Autos Community

The Blackadder and Mr Bean star is believed to have lost control of the £650,000 vehicle which spun off the road and hit a tree before catching fire.

The 56-year-old walked away from the wreckage and was looked after by another motorist until emergency services arrived at the scene.

An ambulance took him to Peterborough District Hospital, Cambridgeshire, where he is suffering from a minor shoulder injury, it was claimed.

A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Crews brought the fire under control by 8.13pm. They made the vehicle safe and used one hose reel to put out the fire.

“There was one casualty but he was not trapped.”

Mr Atkinson is well known for his love of fast cars and recently recorded the fastest lap time in Top Gear’s Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.
He told presenter Jeremy Clarkson he was keen on racing and was currently driving a 1964 Ford Falkan.

But his racing expertise did little to quell his nerves before taking on the challenge, he admitted.

In a clip of the show, uploaded on to YouTube by the BBC on July 22, Atkinson said people would “assume that in the reasonably priced car I will be very good when there's absolutely no guarantee of that whatsoever”.

But the Blackadder actor notched up the fastest ever time on the show, completing the circuit in 1 minute 42.2 seconds.

The crash yesterday happened on the A605 in Haddon at 7.30pm and no other vehicle was involved.

The McLaren F1 is one of the fastest production cars in the world and has a top speed of 230mph. Mr Atkinson is expected to be released from hospital later today.

A Cambridgeshire Police spokeswoman said yesterday: “There has been a single vehicle road traffic collision near Haddon.”