While some might consider Nobuhiro ''Monster'' Tajima unlucky for crashing his Super 86 hillclimb car mere kilometres into the 14.5km course, luck was on his side yesterday.
Japan's Tajima was on the stretch of road where the cars reach the highest speeds. He was travelling about 200kmh - the mid mounted, 2977cc V6 twin turbo engine screaming - when the oversized rear wing flew off.
With no aerodynamic down force operating on the rear of the car, it lost grip and slid out of control for hundreds of metres.
Fortunately, there was a long flat section of run off before he careered through a fence and came to rest about 20m down a bank below the road. Tajima (64) was unhurt and initially made light of smashing up his car.
''Now I need a flying licence,'' he joked.
Later the seriousness of the situation seemed to have sunk in.
''My car is broken. My heart is broken,'' he said.
Tajima is renowned for ensuring the safety features of his spaceframe chassis and roll cage are of the highest standard. They both did their job properly yesterday.
