Safety First!

Its astonishing how far car safety has come over the years and no finer example of this was apparent at the weekend with Allan McNish's spectacular crash at the Le Mans 24 hour race.

McNish was lying in third in his Audi R18 and was pushing hard but on his way into a busy bend he clipped the Ferrari GT of Anthony Beltoise at over 120mph which sent him rocketing across a gravel trap and smashing into the safety barriers.

The Audi spun up into the air spraying debris everywhere, near by stewards and camera ran for their lives with most fearing the worst for Allan's. As the dust settled around what can only now be described as scrap metal with the pit crew and crowds looking on, movement from the driver could be seen and with some help, Allan managed to get out of what was left of his cockpit, a little stiff and shaken but alive.

A lucky escape to say the least but heavily aided by the impressive technology and engineering that goes in to modern and new cars.