Sports car bursts into flames as vlogger in the Philippines gives vehicle glowing review

An influencer and transgender activist in the Philippines on Nov 7 narrowly escaped a fiery death after a sports car she was driving suddenly burst into flames, just as she was recording herself giving it a glowing review.

In a three-minute video she posted on Instagram, Ms Angie Mead King, 44, could be seen vlogging about the Acura NSX she was driving.

Then, at the two-minute mark, she noticed flames spewing out of the rear of the car.

“Woah, woah! Fire! Fire!” she could be heard saying.

The last minute of the video saw her driving the car to the side of the road, frantically climbing out of it, and then trying to retrieve the car’s diagnostic scanner.

But she could save only her GoPro camera and handbag.

Ms King, a former race car driver, often documents car modification projects on social media.

She had been recording a video of herself praising the car’s performance and handling after she had it modified.

“It is such a different car now. It’s absolutely so torque-y. I’m only at 50 per cent throttle because we’re not tuned yet,” she said.

She said a supercharger had been installed to boost the car’s engine, and that it felt “proper, it sounds good… You can hear the engine really whine”.

She was revving the engine when the fire broke out in the engine bay.

In a separate Instagram post, where she shared a photo of the partially charred remains of the sports car, she described the experience as “traumatic, to say the least”.

“A fire extinguisher wouldn’t have put out the flames at all,” she said.

“I’m okay (but) my lungs hurt because the car was on fire while I was driving it, and the car dropped down and basically burst into flames,” recounted Ms King.

She said it could have been a “fuelling issue”.

She said despite the near-fatal drive, she would again get an NSX, calling it a “pure driver’s car”.

“But for now,” she said, “I’ll live another day.”

Her followers lauded her for staying calm under immense pressure.

“The way you have settled this on the side of the road is way calmer than any driver can,” sherleenmaeee commented on Ms King’s post.

Another praised Ms King for having the presence of mind to drive the car to the side of the road and not panicking.

‘Transwoman with too many cars’

Ms King is a leading figure in Philippine motorsports and the LGBTQ+ community.

Her family runs a large chain of budget hotels in the Philippines.

The family fortune has allowed her to indulge in her passion for sports cars, which she picked up from her father.

She has been buying and modifying cars since she bought her first car, a run-down Volkswagen, when she was just 15, completing over a hundred restoration and modification projects.

She personally owns a Ferrari 458 Spyder and a couple of Porsche 911s.

Born Ian Angelo King, Ms King publicly came out as a trans woman in 2016.

She was already married at the time to model and Channel (V) video jockey Joey Mead.

Despite the gender transition, the two have remained married.

“Well, the relationship is based on connection. It’s not based on gender,” Ms King told the entertainment site PEP.ph in 2023.

Nowadays, she has been calling herself the “transwoman with too many cars”.