14 years back, in 2009, Toto Wolff had suffered a major crash at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, something that had changed his life completely. The Mercedes boss ended up crashing his Porsche 911 RSR, worth around $575,000, while going 189mph. As reported by RacingNews 365, Wolff has recently revealed that he felt ‘dead’ after suffering the horrific crash.
The whole incident was a result of Wolff trying to prove to the world that he was still one of the top racing drivers. In 2009, the Austrian attempted to beat the lap record of the 12.9 mile Nordschleife on his Porsche 911 RSR.
Prior to his attempt, the lap record for GT cars was held by one Sabine Schmitz, with a time of 7:07. Wolff had already broken the record by doing a 7:03 during the test laps, but now, his aim was to set a sub-seven minute lap, which he knew was possible with his car.
However, it wasn’t meant to be. While Wolff was on his fastest lap till then, going through the Fuchsrohre corner, the Porsche suffered a puncture on the right rear and the car smashed into the steel barriers, recording an impact of 27Gs. Fortunately, the car recoiled back onto the track instead of ending up in the forest.
Toto Wolff reminisces about his 189mph crash
Following the crash, Wolff got out of the car by himself, jumped over one of the crash barriers, and then collapsed unconscious. The medical team arrived and Wolff was taken to the hospital where it was reported that he had suffered multiple concussions and a broken vertebra.
Wolff recently recalled the whole scenario when he appeared on BBC’s Desert Island Discs. He explained the situation following the crash and, as quoted by RacingNews 365, said, “I was badly injured but instinctively, I unplugged myself from the radio and got out. They found me behind the rail with my helmet on, lying in the grass. I thought I was dead.”
A story of one man’s obsession with the Nordschleife… https://t.co/p3XA2gPYD8
— Laurence Edmondson (@Edmondson_F1) October 8, 2020
He further commented that he was extremely tense about whether he had suffered a spine injury and could only relax when the people at the hospital assured him that it was not the case.
The start of a love story
Not everything that came out of the accident was bad, as this is what led to the budding romance between Toto Wolff and Susie. The duo tied the knot in 2011, but before the crash in 2009, they had apparently only spoken to each other once or twice.
It was after the crash that Susie Wolff, who was competing in the German Touring Car Championship for Mercedes, was asked by her team to call up Toto Wolff to wish him well. What was to be a 10-minute call, ended up going on for hours.
This phone call sowed the seeds for what was to come, and the couple slowly fell in love with each other before deciding to get married in 2011. As of now, Toto Wolff and Susie are considered to be one of the most iconic couples in F1.
