Orlando Bloom Celebrated Birthday by Crashing Formula E Race Car

At the time, the world went nuts to hear that Bloom got behind the wheel of a Formula E racer and screamed around the track at speeds sometimes reaching 225 km/h (139 mph). All went well, apparently.

Last week, according to several media outlets, Bloom also managed to crash the Renault race car. The incident reportedly happened after he locked up his rear tires and then accelerated abruptly during a left turn. He went spinning and stopped on the side barriers of the circuit.

Nothing happened to Bloom, but the Renault was left without its nose after the front of the car came off. The carbon-fiber part became a souvenir for the actor, as Bloom was allowed to take the car part home with him. The damages the car suffered were not that serious, and Bloom was uninjured in the incident.

Formula E is a racing series for electric race cars. There are currently ten teams, each comprising two drivers. All the cars in the series are called the Spark-Renault SRT 01E and are in fact a sort of Frankenstein of the racing world.

The chassis of the racer is designed by Dallara, while the electric motor powering it is the same used in the McLaren P1 supercar. The battery from which the Formula E car gets its power comes from Williams Advanced Engineering.

The instant torque develped by the electric motor allows the car to accelerate from naught to sixty in 3 seconds flat, on its way to the top speed, the same at which Bloom managed to drive the vehicle at one point during his fun: 225 km/h (139 mph).