REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Monday, October 25, 2004

A RECORD 309,184 enjoyed the sound and fury of what was called the best Indy ever on the Gold Coast.

The year was 2004 and Indy was still flying high, four years before it would ultimately shut down on the Coast.

Local petrolheads were in motorsport heaven though after watching a weekend of thrills and spills.

Canadian driver Patrick Carpentier was hospitalised after surviving a horror 250km/h crash during the main Indy race.

Carpentier, then 33, lost consciousness as paramedics hauled him from his car in the final stages of the 57-lap race.

Carpentier, who briefly led on the 38th lap, was travelling down the main straight on the 52nd lap when the front wing of the car came loose at high speed.

Carpentier glanced off the wall as the suspension on his 800hp vehicle collapsed.

He then slid through the tyre barriers, where his car slowed down, then stopped at the far southern end of the track, near the ANA Hotel.

Carpentier then lost consciousness but within seconds he was hauled from the wreckage by emergency workers.

Terrified spectators on roofs near the end of the straight were forced to duck as debris from the car went flying through the air.

”We saw the cars coming down the straight and the next thing, people were telling us to duck,” said Grant Clark, 22, of Oxenford.

Nearby shopkeepers said they heard a “massive rumble” as the car hit the wall.