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23 July 2009 - 12:00

When Fiestas go bad

Ever wondered what happens when an 596kW Fiesta decides to take the, er, off-road route up Pikes Peak?

We've just stumbled across this amateur video (no, not that sort of amateur video) on YouTube showing the aftermath of Stefan Eriksson's Fiesta crash at Pikes Peak last weekend:

Sadly you don't see the Fiesta departing the tarmac, but it's clear by its impressively wedged position that Eriksson got it spectacularly wrong as he aimed to break the elusive 10-minute barrier.

The other Pikes Peak Fiesta, driven by rally legend Marcus Gronholm, did manage to complete the 12.42-mile hillclimb, but blew its turbo near the top of the course, crossing the line on fire.

The race was won for the fourth year in succession by Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima.

Eriksson will just be thinking himself lucky that he lost it on a fairly flat section of the course, and not over one of Pikes' unprotected thousand-foot cliffs. And that he had the honour to be towed out of the ditch by Randy's ute. Yee-haw... 

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