Indian racing driver and television presenter Karun Chandhok described his experience as a stroke of luck, narrowly escaping a more severe outcome when the Ferrari 250 GTO he was racing at the Goodwood Revival suddenly erupted into flames, causing nothing more than his boot to melt.
Participating in the Lavant Cup presented by Sky Cinema, a race exclusively featuring Ferrari GTs from 1960-1966, the former Formula 1 driver, Karun Chandhok, aimed to gain ground on the race leaders after starting from sixth place on the grid.
However, his aspirations were dashed when, on lap 10, his silver 250 GTO unexpectedly went up in flames with a resounding “bang.”
Karun Chandhok executed a full 360-degree spin before safely parking the car on the side of the track, flames billowing from the stricken vehicle. The 39-year-old shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, how fortunate he felt to have escaped unscathed, despite his boot succumbing to the fire’s heat.
“The 250 GTO is one of my absolute dream cars,” the former Formula 1 driver explained in an interview for the official Goodwood website – “I was pinching myself. The owner was lovely and so happy for me to go out and enjoy it. The race was fun but I wasn’t really going to be catching the front runners. So part-way around, I was just thinking to myself, ‘How cool is this? I’m in a GTO at Goodwood!’. Then coming out of Lavant onto the straight – I was in second and cruising – I heard a bang and the back wheels locked up. As I turned I saw flames, so I got right off the track safely, to minimise oil going down and get out of the way.”
“Obviously I was shaken but the marshals, the owner, were all great,” he continued. “The owner’s absolute first priority was that I was okay. He was extremely understanding. The owners deserve so much credit. They send these cars that were designed 60 years ago out racing, that are worth so much, understanding that things can go wrong and that these things happen. He told me, he wants to get the car fixed and get it back on track at Goodwood soon.” – he pointed out.
A representative of the car’s owner clarified that an engine failure was the root cause of this fiery spectacle.
“In basic terms, it was engine failure, as does happen in racing, as these engines are ‘highly strung’. We don’t know the actual cause internally until it’s taken back and checked, but there was some internal failure, which caused a hole in the side of the sump, that let the oil out towards the exhaust which was the spectacular ‘explosion’ you saw,. The engine locking and dropping oil is what span Karun, who was uber skilled getting it off the track, as we saw, minimising the effect on the other competitors. It’s nothing unusual. No one bats an eyelid when a Formula 1 engine blows up. These cars are 50-year-old technology and occasionally one will blow up no matter how well-prepared.” – he explained.
And just in case you’re contemplating purchasing a GTO yourself, with fingers crossed for it not being scorched, be aware that these cars can fetch prices as high as £52.3 million.
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