The wrong kind of smoke drifting inside

Fires and motorsport go hand in hand. Formula Drift star James Deane and passenger got a taste of that when the Ford Mustang RTR racer they were riding in burst into flames mid-lap.

The incident took place in a media session during the lead-up to the Long Beach Formula Drift event held recently. 

With Deane pitched sideways in a smokey drift, a wall of fire quickly erupted from the engine bay. Deane, unfazed, managed to get the car stopped quickly without crashing. The driver then operated the kill switch on the dash, but not before the fire made rapid progress to the interior. The two occupants quickly fumbled with their safety harnesses before extricating themselves from the burning car.

Deane’s passenger, drifter Kevin Darwish, had no proper fire protection so was fortunate to escape unscathed.

The fire safety crew at Long Beach extinguished the fire but it had already destroyed the engine bay. The cause of the fire was unclear but Deane’s support crew repaired the damage, and he went on to record an overall win after a battle with Simen Olsen.