When cars race, they sometimes crash; that’s part of the deal. That doesn’t make it any less painful to watch, though, especially when the two cars in question are a 1959 Lister-Jaguar “Knobbly” and the one-of-a-kind 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLS “Porter Special.”

We’re not sure this was the kind of show attendees at the 73rd Goodwood Members’ Meeting, where the crash took place, signed up for.

Lest you think this was amateur hour, note that F1 and sports-car driver Jochen Mass was behind the wheel of the Benz, and Tony Wood, the Lister-Jaguar driver, seems to have a substantial amount of experience behind the wheel, as well. Both drivers reportedly escaped injury but were taken by the track stewards to a medical room just in case.

Fuel was seen leaking from the Jaguar at the spot of the crash as the two cars sat disabled on the track. The front wheels of the Mercedes-Benz were said to have been jammed, with track personnel unable to roll it to the side of the track. As the Lister-Jaguar was pushed by track personnel, a flatbed truck had collected the Mercedes with the help of a winch.

A crash at the 73rd Goodwood Members Howard Statham

The Telegraph reports that Dr. Klaus Lehr, the German owner of the Mercedes-Benz, saw the crash.

“I saw that Tony Wood was going with his Lister while Jochen Mass was already going into the pit lane,” Lehr told The Telegraph. “In the last moment, he decided to go to the pit lane and he just crossed in front of Jochen Mass and he just used the brakes, and as you can see from the pictures, he crashed into the car.”

Lehr also told The Telegraph that the Mercedes-Benz will require at least three months of repairs, and that the engine in the car has to be replaced.

“I have not spoken to Tony Wood. It was not a race, it was training. Maybe he is a too ambitious driver,” Lehr said in comments to The Telegraph. “He should have just continued and driven another lap and gone back into the pit lane later.”

Witnesses at the track told The Telegraph that the Lister-Jaguar was reducing speed as it was entering the pits, with the Mercedes-Benz coming up from behind at high speed. Lehr’s version of the events has the Lister-Jaguar slowing for the pits at the last moment, requiring a hard application of the brakes on the part of Mass.

A crash at the 73rd Goodwood Members Howard Statham

The Porter Special is an oddball, created by Californian Chuck Porter from a wrecked and burned 300SL Gullwing. Formed to look like a Silver Arrow, Porter named it the SLS -- with the second S standing for “scrap.” It raced throughout the mid- to late 1950s with a variety engines, including, eventually, Buick and Chevy V8s, under its long hood. It is said to be worth $5.9 million; safe to say it’s well worth restoring.

The Lister “Knobbly” is one of a series of highly successful Jaguar-powered racers from the drafting table of Brian Lister; Chevrolet-powered versions of the curvy cars were also built, and all are valuable. The wrecked car could be worth $1.5 million; like the Benz, it’s not headed to the junkyard any time soon.

So what happens next? Well, two drivers are counting their blessings, two insurance companies are probably checking the terms of their policies very, very carefully and two restoration shops are going to be taking on two important commissions. And beautiful old cars will keep on racing ... and sometimes crashing.

A crash at the 73rd Goodwood Members Gary Parravani/Xynamic Automotive Photography

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