoid the crash.
- A serious mechanical failure locked both wheels. On a rear wheel drive car that would most likely be something on the back axle. A front wheel failure would normally not result in two perfect skidmarks.
Koenigsegg have already released an official statement confirming their driver is OK. I’m going to guess that it was poor old Robertat the wheel again (UPDATE: rumours now indicate Nicki Thiim), but that’s not confirmed, and it’s probably not very relevant.
Koenigsegg Automotive AB can confirm reports online that a Koenigsegg One:1 was involved in a crash during testing as part of Industry Pool at the Nurburgring on Monday, 18 July. The driver was taken to hospital as per standard procedures in such situations and was released the same afternoon.”
Read the full statement here.
If I hear more, or if it turns out that Erich Müller had turned his cameras on a bit early tonight, I’ll be sure to further update this story.
BIG RESPECT to Koenigsegg for releasing the statement and taking it on the chin. When McLaren crashed here in 2011, right in front of a carpark full of tourists, attempting a laptime in an MP4-12C, they denied everything!
So in the meantime, drive safe, have fun…
