Dakar Rally: Matt Campbell Survives High-Speed Crash In Desert Race
” A Calgary driver has been released from a South American hospital after he was injured in a spectacular crash Saturday during an off-road rally through the Bolivian desert.
Calgarian Matt Campbell is recovering in a South American hospital after a 174 km/h crash in the Dakar Rally in Bolivia. (elmartilloracing.com)
Matt Campbell, 63, and two teammates were taking part in the legendary Dakar Rally when their vehicle became airborne and flipped several times before coming to a stop.”
” ” The race car was moving at a speed of 174 km/h when suddenly they found the water cut five feet deep.… There was not much to do but hang on and resist the crash. The affectations are quite notable, the car was completely destroyed,” El Martillo Racing said in a statement on their Facebook page.
CBC News spoke to Campbell who says he’s a little stiff and black and blue from head to toe.
Campbell says the rally relies on old fashioned technology instead of GPS systems. The driver relies on their navigator with a paper road book to manually count down the route metre by metre.”
From l to r … Nicolas “Nico” Ambriz , Luis “Fito” Ramirez & Matt Campbell
” Campbell was behind the wheel at the time of the accident. Reports say the team tried to skim across a stream at high speed when the vehicle’s front end became immersed in the water — sending the car into the catapult.
Campbell is the principal driver for the El Martillo Racing team. The team was sitting in 36th place at the time of the accident. “
See also : Dakar Rally 2015 In Pictures
2015 Dakar Rally: Stage 9 results
Mystery surrounds death of Dakar Rally racer
—
