It’s all about speed and chasing records at the PRP GT-R Challenge at Cootamundra Airport, but 2022’s edition of the event saw an horrific crash which driver Mick Mansour thankfully walked away from alive.
Mansour from Motor Sports Mechanical had one goal in mind during the event and that was to break the outright speed record, but he wasn’t expecting to flip and roll his car 11 times in the process.
The incredible incident was the first ever crash in the events 14-year history at Cootamundra Airport in over 25 events held.
Motor Sports Mechanical have created a series of records they are proud about at Cootamundra Airport since first racing at the track since 2015 and were chasing more in their GT-R this time round.
Mansour raced in the MSMJet which entailed an impressive 1500 horsepower, which had to be modified from a pro-streetcar to a true streetcar by adding an exhaust and ethanol to the vehicle.
Mansour spoke to Motive Video about the severity of his crash and why it occurred.
“I have to be number one. In my head that’s my mentality,” Mansour said.
“We rocked up [to Cootamundra Airport] on Friday morning. I was all excited and yelling at everyone to get the tyres off and put new ones on. I took a spare automatic gear box with me. I said, ‘we’re going for it’.
“First run off the track we were in the 8.70s. It was wild because the car went like it was on railway lines. We got back to the pits, packed the chutes, changed the oils and we were confident. We went 8.70 on low boost.
“Next run, we went 8.40 seconds and the car misfired on cylinder three about half track. “My mentality that we went 8.4 with a misfire, we put a new lead in it because there was a pinhole, and all six cylinders were fired up and ready to go.
“This run was a scary moment. I tapped the back of the parachutes and said, ‘don’t kill me this run’, and never once have I said that to a car because I never get scared of a car. When I jump in a car, I have a mentality of ‘I drive you, you don’t drive me’.
“I clipped myself and don’t know why but I tightened up my Simpson harness in my seat ready to go on a rollercoaster ride. I don’t know whether I was scared of if it was a sign.”
But then Mansour explained the staggering tail of his crash in the next run. “The first part of the track was actually very tame.
I got it to leave very sensibly, there was nothing out of the ordinary,”
Mansour continued.
“It pulled towards the left and I could see the finish line. It started to pull me towards the grass, I’m looking, and I thought ‘nah I’m going to make it’. I’ll straighten it up when I get past it.
“Heading towards the grass I pulled my wheel from about 12 o’clock to 11 o’clock. I look at my dash and see the 60 pound and know that I’m moving.
“I moved towards the grass and just touched it. I corrected my steering wheel and I’ve come out sideways. The front right wheel blew the tyre off the rim.
“At that moment I predicted in my head that I was dead. I thought it was over. The car started rolling, I grabbed the steering wheel and I’m watching straight ahead of me and watching bonnets and windscreens fly.
“We’ve finally stopped. I didn’t know at this point whether I was alive or dead. I was just black in the eyes and couldn’t see in front of me. I was still sitting there, and my heart was racing. I was still alive.
“I undid the buckle and started touching the window. I got a gust of cold air on my hand and started crawling out the window. I took my helmet off and laid on the grass until everyone got there.
“What was going through my head was that I wanted to go home and see my family. I wasn’t ready to die. When Mansour got to the hospital the doctor did multiple MRIs on him to make sure he was okay, and the doctor told him “You are a miracle”.
Mansour reached an estimated speed of 210km/h when his crash occurred and astonishingly didn’t have any major injuries or broken bones, except for some bruising.
It took 11 minutes for the ambulance crew to reach Mick following his crash and he can thank his safety equipment for his survival, as well as the roll cage in the car.
“My helmet did save my life. It was a full impact. It was a traumatic experience and for the first few nights I struggled to sleep. I had dreams where I ejected out of the car and died.”
Tim Warren