Indonesian celebrity Raffi Ahmad’s IDR19 billion Lamborghini Aventador catches fire, police suspect overheating

Happier times: Indonesian celebrity Raffi Ahmad in front of his Lamborghini Aventador in a video from June of this year. Screenshot from Youtube/Rans Entertainment
Happier times: Indonesian celebrity Raffi Ahmad in front of his Lamborghini Aventador in a video from June of this year. Screenshot from Youtube/Rans Entertainment

Indonesian celebrity Raffi Ahmad is known as an avid collector of sports cars, but even with his extensive collection, it’s hard to imagine he didn’t feel the sting of losing a multi-billion rupiah Lamborghini Aventador Roadster, which burst into flames over the weekend.

In a video posted recently on YouTube, Raffi recounted the moments leading up to the loss of his beloved sports car on Saturday afternoon. According to Raffi, his driver Salim drove the Lamborghini while he drove another car to Sentul International Circuit in Bogor Regency to shoot a vlog with Formula 2 racing driver Sean Gelael.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B31uyPQAd6m/

At one point in the shoot, they held a race between Salim in the Lamborghini and Sean in his muscle car. Raffi said he was sure that both cars weren’t driven at top speeds.

After the race, Raffi said he had to rush to another event. With Salim behind the wheel of the Aventador and Raffi in another car, they drove up an incline on their way out of Sentul when everything went downhill for the sports car — which is reportedly valued at IDR19 billion (US$1.3 million).

“I was ahead of Salim at that time. When I pulled over for a while, Salim said, ‘there’s smoke coming out [of the Lamborghini].’ I immediately felt weak to my knees, I didn’t know if I should go back or continue my drive because there was a traffic jam. I saw my car burning, the fire was big. I felt helpless and I almost cried,” Raffi said in the video.

The car’s license plates and important documents were retrieved before it was destroyed.

“To be honest, that was my dream car. But if it wasn’t meant to be mine, God will give me a better one,” Raffi said.

Bogor Police’s Traffic Unit Chief Fadli Amri confirmed that the car was driven by Salim before it burst into flames. He said the police initially took issue with the fact that the Aventador’s license plates weren’t attached to the car (an interesting point since Raffi has been accused of dodging paying taxes for his sports cars before).

“They admitted they were wrong, because the vehicle was initially used for shooting purposes and not to be driven on a public road. His friend (Salim) wanted to borrow the car, and he drove it from the Sentul Circuit to the direction of Sentul International Convention Center (SICC),” Fadli told reporters yesterday, as quoted by Kompas

Police believe the Aventador’s engine overheated as it passed the intersection near SICC. When the car combusted, there were several traffic police on patrol at the scene and they helped extinguish the fire.

“Maybe because [the driver] couldn’t drive the car, or wasn’t able to master it and other factors, the car overheated,” Fadli said.

At the time of incident, Fadli said Salim told the officers that the STNK (vehicle registration documents) perished in the fire. After being questioned, Salim said he didn’t carry it with him because the car wasn’t his.

“The STNK was under the name of Raffi’s mother (Amy Qanita), so we can confirm that the car was his,” Fadli said.

The Lamborghini Aventador is reportedly currently at a workshop to undergo a thorough inspection to find out the cause of the fire.

 

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