It’s been a pretty crazy year of motorsport in 2016, but not everyone enjoyed the same success as Mercedes in F1 or Porsche in the World Endurance Championship.
We’ve seen some incredible racing this year, but with close wheel-to-wheel action and high speeds come the crashes and accidents. There have certainly been some jaw-dropping and unbelievable crashes in 2016.
Two into one doesn’t go
The Sebring 12 Hours at the start of the year delivered this huge shunt between Jan Magnussen’s Corvette and Kevin Estre’s Porsche, with the two cars making contact as they lapped a slower car and spinning hard into the wall. Thankfully they were both OK.
Do a barrel-roll
Fernando Alonso’s 2016 F1 season began with this monstrous roll at the Australian Grand Prix, after contact with Esteban Gutierrez. It was a terrifying shunt and he looked to be OK afterwards, but eventually had to skip the next race in Bahrain because of the crash.
Eau Rouge bites back
Stefan Mucke’s Ford GT was pitched into a spin by a puncture going through Eau Rouge during the 6 Hours of Spa WEC race. It hit the wall at Raidillon with a scary amount of force but fortunately the driver escaped with only a few bruises.
Over and over
When they crash in NASCAR, it’s usually pretty big. This one at Daytona on the final lap of the Trucks race happened insanely quickly, with Christopher Bell’s car flying into the air and rolling several times. Thankfully he was OK afterwards.
Huge shunt
This is undoubtedly one of the biggest and scariest shunts of the year. Ryan Tveter spun at the Red Bull Ring and his Formula 3 car stopped on the racing line.
Peter Zhi Cong Li had no way of seeing him through the dust and slammed into Tveter, he got airborne before going into a roll when his car hit the ground. Li sustained four fractured vertebrae and multiple broken bones in his heel in the accident.
Shortest hillclimb ever
This shunt is jaw-dropping, mainly for the fact it’s completely unbelievable. Ralf Stenzel was competing in the Swiss hillclimb Bergrennen Reitnau but his small single-seater didn’t even make it to the first corner after he lost control and crashed through a gate into a parked car. Oops…
Straight on and straight off
Giuliano Alesi’s GP3 car went straight on and into the wall during Austrian GP practice after he got to the corner and had “no more brakes”. He was ruled out of the next race due to the 46g impact.
More brake problems
Brake issues for Augusto Scalbi caused his TC 2000 touring car to go straight on, digging into the gravel and rolling a staggering six times. He was alright, thankfully, but was transported to a local hospital for checks.
K-Mag hits the wall hard
The red flag was understandably brought out during the Belgian GP after this huge F1 shunt for Kevin Magnussen at the top of Eau Rouge/Raidillon. Amazingly he escaped with only a bruised left ankle and was back racing next time out in Italy.
Upside down victory
Probably the most surprising win of 2016 was Laurens Vanthoor’s GT World Cup victory at Macau. The race only featured one racing lap, as it was stopped after leader Vanthoor’s huge airborne flip. He was eventually declared the winner, which even he didn’t quite understand.
Fiery exit
Hayden Paddon’s crash at Rally Portugal didn’t look all that dramatic, until his car caught fire and completely burned to a crisp. It was horrible to see the Hyundai i20 WRC machine go up in flames, but fortunately everyone involved managed to escape unharmed. That’s the main thing.
Up and over the wall
Pro Mod racer Sidnei Frigo lost control of his Corvette and hit the wall heavily, clearing it completely and rolling until it finally came to a stop. He suffered a broken arm and bruised hip, but it could’ve been a lot worse.
Wrong place, wrong time
The Firestone 600 IndyCar race in Texas started in June and ended in August after being postponed due to rain. The initial first part of that race on June 12 included this huge crash, after Josef Newgarden found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time when friend and fellow racer Conor Daly lost the rear of his car.
They both hit the wall hard and slid down the track, crashing into the barrier again. Newgarden suffered a fractured right clavicle and a small fracture on his right hand in the clash but he managed to recover without missing a race.
Massive air
The headlines from British F3 at Oulton Park were dominated by this huge crash for Ameya Vaidyanathan after contact entering a fast right-hand kink. He was taken to the medical centre but amazingly was released shortly after. Those F3 cars are strong!