A Melbourne businessman with a love for luxury cars has failed to appear at a New Zealand court after crashing a multi-million dollar vehicle near Queenstown on Saturday.
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Barry Leigh Fitzgerald, 63, has been charged with operating a vehicle carelessly after his McLaren F1 crashed on Glenorchy-Queenstown Road.
McLaren staff tried to shield media from the crash site, while Mr Fitzgerald was reportedly taken to the Queenstown Medical Centre with minor injuries to his thumb.
Outside the Queenstown District Court on Monday, his lawyer Nic Soper said his client was remanded at large without plea until January 16.
"All I can tell you is he didn't appear this morning ... [his car] is being looked after," he said.
The supercar, valued at an estimated $20 million, lost control and crashed into a ditch at Closeburn about 11.45am. The vehicle was one of a procession of McLaren cars travelling from Queenstown to Glenorchy.
It is not the first time the McLaren has crashed. According to blogging website, Supercar Chronicles, the former chief executive of Coca Cola Amatil in Australia, Dean Wills, bought the McLaren in England in the early 90s before importing it to Australia.
The car was reportedly being repaired when the BMW mechanic in charge of the repairs crashed the car. He did had permission to drive the car, however he was "with a couple of friends and it was very late at night".
After being rebuilt and given a darker shade of grey in England, the car was sold in 2005 to Tony Raftis who restored the wheels to their original colour and then resold the car in 2006 to current owner, Mr Fitzgerald, who owns several McDonald's franchises.
It is regularly used and displayed at the annual Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne. The businessman's other cars have snapped up a host of awards, including several titles from Melbourne's Motorclassica exhibition.
Mr Fitzgerald keeps some of his luxury vehicles, including the McLaren, at a garage in Collingwood.
He owns an apartment at an exclusive East Melbourne building overlooking the city.
Several years ago, the self-made businessman bought the heritage number plate VIC 17 from retired football player and television identity Sam Newman for more than $250,000.
- with Stuff.co.nz
