Can't believe it hasn't been mentioned yet.....

[touring fan]

Have you ever watched cars on their green flag lap or behind a safety car weaving from side to side to warm up the tyres? Ever seen somebody being a bit too enthusiastic with it and wondered if anybody's ever swerved a bit too far and spun off the track?

Step forward Mr Dixon, the first person I've ever seen do just that. Ofcourse he didn't do it quietly either, he did it infront of millions of people all over the world watching the Indy 500!! :D Ooops!:D

[Les]

err yes. I can remember one vividly but not touring cars but the Vectra challenge.

Silverstone in the pouring rain, last race of the season and Dave Pinkney had to beat Alan Morisson to win the championship.

I was in Woodcote grandstand and watched him come up under the bridge weaving from side to side and he spun across the whole track and nearly collected another car!
I nearly had a full litter of kittens!

His comment afterwards was he needed to know how much grip there was out there (none by the looks of it!)

[Peter]

Jenson Button also did that at Monza in 2000.

[Ann]

Thank you Peter - that was so bugging me! :p

[Claw]

There has been one in Touring cars. 1991, Ayles was weaving side to side and Sytner trying to make up places after being left behind drove straight into Ayles! :D

[Reynard]

Yeah - David Coulthatd managed to go off on the warm up lap at Monza in I think it was 1995... Took a sharp right turn when meant to go straight on! :D

That was very, very funny. I believe he was on pole at the time as well...

[Le Mans]

I seem to remember a lovely Audi pace car hitting a concrete wall in the warm up/parade lap a few years ago. It was a very big impact and wrote the car off. I think it was a motorcycle GP race.

[bramble]

The safety car at the Monaco GP last year went into the wall, although it was between sessions. That was written off too.

[kevin ritson]

My favourite was Alain Prost spinning off on the warm-up lap...driving a Ferrari...in Italy :D

[Stuart]

A few years back, Thruxton made a big deal of their new fleet of Daewoo fast response cars.
10 minutes later, in the pouring rain, BARCs Dale Wells promptly dropped it at the Complex while leading a field of CTCC Group 1 Touring cars around to the grid!

[touring fan]

I can't believe it's been done so many times! Of course I bet they all had an excuse prepared for when they (eventually) went back to the pits. :D

[Stuart]

The most spectacular one I saw was in 1998 at the Silverstone Summerfest. It absolutley tipped it down, and the track was almost flooded.
The GT's were allowed out eventually and all completed a couple of sighting laps before lining up.
Magnus Wallinder was driving the G-Force Blue Coral Porsche GT1. As he came out of Luffield, he didn't give it that much gas but the car just pirouetted off across the grass towards the pit lane tyre wall.
Luckily, after revolving at least twice, he gathered it all up without damage and formed up on the grid with the others...

[Stuart]

....oh and Sato trying to wheelspin some heat into his tyres just as the pace car was set to pull in during the F3 race supporting the GT night race in 2001! The car just spun through 180 degrees and stalled. He was leading at the time...