Millionaire Maximuscle founder Zef Eisenberg dies attempting to break British land speed record

1

View
comments

The millionaire founder of Maximuscle has been revealed as the driver who died trying to break the British land speed record yesterday.

Zef Eisenberg was killed when his car ‘veered off the runway and flipped’ at Elvington Airfield, a former RAF base to the east of York, on Thursday afternoon.

The 47-year-old from Guernsey, who launched the supplement brand in 1995, had previously been involved in a 230mph crash at the same track in 2016, which nearly killed him.

Eisenberg’s wife confirmed to the BBC it was him who had died as a source revealed he had ‘veered off the runway and flipped’ the car.

His last Facebook post shows his Madmax 1200hp Porsche Sand Racer car refuelling on Wednesday, with the caption: ‘Late night testing….for the next stage of MADness….’

It added: ‘After it’s 239.6mph run at Vmax, let’s turn up the boost and see what the beast can deliver… updates to follow’. 

Eisenberg, who has a Guinness World Record and about 50 British and world land speed records, was well known for presenting ITV4’s Speed Freaks and The Bike Show.

The former bodybuilder’s 2016 crash at Elvington Airfield nearly killed him as he drove a jet turbine-powered motorbike at 230mph to try to set a new world record.

He was riding a £350,000 bike – the fastest of its kind in the world – built by the Madmax team he funded with cash from the £162million sale of Maximuscle in 2011.

The incident left him with 11 broken bones and he was presumed dead but overcome the devastating injuries and was back at the racetrack for the anniversary of his crash.

A finger tip search was being conducted of the runway at Elvington today as the investigation continued into the worse crash at the airfield in living memory.

The wreckage of the high powered sports car was removed on Thursday night by police on a low loader truck for a painstaking forensic examination.

A security guard who was on duty at the time said: ‘I have seen a lot of these record attempts. This is the worst crash I have seen here for years – worse than Richard Hammond.

‘The car just veered off the runway and flipped. The next thing I knew was all these police cars rolled up.’

Health and Safety officials from York Council arrived on site today to liaise with police searching the runway for clues.

An eight-strong team of specialist officers were searching the run way next to the Second World War green huts decked with union jack bunting of the adjoining Yorkshire Air Museum.

Flights are expected to be grounded while the probe continues on the runway, according to one health and safety official.

He added: ‘We are just here to see if this a health and safety enforcement area or not. Richard Hammond was a lucky fellow. These are risks you take when you take things to extreme.

‘I know there’s a thrill in being scared but it’s a thrill you would want to avoid most of the time. I guess some people are addicted to it for the adrenaline buzz.’

Eisenberg, also a herbalist, personal trainer and nutritionist, founded the Maximuscle company in 1995 with just £3,000 of his own money.

He built it into Britain’s largest supplier of sports nutritional products, which was sold to Darwin Private Equity in 2007 for £75million but Eisenbrg  remained the largest private shareholder.

In 2011 he cashed in, getting £162million for his stake from drugs company GlaxoSmithKline, and originally agreed to stay on as a consultant.

But he later left Maximuscle altogether and launched a £150million Dragon’s Den-style health fund, hearing pitches from entrepreneurs.

Eisenberg opened up to Goodwood Road & Racing about being on a motorbike racing at 200mph, saying: ‘At 234mph it was still accelerating. Rapidly.

‘But we were running out of runway, and I couldn’t hold on any longer. It took me three years of gym work to get to that speed. At 220mph the disc on my vertebrae was popping out. There’s so much force being put on the neck.’

The adrenaline junkie said his team put a strap running from his helmet to his body to ‘stop his head from snapping backwards’.

He added: ‘That allowed me to increase the speed without my neck compressing and popping out a disc each time. It’s not for the faint of heart.’

Eisenberg was born in London and left school after taking his GCSEs. He soon founded Maximuscle, which rocketed to the top of the sports nutrition industry.

He lived in Saint Peter Port in Guernsey where he help set up the largest concrete skatepark and largest adventure playground on the island. Only last month the racer unveiled the Eisenberg V8 – a a 3000cc V8 engine motorbike.

After earning his first £1million, Eisenberg told the FT his secret was to be ‘endlessly curious and (being) not afraid of commitment, hard work and trying to resolve things’.

He added: ‘My childhood was difficult but I learnt that the only way to survive is to work your way out of it, and if you fall down you have to pick yourself up again.’

North Yorkshire Police said they were called out to the ‘serious collision’ shortly after 4.30pm. It said the driver’s family had been informed and an investigation into the circumstances had begun.

Motorsport UK said it was working with the police and event organiser to probe the tragic incident.

In a statement, the body said: ‘Motorsport UK is deeply saddened to announce that a fatal accident occurred this afternoon at Elvington Airfield during a British Land Speed Record attempt.

‘Motorsport UK, together with the event organiser and the local police, has begun a full investigation into the circumstances of the incident.

‘Further information will be provided once the initial findings of the investigation are available. Our thoughts are with the driver’s family, who have been informed, the organisers of the event, and other members of the motorsport community present.’ 

Last year Eisenberg beat the ‘flying mile’ record held by actor Idris Elba, who took the title in 2015 after it stood for 88 years when Sir Malcolm Campbell reached 174mph in his iconic aero-engined Blue Bird.

Mr Eisenberg had already broken the sand speed record on a motorbike and added the flying mile record at 182mph (293km/h). 

But his attempts to top 200mph were thwarted after the engine on his Mad Max 400bhp supercharged Suzuki Hayabusa blew up.

He averaged 182.4mph over two miles on the beach in Carmarthenshire.

A flying mile takes the average speed over two mile-long runs, with a mile to get up to speed.

Actor Idris Elba achieved 180.361mph in a 650hp Bentley Continental Super Sport twin-turbo W12 in 2015.

However Eisenberg needed only a single run in both directions on the to surpass them both, with a rear tyre that was found to be falling apart after the first run.

Elvington was an RAF station until 1992 and has become a popular motorsports venue since entering private ownership. It has hosted dozens of world record attempts and is also used as a filming location.

On Sunday, Jason Liversidge, who has motor neurone disease, set a world speed record in his custom-made electric wheelchair.

And last week Andy Jennings, 28, from Swindon, set the Guinness World Record for the fastest wheelie bin, reaching speeds of 45.35mph in his homemade motorised bin.

It was the scene of a horror crash involving former Top Gear presenter Hammond in 2006. The 50-year-old was left in a coma for two weeks and with brain injuries after crashing a jet-powered car.

The privately-owned venue, which is an active airfield, is also a facility for driving, driver training, filming and other testing purposes for professional organisations.