A sports car enthusiast yesterday walked away from his wrecked Corvette without a scratch after a collision with a minivan filled with tourists heading for Gozo.

The van’s eight occupants, including the driver, were taken to hospital, although no one suffered life-threatening injuries, sources said.

The accident occurred at about 9am when the 61-year-old Corvette driver had just set off along the Coast Road towards St Julian’s.

His house is round the corner from White Rocks, near the scene of the accident, and he was taking his treasured left-hand drive car for its VRT test. The red minivan was on its way to Gozo.

In the crash, the right flank of the car’s fibreglass body was ripped away.

The driver, luckily sitting on the left, emerged shaken but unscathed after the car skidded to a halt.

The minivan stopped on the opposite side of the road. The side of the vehcile where the driver was sitting was extensively damaged and the air bag was open and stained with blood.

Tyres, bits of broken glass and parts of the cars’ bodies were strewn across the road.

Police officers on site directed traffic between the two wrecks.

A colleague of the van driver, who arrived on the scene with his own van after hearing about the accident, said he had phoned his friend to see how he was.

“He answered the phone and said he was all right but in shock.

“It was just meant to be a normal day at work for him,” he said.

Friends and relatives of the Corvette’s driver arrived and hugged him after seeing he was miraculously unhurt – although others were sent to hospital.

He has a passion for sports cars and has at least two more, including a Lamborghini.