Mr Bean shows -- yet again -- he's no 007
( 2001-07-10 09:55 ) (7 )

British actor Rowan Atkinson -- best known to film and television audiences as the endlessly resourceful yet pathetic Mr Bean -- escaped unhurt over the weekend when he crashed his Aston Martin sportscar during a race.

"I believe his brakes had failed or did not work and he went off the track and hit a barrier," race director Steve Cooper explained.

Atkinson was examined by a doctor after crashing his car -- a model commonly associated with fictional spy hero James Bond -- but was "absolutely fine", Cooper said.

The accident was the third serious mishap encountered by Atkinson in as many years.

In March the actor was forced to seize the controls of a light aircraft when the pilot fainted in the sky over Kenya. In 1999, he escaped unharmed from crashing his MacLaren sportscar he had bought to celebrate the success of his film, "Bean".