Bowe walks away from massive shunt.

John Bowe has escaped major injury after a horror shunt at the Pukekohe Raceway during the PlaceMakers V8 Supercar race in New Zealand.

Starting 11th on the reverse grid, Bowe was involved in a three car shunt at the hairpin on the first lap and was forced to return to the pits to repair the damage to the front and rear of his Team BOC Falcon, losing a lap in the process.

When he returned to the circuit, Bowe circulated until lap 11 when a piece of carbon fibre airbox got lodged in the throttle linkeage, causing the acclelerator to jam open at the almost flat out sweeping first corner.

Spearing straight into the barriers at more than 200km/h, Bowe destroyed his car but was miraculously unharmed in the incident that caused the race to be red flagged for an hour as the tyre wall he had demolished was repaired.

Bowe admitted that the incident was one of the largest in his career, blaming the accident on the aggressive driving of others on the opening lap, which caused the damage that would later make him crash.

"That was a pretty big hit really, one of the biggest I've had. The throttle jammed wide open and by the time I had realised and dipped the clutch, it was already aiming for the wall."

"The crash at turn one, was a result of the accident on the first lap. At the end of the day, it was basically a case of a few blokes trying to get to the front on the first lap, and you just can't do that. All we end up with is damaged race cars.

"The concept of the reverse grid races is fine, if everyone uses their head and drives accordingly. That didn't happen today, and then because of a small piece of loose carbon fibre, I have a race car that, in the short term at least, is damaged beyond repair."