Formula Vee driver amazingly walks away from her car after an airborne 180

By Ronan Glon June 22, 2017

Kathys Formula Vee Crash Barbagallo 18 jun 2017

Ask anyone at a race track why they choose to compete and you’ll likely hear an answer that will contain the words “adrenaline rush.” An Australian Formula Vee driver named Kathy Lisson got enough adrenaline to last her for at least a decade when her car flipped twice after getting rear-ended.

The extraordinary incident happened on the Barbagallo Raceway, which is located in the far outskirts of Perth in southwestern Australia. A GoPro camera mounted on Lisson’s car shows the group of cars slowing down before a turn, mere seconds before the impact. Something evidently caught the entire race by surprise; a car a few positions ahead of Lisson is seen veering off the track and into the grass, while the car directly in front locks up its brakes.

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The pilot behind Lisson didn’t brake in time and rear ended her race car, which is an ultralight model powered by a 1,200cc engine. The impact propelled her into and over the car in front. She flipped, banged her head against the pavement, and came to a rest upside down on the side of the track. Miraculously, she walked away with only a sore neck and a few bruises. It looks a lot worse, doesn’t it?

“I do remember thinking, ‘oh, I’m up in the air’ and then lots of bangs. It happens very quickly,” Lisson told Australian television station 9News, according to a Motorsport report.

Rod Lisson, the pilot’s husband, was competing in the same race in a car powered by a bigger, 1,600cc engine. He watched in horror as the scene played out in front of him. He explains it takes a powerful impact to send a car spinning through the air like a football.

“From that point, the acceleration to get up in the air and turn over twice like that, you’ve gone from zero to that speed in no time. It must have been a real shunt from behind,” he told 9News.

Footage captured by the car in front of Lisson’s shows the accident in a different angle. It looks bad, like the kind of tragic accident you don’t walk away from. The fact that Lisson escaped from her car without any serious injuries is a testament to how important safety gear is in all kinds of racing, from entry-level events like Formula Vee to top-league events like the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…

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Blue Tesla Model 3 Highland on the road

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The automaker said the Cybercab is expected to be produced in 2026 and cost $30,000. Musk, meanwhile, said that it would be a $25,000 car without specifying if that price tag included federal tax credits.
Tesla’s ambiguity about an affordable entry-level model has been going on for years. In 2020, Musk signaled that a $25,000 Tesla would arrive within three years. It was later reported that Tesla had ditched the idea, instead favoring the development of a robotaxi.
Language within Tesla’s latest financial report still hints that new affordable Tesla models are on the way. But Musk’s latest comments are putting a floor on just how affordable these would be. So far, Tesla’s Model 3 Rear-Wheel-Drive remains the company’s cheapest model, with a base price of $38,990.
Some rival EV makers, meanwhile, are entering the affordable space more aggressively in the U.S.
General Motors has already put out its Chevy Equinox EV at a price of $27,500, including federal tax credits. Volkswagen America says it plans to release an under-$35,000 EV in the U.S. by 2027.

Cars

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Costco partners with Electric Era to bring back EV charging in the U.S.

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After being one of the early pioneers of EV charging in the 1990s, Costco abandoned the offering in 2012 in the U.S.
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