Sheesh! This V8 Supercars crash is HUGE

Down under, Sandown Raceway’s turn six is often described as one of the most dangerous corners in Australian motorsport. The entry speeds are monstrous - around 160mph - so it’s not somewhere you’d like to get tagged into the barrier.

But, unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to young V8 Supercars star Todd Hazelwood during the first qualifying race for the Sandown 500, the first of three endurance events in the Supercars championship.​

Todd - who's just 21 - was tussling for position with Jono Webb (now that’s an Australian name if we’ve ever heard one) and David Russell. Jono locked up behind David’s Nissan, leaving Todd with nowhere to go and punting him around and into the wall. The violence of the impact was so severe it sent Todd’s Commodore up into the air, and into a set of sickening spins that had such force, body panels flew off the space-frame chassis.  

"When you're going at 260 kilometres an hour (162mph) and you get a whack like that you're just a passenger," Todd later said, having walked away from the crash and given the all-clear from the doctors. 

"I haven't had a roll over since I was seven in dirt karts and I've never wrecked a Supercar in my life. I'm just shattered, to be honest.”

As a testament to the incredible strength and safety systems used in the series, just an hour after the crash, Todd dusted his race suit down and was back on track competing in the Dunlop Super2 Series support race, where he finished on the podium.

Check out the monster shunt for yourself above. Remeber kids, motorsport is dangerous.