Supercar Stupidity
To be honest, I think that this is best read (or written for that matter) after a couple glasses of wine (or whatever else helps to numb you).
So let me set the premise to this story for all of those that haven’t already had a chance to laugh at my ignorance.
It was about a year ago, which puts me at 23, and I am in Las Vegas to photograph the brand new Koenigeggagesseeggageeggg@$#%Ggg CCX, the only one in the US to be exact (but that’s just a technicality) for CI6 Autostyle Magazine. In negotiations with the photoshoot coordinator I had set up to shoot it at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Everything was going well until she uttered the words, ”so would you like to drive it?”
On a side note, if anyone ever asks you if you would like to drive a supercar, the proper answer is, “I would love to, BUT, I am only 23 and have too much testosterone, rendering me unable to keep the car in one piece.”
However, in all my glory I said, “sure,” (queue in slow dramatic doomed music).
Fast-forward a couple days and there I sat in an over 800hp rocket that I couldn’t even pronounce, let alone drive. Before closing the doors I had one last bit of business to take care of…I had to sign a contract that said, in a nutshell, break it and your wife will not marry you and a man by the name Christian von Koenigsegg will effectively own you until your early 40’s. Of course that’s not what it actually said, for I didn’t take the time to read it. After a quick autograph I shut the door and it was time to drive.
On the first few laps the passenger was a professional race driver that was paid by Koenigsegg to say beautiful things about this bitch of a car. He said things like, “it will do 103mph in first,” and “next time you should use 1st gear to start, instead of 3rd”. All of it fell on deaf ears, for the engine was a bit loud. After a few laps I decided that I needed a new passenger, enter my assistant, Mike.
Not wanting to let him down, I decided that I would start in 1st gear this time and while we were at it, find out if the car really would do 100mph in 1st (which it did). From there I wanted to play it safe and decided that I’d keep it in 3rd, after all it will do 173mph before a shift to 4th is even needed. With a few laps under my belt I decided that the back straight looked like a good place to open the car up, and try for 200mph.
Now if this were a reality show I would fade to black and send you home wondering what will happen next week, but lucky for you I hate reality shows as much as I hate driving supercars slowly.
As we rounded turn six onto the back straight I decide that the happy pedal needs to meet the floor and hang out for a while, after all 200mph would sound cool on my resume. As fate would have it we only were able to knock on the door of 190mph. As fate would also have it, upon entering the turn at around 125mph the back end stepped out, so I counter steered and kept on the throttle. Even to this day after looking at the video a few dozen times with Marcus, we can’t, for the life of us, figure out what happened. Fortunately my psyche has suppressed the memory, but the video will always haunt me. I can remember the hardest snap under steer I have ever experience followed by the sounds of rocks hitting the car. Funny enough I also felt my wallet start crying as I drove the car back to the pits not knowing how much damage was done. When we arrived to the jaw-dropped pale faced people we stepped out to see a car that had received little damage. It should be noted that for this car to receive little damage doesn’t mean it’s a cheap fix; after all I was informed that the turn signal lever was a mere $8,500 replacement. Fortunately, Swedish people are laid back and asked if I had anymore photos I wanted to take before I left (fled) Las Vegas? I said yes, but I needed to vomit first and I would meet them at the location of the shoot.
Now at this point I would love to say that I flew home and never looked back, but sadly that would be too easy. You see, if a photographer that is shooting the cover of the magazine has an off in a car like this, it becomes a story. However, if that photographer is 23, then you know have the grounds for the cover story of your premier issue of the year. Combine this with the video that has seen a hundred thousand laughs and you end up with, “Hey, are you that kid that crashed the CCX?”
“YES.”
Blair “Crash” Bunting
Genius Photographer & Van Horssen Group Member
www.blairbunting.com
Watch the full video of the “crash.”
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