There is nothing wrong with having a little ambition in life. Without ambition, we might never have seen the magic of Michael Jordan, or Ayrton Senna might never have made those famous passes during his career.
However, while ambition is great, it can sometimes set people up for a spectacular failure. Crashing and burning is a part of the journey for most successful people but for stunt drivers, it is a matter of life or death.
French skier and rally driver Guerlain Chicherit tried to unleash his inner Evel Knievel and break a world record in 2014. He wanted to put his name in the record books for the longest ever car jump, and it would have been an impressive feat if he had accomplished it. Despite his best intentions, Chicherit's world record attempt ended in serious vehicular carnage.
Let's take a look at the world record car jump attempt that ended in carnage.
Aiming Big
French driver Guerlin Chicherit launched his professional motorsports career in 2003 and quickly ascended among the ranks of the Dakar Rally. He made his Dakar debut in 2005, and in his second season, he even managed to win one of the stages at the notoriously difficult desert race.
While he was a rising star behind the wheel on the rallying circuit, Chicherit was also tearing it up on the slopes. He is a four-time world freeriding champion, and it's fair to say that he feels at home on the snow.
After a decade of impressing people with his driving and skiing skills, Chicherit decided it was time to start making history. In 2014, the multi-talented athlete was going to cross a 360-foot gap in a converted BMW Mini. This was the same Mini that Chicherit had performed a 360-degree backflip in just a year beforehand.
However, not only was the rally driver trying to attempt such a crazy and death-defying jump, he was doing it in the snow. Chicherit and his team calculated that the target approach speed for the jump was 100 mph to cross the 360-foot gap.
Going South
The launch looks great when you first watch it as the car is flying through the air gracefully. Chicherit's approach was smooth, and the snow didn't seem to cause his converted Mini any problems on the way to the ramp. However, the distance it had to travel without support was just too great, and it's clear before too long that this jump is going to end badly.
You can practically see it written all over Chicherit's face as his world is being turned upside down. Thankfully the jump doesn't fall short, and it's more of an overshoot than anything. He's utterly helpless while flying through the air, so he just had to pray the gravity gods would be kind on the landing.
Bracing For Impact
The car wasn't balancing out the way the rally driver would have hoped, and the front dipped too far before touchdown. Ultimately, this sent the car into a violent spin, and onlookers were left fearing for Chicherit's life. There is stunned silence at the jump site as people in the crowd are slow to react.
First aid responders spring into life and make their way to Chicherit's car to find him among the wreckage. This was an event sponsored by GoPro and, thanks to the onboard cameras, we get to see the disaster unfold from multiple angles.
After the Mini touches down onto the ramp headfirst, it begins cartwheeling through the air like a tire bouncing down a hill. Thank goodness roll cages were invented is all we can say. The onboard footage is incredibly sobering as Chicherit's body is flailing around, powerless to do anything against the forces acting upon it.
Getting The Angles Wrong
Preparation is everything in these kinds of jumps, and one miscalculation can result in disaster. Stunt jumps like these are like lining up a multi-ball trickshot on a pool table. If one thing is slightly off, then all you'll get are balls scattering around the table randomly.
As the front end of the Mini nosedived, it is easy to see with hindsight that there should have been more weight in the back to balance it out. Of course, those who set the stunt up didn't think so at the time otherwise, we would be celebrating Chicherit's success instead of marveling at his failure.
Walking Out Alive
Great big gouges were taken out of the road surface as the rally car tumbled its way along the landing ramp. Despite his Mini looking like a beat-up garbage can, Chicherit was able to leave the car under his own steam as the first responders arrived. Relief washed over Chicherit's family and fans as it was announced he was alive.
The rally driver was then escorted to the nearest medical center by air ambulance, where his body was checked over. He was treated by doctors and miraculously escaped such a horrific incident with only minor injuries.
The crash wasn't enough to put this thrill-seeker off making history as he claimed he would have another go. In the aftermath of the accident, Chicherit suggested he would be trying again in a few months after he had the chance to rebuild his car.
However, as yet, Chicherit hasn't written his name in the history books for the longest ever car jump. Not that we can blame him for it, he barely escaped with his life, and on another day, this crash could have ended much more sadly. Thankfully, Chicherit lived to race another day, and he enjoyed a few more years in the spotlight at both the Dakar Rally and FIA World Rallycross Championships.