A high performance Chevrolet Camaro A muscle car owned by an Australian racer has been destroyed in the United States, after a dealership service advisor took the muscle car for a high-speed ride.
As reported by Car NewsAustralian-born Kenny Habul – who won the 2022 and 2023 Bathurst 12 Hour GT3 endurance races with his SunEnergy1 team – had to have his 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE towed to a dealership in Darien, Connecticut because it wouldn’t start.
With just 989 miles (1,592km) to go from the track, Mr Habul is said to have given simple instructions that “under no circumstances shall any employee be permitted to remove the car from the lot”.
But the dealership’s service advisor, Matthew Sebastian, ignored instructions from Mr. Habul and his boss and drove the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 muscle car with an employee on nearby Interstate 95.
According to a negligence and recklessness lawsuit filed by Mr. Habul, the service advisor was driving at 70 mph (113 km/h) when he “started and lost control of the high-performance vehicle that he was not authorized to drive.”
With 485kW of power and 881Nm of torque, the rear wheels lost traction at 89mph (143km/h), causing the car to crash into a guardrail.
The Camaro’s data recorder also showed that Sebastian was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, although he was fortunately uninjured.
The same can’t be said for the Camaro, which is assessed as having a depreciated value of $97,000 (AU$143,830).
Mr Habul’s lawsuit is said to claim Mr Sebastian’s actions were “willful and reckless” as well as “unreasonable conduct”, adding that the service adviser should have known that the Camaro should only be driven by “a driver who is experienced, competent and knowledgeable about the vehicle’s capabilities and hazards”.
The overseas businessman – who owns a home on Mount Panorama’s famed Conrod Straight and Peter Brock’s last Bathurst 1000-winning Holden Commodore – is seeking compensation and punitive damages from the dealership, which he claims failed to properly supervise “the simple task of diagnosing and repairing a faulty clutch switch”.
Mr. Sebastian was ticketed for failure to maintain lane on the interstate. It is unclear whether he still has a job at the dealership.
