Nothing can spoil a scenic route like slow moving traffic. It’s easy to get flustered and jam on the accelerator the second a passing lane comes up, especially when you’ve got many hundreds of impatient horses under your right foot. But this recent wreck involving a Mercedes C-Class wagon, a Porsche 911 GTS, a $3 million Bugatti Chiron and a motorhome on a mountain road in Switzerland is a good reminder of why it’s better to play it safe when attempting an overtake.
Highlighted by Rennlist, the incident happened earlier this month on Switzerland’s beautiful Gotthard Pass in the Alps, popular with tourists and enthusiasts alike. According to the official report released by local police, a line of four cars had formed behind a large RV that was driving slowly along the road around noon on Wednesday, August 12, with the Porsche and the Bugatti in third and fourth position respectively.
When the column reached a relatively straight stretch of tarmac, both the 911 and the Chiron pulled out to pass the rest of the vehicles at the same time and somehow collided. The report is unclear as to how exactly the crash happened, but given the setup and the 1,500-horsepower hypercar involved, it seems the Bugatti accelerated faster than the Porsche, rear-ended it and set off a chain reaction.
The report says both cars then crashed into column stones located on the left-hand side of the road before veering back into traffic; the Bugatti ended up striking the motorhome, while the Porsche plowed into the Mercedes-Benz wagon, a passenger from which was seriously injured in the wreck.
Judging by the photos, it appears the Bugatti Chiron could still be roadworthy after an astronomical repair bill to fix the damaged front end. The Porsche 911 GTS, on the other hand, looks as deader than disco with its nose pancaked into the ground. There are few things more torturous than being stuck behind traffic when you should be zipping through your very own Top Gear-style driving montage in a beautiful location. Unfortunately, wrecking your car is one of them.
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