Australian motor racing legend Peter Brock has been killed in an accident while taking part in the Targa West rally in Western Australia, motor sport officials have confirmed.
Brock, 61, from Melbourne, became Australia's best known motor sport personality and a dominant figure in the sport.
West Australian police say a car competing in the Targa West rally crashed into a tree at Gidgegannup about 30 kilometres north-east of Perth about 12pm.
The car was carrying two people and one had died in the crash, he said.
The major crash investigation unit was at the scene, he said. Ambulances were not called.
Motor sport officials have confirmed the driver was Brock.
Brock, who was married with three children, was driving with Mick Hone in a Daytona Coupe.
The circumstances of the accident remain unclear.
The Targa West - which began in Perth yesterday - takes place over four days and is divided into two categories, competition and challenge, the latter catering for relatively standard specification road cars.
The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) said in a statement the accident occurred at about 11.50am (AEST).
Sixty-one-year-old Brock's co-driver, believed to Mick Hone, has been taken to hospital in a stable condition.
CAMS said it will conduct a full investigation into the incident.
"The co-driver has been conveyed to hospital in a stable condition," CAMS president Colin Osbourne said.
"CAMS will conduct a full investigation into the accident. In the meantime CAMS and event officials are working with the relevant civil authorities.
"On behalf of the motorsport community, CAMS offers its sincere sympathy to Peter's family and many friends."
Targa West is a tarmac special stage rally.
Brock was a dominant figure in Australian motor sport, winning the Bathurst 1000, Australia's most prominent domestic motorsport event, a total of nine times through the 1970s and 80s.
He won six Bathurst 1000 wins in seven years, including his victory in the 1979 event, which he won by a record six laps.
He retired from full-time driving in 1997.
Since 1997, he had made two return visits to Bathurst in 2002 and 2004 and returned to top-level touring car racing as a team owner of ``Team Brock'' in 2002 in the V8 Supercar category. A year later he sold his share in the team to Kees Weel.
In recent years, he occasionally competed in various motorsport events such as the Targa Tasmania.
The circumstances of the accident remain unclear.
The Targa West takes place over four days and is divided into two categories, competition and challenge, the latter catering for relatively standard specification road cars.
The rally began in Perth yesterday.
_________________ Trouble, Oh trouble can't you see, You have made me a wreck, Now won't you leave me in my misery
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