Mike Hosking had an expensive day out racing at a Hampton Downs race track yesterday.
His red Alfa Romeo 4C looks to have taken an absolute beating and come out worse for wear.
Hosking’s wife Kate Hawkesby posted about the ordeal on Instagram.
In a series of photos, she explained her hubby’s antics.
“Husband goes to track day with his race car. Crashes it. Anyone know a good panel beater?” she posted a video of the car with serious dents and scratches down one side.
“Luckily he’s ok, the car… not so much.”
The kicker? Mike Hosking has no car insurance when he is track racing!
“The smile of a man who LOVES cars HATES crashes and has NO insurance for track racing” posted Hawkesby.
The only apparent injury Mike sustained from the crash was a “bruised thumb.”
Mike Hosking told listeners on his Newstalk ZB breakfast show this morning the programme “nearly didn’t happen” after crashing his race car at a Hampton Downs race track yesterday.
While he had crashed into his garage a few times, he felt racing around a track was “much safer” than on the road.
“You are only going around in circles, how hard can it be?” As he was coming into one of the corners at 120-130km/h he went to brake, only to realise the brakes were not working.
“I went to apply the brakes – there were no brakes. He thought, “Oh my God, there are no brakes, I am still going straight instead of turning, what happens next.”
He left the track and hit the shingle, which is designed to slow cars down. “Which did happen, but as I hit it I started sliding to the right, sideways towards the wall. “I was thinking I am going to be OK, going to hit the wall, it will probably be the end of my car. “I hit the wall, but I am OK.”
Insurance didn’t cover racing, he said. “The bill is all yours.”
Taking his car out on the track is one of Hosking's “great joys in life”.
“I take my little car out every now and then. One of the great joys I have in life, post quitting television and having some more time, is I take my car down to Hampton Downs to run around a track.”
