Just last weekend, pro racer Kieran Gallagher saw his life flash before his eyes as he lost his front brakes on his brand new VW 400bhp Golf during the prestigious Volkswagen Cup.
Luckily for Gallagher, he miraculously walked away from the terrible wreck. Following the scene, journalists and camera crews couldn’t wait to get a Q&A session with the man who just survived a split-second 100MPH crash.
When asked what went wrong, Gallagher had some comments of his own:
“Race two got under way and after starting in 21st, we had a lot of time to make up. I went for a lunge on the car infront into Shell Oils hairpin. Unfortunately, a brake pipe had split, which left me with rear brakes only. Being full chat in fifth gear meant I took a lot of speed into the wall, which my car then battered and crashed over. I came to rest 40 feet down an embankment.”
Gallagher then followed up by commenting on what was going through his mind the second he realized the brakes had failed.
“The thoughts that were going through my head at the time were, ‘Oh s**t, I’m going in the gravel.’ Then when I hit the gravel and realized the car wasn’t slowing, it was a life flashing before my eyes kind of feeling. I hit the barrier at a massive rate, then I closed my eyes as I was in a lot of pain. A few seconds later I felt the second impact on landing, which felt like someone had hit me with a sledge hammer. When I realized that I was 40 feet down an embankment on the other side of the barrier, the car started to smoke badly so I pulled the extinguisher out, freed myself from my race harness, crawled out of the car and came to a halt face down in the dirt.”
And finally, what’s happened to the car?
“The car is potentially a write-off, so I’m expecting a £15-20k damage bill. Before that, though, we need to establish how and why the brake pipe tried to kill me.”
