Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TV Speed Freak boss dies in smash horror
Tragedy four years after Zef was nearly killed at same airfield
THE tycoon who hosted ITV4’S Speed Freaks has been killed during a land speed record bid – four years after crashing at the same spot.
Zef Eisenberg died at Elvington Airfield, where former Top Gear host Richard Hammond had an accident in 2006 which left him in a coma.
Mr Eisenberg, 47, who founded fitness firm Maximuscle, was so badly injured in a 2016 crash at the site near York, witnesses feared he was dead.
He was airlifted to hospital with 11 broken bones, including his pelvis, after falling off a gas turbine engine motorbike at 230mph during a track run.
A year later he returned to the airfield to thank medics who saved his life. But tragedy lay in wait.
On Thursday the father-of-two was behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 Turbo
S sports car when it shot off the runway as he tried to break the 207mph record.
A security guard said: “I have seen a lot of these record attempts. This is the worst crash I have seen here for years - worse than Richard Hammond.
“The car just veered off the runway and flipped. The next thing I knew was
all these police cars rolled up.” Eisenberg, from Guernsey, set up Maximuscle in 1995 and sold it to pharmaceutical giant Glaxosmithkline in 2011 for £162million.
In the past decade he broke more than 70 land speed records for motorbike and car. Motorsport UK said: “Zef was attempting to break the British Land
Speed Record at an event organised by Straightliners LTD/UKTA. At 1630, the car went out of control at high speed at the end of a run. Police and ambulance crews attended, however the driver tragically died at the scene.
“Zef leaves behind his partner Mirella D’antonio and two children.”
The statement added: “The thoughts of everyone at Motorsport UK continue to be with Zef ’s family, the organisers of the event, and others of the motorsport community present at Elvington.”
Health and safety officials from York council were at the site yesterday.
Privately owned Elvington, an active airfield, is also used for driving and driver training. An RAF station until 1992, it has hosted dozens of world record bids. It is also used for filming.
This is the worst crash I have seen here for years, the car veered off the runway & flipped SECURITY GUARD WITNESSED ZEF EISENBERG’S CRASH AT AIRFIELD