Rolling rally car mows down spectators

Spectators at a car rally south of Auckland ran for their lives yesterday as a car spun off the road and rolled, hitting five people.

An eyewitness said 15 people were watching the Dunlop Targa Bambina race on Boundary Rd in Waiuku when the car came hurtling towards them.

Three people were taken to Middlemore Hospital with serious injuries and two others were moderately hurt.

Police said the seriously injured were in a stable condition and their injuries were not life-threatening.

Targa New Zealand refused to comment on the crash.

"It was a pretty yucky scene," said photographer Philip Adamson, who was among the group who leaped out of the path of the 1963 Lotus Cortina.

Another witness, who did not want to be named, said the most seriously hurt was a young boy who had suffered head injuries and was initially unconscious but then came round.

The man said there was a lot of confusion at the scene and officials could not call for help because a dedicated 0800 number would not work.

"It was out of service because the area they were in was too rural. They had their own 0800 number ... I heard the official screaming it wouldn't work."

Other spectators rang for an ambulance.

Targa New Zealand confirmed there was a "transmission fault" but would not comment further.

The Herald was referred to Motorsport New Zealand officials, who did not return calls.

Police are also investigating the crash.

The race, involving classic and new vehicles, was being held on closed roads.

"Most of [the spectators] were standing up but the people who got most hurt were sitting on a couple of folding chairs, and because they weren't on their feet they weren't able to get out of the way in quite such a hurry," Mr Adamson said.

"It was one of those freaky things that should never be able to happen," said the 25-year veteran of motorsport photography. "I've never seen anything quite like it."

Mr Adamson said the driver aimed the car at a bank to avoid the spectators "but unfortunately in the process of hitting the bank it hit a ditch and tripped the car up, and it rolled on to the spectators".

He believed the injured were mainly teenagers.

Mr Adamson said the husband-and-wife driver and co-driver of the car were upset but not injured.

The wife was in tears and the husband was "mortified", he said.

"The driver did everything he could to try to avoid them but sometimes physics takes over."

The second competitor on the scene stopped and took a first aid kit from their car to tend the injured.

Mr Adamson, who helped at the scene, said the rally event's safety procedures were activated and that the clerk of the course was quickly at the scene.