Aventador SV Almost Drills Squirrely Cameraman on Drag Strip

By Tony Markovich - July 14, 2016

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Indecision is just about the last thing you want on a drag strip. If you’re in a car, it could cost you precious time. And if you’re an observer, well, it could cost you your life, or at least a serious medical bill, like it almost did for this extremely lucky cameraman. Watch the video, and then we’ll discuss:

This type of insanity calls for a frame-by-frame breakdown, Tosh.0 style.

It starts out pretty normal. There are two lines of cars waiting to drag race on what appears to be a runway. First up in the video is a Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster — supposedly the only one in the world with an Akrapovic exhaust system — facing off against a C7 Corvette. The mass of people all look to be in order behind the ropes, appropriately out of harm’s way.

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Then the cars pull up into their slots. Everything still looks pretty normal. Even at official drag strips, there are usually a couple people hanging around, some for the controls, a couple with cameras, and maybe an official or two.

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This is where things start to get hairy. The cameraman that is farthest in front of the two cars switches from filming the ‘Vette to figuring out a good shot of the Aventador. You see him back there, like a sneaky little kid peaking out his bedroom door to see if his parents are still up.

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At that point, the light was still red, but this dude should know these cars are about ready to go. That’s a terrible place to be in the first place, because it could be distracting the drivers. If we want to give him credit, maybe he realized this late, and decided he needed to get outta there, stat. The problem is that it was far too late to make that decision. The dude gives a little leg pump fake, as if he’s about to jump out, but hesitates, probably because he hears that banshee-like exhaust, as the Superveloce revs up and readies for launch. And for some reason, his reaction is to put up his hand, as if he’s a traffic cop and has the authority to tell the Aventador to wait. Notice the light turns from red to yellow, then green at that point.

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Instead of heeding the rev warning, this joker’s brain decides it’s a good idea to RUN FOR IT, YOU HAVE TIME, CHAMP. He looks like one of those skittish squirrel’s who messes with drivers as they come down residential streets. At the same moment, the driver sees the green light and stomps go. Even the woman with the checkered flag notices the wildness happening behind her and turns all the way around while she’s waving the flag like, “WTF!?”

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Lucky for the camera guy, the Aventador driver was extremely alert, was not indecisive, and actually knew how to control his car properly. The cameraman gets JUST far enough into the middle of the track to open up a small space to where the Aventador jukes to the right, catches without going in front of the Corvette, and manages to still continue the run.

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We realize the cameraman couldn’t see the tree, but all the signs were there that the race was about to start. The revving, the flag, the timing — all of it added up to what should have been a solid “hell no” conclusion when considering if it was still okay to cross, especially with a camera that big. Luck doesn’t even do this justice.