THIS WAS the moment that two superboat racers were fortunate to escape with their lives after a terrifying crash.
The shock incident occurred at Griffith in New South Wales at the Australian championships last weekend.
Nate Mullan, 18, and his navigator were leading their V8 Superboats Championship race when their 590-horsepower boat came off course on the last corner.
They flipped out of the water and onto the grass with the navigator quickly managing to escape the rubble.
However, Mullan only emerged from the upside-down boat as it became engulfed in flames.
Terrified spectators could hear the PA commentator shout over the tannoy: “Have we got them both out? I can’t quite see.
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“I think we have. Get the buckets, guys. Where’s some more extinguishers?”
The superboat was completely destroyed in the crash, but Phonsy Mullan, a fellow racer and Nate’s father, was just happy to see two youngsters escape with their lives.
He told Channel Seven: “At the end of the day the boat can be replaced. The boys can’t be. That’s the biggest thing.”
He later provided an update on social media, writing on Facebook: “We certainly had a mixed fortune of events on the weekend Racing.
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“Ultimately all are ok with some mild concussion symptoms and neck injuries (Navi copped some groin treatment).
“While Myself and Bastian had wins Nate nearly pulled off a win but ran off the track in the last corner.
“A reasonable impact but only a 4-5K damage. That was until a fire started and that burnt the boat down to the ground. A total loss.”
The team is now looking to try and get a replacement boat in time for the next race, which is less than a month away.
Nate and his brother Bastian have created a GoFundMe page in order to try and raise the targeted £41,120.
And that also provided more details about the scary accident.
They wrote in the description of the page: “Thankfully both driver and navigator are ok but if they did not get themselves out of the boat in the seconds they had , they would not have been here to tell the story.”
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
