Rowan Atkinson Writes off his McLaren F1

[walshydub]

Mr Bean is fine car is toast, literaly, it caught fire Oh well at least he's got an R8 to fall back on. (and a Mini )
Rowan Atkinson cheats death in McLaren F1 supercar crash - mirror.co.uk

Mr Bean actor Rowan Atkinson cheated death tonight after crashing his high-powered McLaren F1 supercar.

Atkinson, 56, was driving the £650,000 car, which has a top speed of 230mph, when it is believed he lost control and spun it several times before smashing into a tree and then a lamppost.

The car came to rest at the side of the carriageway before catching fire.

The actor managed to get himself out of the driver's seat and it's understood that another motorist looked after the shaken star until emergency services arrived at the crash site on the A605, near Haddon, Cambridgeshire, shortly after 7.30pm.

Firefighters put the blaze out and Mr Atkinson was taken to Peterborough City Hospital suffering from a shoulder injury.

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service confirmed: "We attended the scene of a single vehicle RTA earlier this evening and took a man with minor injuries to hospital."

One onlooker said: “Rowan is lucky to be alive.”

Around the time of the accident, TV station Dave was showing a repeat of the comedy star’s appearance on Top Gear earlier this year, where Atkinson became the fastest star in a reasonably priced car.

The Blackadder writer owns a collection of vintage and classic cars and has written articles for specialist car magazines.

It is the second time he has crashed the supercar he bought to celebrate the success of his movie in the role of Mr Bean.

The front of the car was wrecked in the previous collision with the rear of a Rover Metro in Lancashire, in October 1999.

[The_Hawk]

Yeah I saw that and was thinking he was just on Top Gear talking about it too... can't be many of those left now, something I'm sure he or Clarkson mentioned on the show

[Mk3 AAA]

13 years of McLaren ownership isn't bad, he actually used it too.

[Cookie28]

I think I remember him saying (on top gear) that it had about 30,000 miles!!!

[Roache]

Just that second finished watching the top gear episode with Rowan Atkinson. Coincidence...!!

[Diesel_vert]

Meh, old news.

It is the second time he has crashed the supercar he bought to celebrate the success of his movie in the role of Mr Bean.

Oh, wait...
At least he drives it like it's meant to be driven. Except the crashing part.

[sabloke]

Oh well, he will cash in the insurance then run back to McLaren and get a brand new MPC-12C Pity about the F1 though, no one makes cars like that that one anymore...

[bigfoot]

Reliant Robin's Revenge!

[zbeasty]

I read in one of the news reports that it was taken back to McLaren so may not be lost after all.

[wai]

So it looks like he is just like the majority of people...who tend to overestimate their capabilities behind the wheel It is one thing to do it in a controlled environment, another thing altogether when you don't have all the back ups in place and conditions are not that controlled.

[gldgti]

Ahh, that was my favorite colour in the LM version aswell.

Really is a cool car but definately not one for the feint hearted - notoriously tricky to drive fast with a lively back end. It's not surprising they are crashed, its a proper race car that will kill you - not like a lot of modern sports car's that still have all the "save me i'm an idiot" electronics, the F1 was no compromise.... hence pretty unforgiving.

Hopefully McLaren will rebuild it.