McLaren driver says he swerved to avoid badger
Lee McClurg was travelling to Goodwood on Sunday when he crashed
The driver who miraculously escaped a McLaren fireball revealed he crashed after swerving to avoid a badger - five weeks after purchasing the vehicle.
Lee McClurg, 34, was travelling to the Goodwood Festival of Speed with partner Alex Bedford, 27, when he smashed through a telegraph pole and into a house.
The impact knocked out Mr McClurg, but both he and Mr Bedford escaped the mangled McLaren 570S, which was already on fire, before watching it burn to the ground.
Mr McClurg, from Southwick, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, said: 'We'd deliberately got on the road very early, about quarter to six in the morning, to avoid the manic traffic heading to Goodwood.
'Unfortunately, at that time in the morning, there's still lots of wil dlife about, and were driving down a stretch of road with woodland either side of it.
'There was a big animal that suddenly darted out in front of me - a deer or a badger or something - and I swerved to avoid it.
The cras h left his £146,000 vehicle in tatters after it burst into a fireball and the pair watched it burn to the ground
The McLaren 570S, which is built near Woking, Surrey, is one of the world's fastest production cars
'I was trying to protect the animal but also to avoid any damage to my car.'
The plumbing and heating engineer said he had only had the £146,000 car for five weeks before the dramatic incident on the A350 near Heywood, Wiltshire.
Three fire crews tackled the blaze and the road was shut for much of the day - but amazingly the two occupants escaped with only cuts and bruises.
Mr Bedford, a support worker for adults with autism, said the car was already in flames by the time they came to a stop - and he feared they were going to burn alive.
The impact of the crash ripped a door frame off a house in Heywood, Wiltshire, on Sunday
Mr McClurg (left), 34, and his partner Alex Bedford (right) escaped miraculously despite the car bursting into flames
He said: 'Lee was completely out of it. He'd obviously suffered a blow to the head at some point during the crash.
'I was trying to shake him round, but I was genuinely thinking we were going to burn alive in the car.
'It was the people in the car behind us who came and helped us out the car. They smashed the glass and pulled us out.'
The McLaren 570S, which is built near Woking, Surrey, is one of the world's fastest production cars.
With a 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged engine developing more than 550bhp, it is capable of 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds, 0-124mph in 9.5 seconds and a top speed of 204mph.
The plumbing and heating engineer said he had only had the £146,000 car for five weeks before the dramatic incident
Three fire crews tackled the blaze and the road was shut for much of the day - but amazingly the two occupants escaped with only cuts and bruisesÂ
They cost from £146,000 but can be bought with a £36,000 deposit and repayments of £995 per month.
Mr McClurg added: 'The steering on these cars is manufactured to be quite playful, so I was only doing about 60mph, but it only takes a little bit of steering to really make it go.
'Some people might look at what happened, particularly the fact that it was just on a straight stretch of road, and think that I'm an idiot who doesn't know how to drive.
'But it's not like that at all - it's just the way the steering is manufactured, that's why this happened.'
A statement from Wiltshire Police said: 'We were called shortly before 6.30am (on Sunday) to a report of a road traffic collision on the A350 at Heywood.
'The vehicle, a McLaren, had crashed into a house and was on fire - both occupants were out of the vehicle and sustained only minor cuts and bruises.
'The road was closed from Yarnbrook roundabout and at Heywood House.
'This reopened at 8.30am but then closed again at 11.55am to allow for the electricity board to repair an electricity pole damaged in the collision.
'No arrests have been made at this stage. Anyone who witnessed the collision or who saw the vehicle prior to the collision should call police on 101.'Â
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