Lotus Evija X Crash at Goodwood: Was it McLaren’s Fault?

The $2.3 Million Lotus Evija X hypercar unfortunately got up close and personal with the hay bales at Goodwood, but was it the driver’s fault?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve seen the footage. At the iconic Goodwood Festival of Speed this year, the $2.3 Million Lotus Evija X, an all-electric hypercar, took a hard turn right off the start line and directly into the hay bails lining the track. The hay bales instantly munched the car and the driver likely wasn’t feeling too hot. There is no shortage of speculation floating around online as to what caused this crash. Some folks think one of the motors may have shut down randomly. Others think that the driver just wasn’t ready for it. So, what really happened?

Fortunately Goodwood itself recently published an article outlining what went down. Understandably, they kept the driver’s personal details locked down. Undoubtedly, it shields them from any sort of internet beratement for the crash. According to Goodwood, the driver was introduced to the 2,000-horsepower electric hypercar a week prior to the event. After a few days of testing and getting used to the car, the driver and Lotus ventured off to Goodwood. What many folks may not know is that the Evija X had a successful run, starting line burnout and all, prior to the unfortunate run that you’re likely familiar with. What changed between the runs?

A Stalled McLaren and A Crooked Launch

If you’ve sought out more than just the crash clip itself, you may have seen that the McLaren Solus GT was slated to run before the Evija and Evija X but had stalled in line and couldn’t start again. So, the Lotus vehicles had to scoot around the stalled McLaren to reach the start line. From there, the driver launched the Evija X in a triumphant cloud of tire smoke with a level of pomp and circumstance that would excite any car enthusiast. Shortly thereafter, though, it turned and hit the wall. There is, however, one element that we’ve left out of the story here.

Let’s make it as clear as day here: we are not blaming McLaren. In fact, doing so would be quite ridiculous. It is, however, interesting that the Goodwood article points to McLaren’s stall giving the Lotus Evija X a wonky angle of attack. Why? because the Evija X driver had the traction control off. This was, of course, planned. It’s safe to assume that the prior (and successful) run in the Evija X also did not have traction control. However, with zero intervention from the car when tires start slipping, it’s beyond easy to see how one could easily lose control of a 2,000-horsepower car.

So, to make a long story short, no, McLaren didn’t cause this crash. It’s pretty wild to even bring that concept to the table. It seems pretty cut and dry that the driver is at fault here. Of course, we’re not suggesting the driver should be criticized. We’re sure they feel plenty bad about crashing a multi-million dollar hypercar already. What we are saying, though, is that we suspect the crash all came down to stepping over the line a hair in the name of trying to put on a show for the crowd. It’s unfortunate and accidents happen, but we can almost guarantee after reading all that you want to see it again. So, check it out below: