Ferrari test driver charged
$290,000 supercar badly damaged in tunnel accident
Aman faces a careless driving charge after a $290,000 Ferrari crashed in Auckland’s Victoria Park tunnel while on a test run. It is believed the car, which was extensively damaged in the July 20 crash, has sold at auction through Turners for at least $50,000.
Turners declined to comment on the auction’s outcome at the request of the vendor.
The official crash report, released under the Official Information Act, says the Ferrari was travelling in a straight line when it lost control and the car began to swerve “indicating that the driver has done a sudden increase of speed or manoeuvre while revving the vehicle’s engine, causing it to lose control”.
It had hit the barrier several times before coming to a stop, causing lengthy delays and a traffic jam up to 8km long.
CCTV showed the car was travelling “slightly faster” than other cars in the area — estimated at 60km/h, in an 80km/h zone — but excessive speed was not a factor. The road was wet at the time.
The white 2013 Ferrari Italia 458 coupe was for sale at luxury car dealership Continental Cars in Newmarket at the time of the crash.
It had a 4.5-litre engine and could go from 0-100km/h in under 3.4 seconds, with a top speed of 325km/ h.
A 33-year-old North Shore man has been charged with careless driving. The man, who has interim name suppression, is due to appear in the Auckland District Court next year.
The crash file says the driver was heading north and was in lane 1 when “all of a sudden the car started to swerve prior [to] Victoria Tunnel”, the attending officer wrote in his notes.
“[The driver] managed to keep the car as close as to the left lane to avoid the other traffic. As a result, he hit the left barrier a few times before coming to a stop in lane 2.”
Damage to the front and both sides of the vehicle was “extensive”.
The report contains no witness statements except those of the driver and a passenger, believed to be a salesperson from Continental Cars.
“I was doing a test drive of a Ferrari motor vehicle,” said the driver, who held a UK driver’s licence and had arrived in New Zealand on March 21.
“Before the Victoria tunnel, the car slipped and I tried hard to control it ... ”
The passenger told police they did not remember much from the crash.
“I was on my phone before the crash. All of a sudden, our car started to swerve and hit the barrier a few times,” the passenger’s statement said.
Neither the driver nor his passenger was injured. Both were wearing seatbelts and the driver’s airbag deployed. No breath test or drug testing was carried out as impairment was not suspected.