Anita Board: Eight-year-old girl killed in drag racing crash

Youngster was driving a vehicle that had a top speed of 30mph

Anita got behind the wheel in Perth, Australia in a bid to get her licence and compete (AFP/Getty Images)

An eight-year-old girl has died after her junior drag racing car crashed into a concrete barrier.

Anita Board had was performing a test run at the track in Perth, Australia, in a vehicle with a top speed of 30mph.

She was hoping to get get her licence and compete in her chosen sport.

At eight-years-old, it is legal to race under official rules in Western Australia.

Ministers have now suspended junior drag racing there pending an outcome of the investigation into the crash at the Perth Motorplex.

“My heart in a million pieces,” Anita’s father Ian wrote in a Facebook tribute.

He added: “Our angel setting [out] on what was meant to be [a] day to remember for all the right reasons."

But he warned officials not to overreact to her death, saying both he and his partner had carefully picked the sport for their two daughters.

“We chose drag racing because we believed it was the safest form of motorsport that we could allow our girls to do," he told Australia's ABC News. “The history speaks for itself and sadly this one-in-a-million event happened to us, to our little girl.

"We do understand there needs to be a couple of changes but we don't believe there needs to be major change."

Sport and Recreation Minister Mick Murray has banned all drag racing in Western Australia pending the investigation into Anita’s death.

"The State Government will wait until the details of the accident are clear following the investigation before taking any further action," he said.

However, Junior Dragster Australia's Mike Sprlyan, told news site Perth Now, that beginner racers in the eight to 17 category took to tracks in vehicles that reached up to 30mph.

He added that it was not uncommon for eight year old drivers to compete.