Chris Rado pushes his 1,200 horsepower front-wheel drive Scion tC to the absolute limits during the Global Time Attack season opener at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in Buttonwillow, California. Coming around one of the final turns of his hot lap a cam sensor failed then caused the vanos to be fully advanced which more than likely tagged, then dropped a valve. Another key factor is that due to excessive g's in the corners oil pressure dropped enough to score a bearing which eventually put a rod through the block igniting the fire and burning a portion of the engine bay and electronic components.

The onboard fire suppression system failed when Chris Rado pulled the pin so he doused the fire with backup fire extinguisher. Thankfully Chris walked away unharmed.