BMW 3 Series Rally Car Impaled On Pole During Crash

Nov. 01, 2022 11:15 AM ET by Chase Bierenkoven Video / 6 Comments

As far as near-death experiences go, this one is pretty close.

Rally racing is home to some of the gnarliest crashes in motorsport.

High-speed, ridiculously powerful rally cars and tight dirt roads tend to lead to that sort of thing. One BMW 3 Series rally driver found out when a misread corner led him and his navigator tumbling off the stage and into a field.

There, the driver found a large wooden pole. Unfortunately, the pole found them, too, making its way into the cabin, impaling the rally car in the process. Thankfully, the pole missed the driver by inches, and he even kept driving the vehicle after the hit. And F1 drivers whinge when the track is a little wet...

Let's rewind. Prior to the crash, we see the pair approaching an uphill lefthand crest. We'll call it an approximate 4 Left (DC) for those who speak pace notes. For one reason or another, the driver carries far too much speed over the crest. At this point, the car is at its lightest, and both grip and cornering ability are at a premium.

This is the cause of the crash, as the car plows wide towards the field down and to the right of the crest. We're surprised the car didn't roll, for one. The road is raised well above the field's surface, and the vehicle hits at a 45-degree angle before contacting the pole.

Once it does, it's hard to tell what happens. It appears the pole vaults over the hood and catches the windscreen just below the roll cage's highest point at the car's roof. Though things happen so fast, it almost looked like the pole, which originally supported a wire fence, came right through the car's flecked dash.

The video was uploaded a while ago to YouTube, but the event the accident occurred at is still going strong- a rally race in Lithuania.

As far as we know, the drivers are both unharmed, and no evidence of any injuries from 2020's Samsonas Rally seems to exist. For now, we're just glad no one was hurt.

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Tags: #BMW News #Crash #Motorsport #Video

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