A Canberra Institute of Technology student suffered a raft of serious injuries, including a fractured spine and skull, when he was partially ejected from a car that his classmate had driven "like a missile".
The young man's plight was revealed in documents tendered to the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday, when driver Michael Christopher Donlan pleaded guilty to three charges.
The documents show the 18-year-old offender, also known as Michael Spong, was driving to the institute's Bruce campus with the victim in the front passenger seat on February 17.
As Donlan's white Toyota Corolla sedan rocketed along Belconnen Way, the passenger looked at the speedometer and saw they were travelling at 160km/h in an 80km/h zone.
The vehicle roared past other cars, with one driver later telling police he had first spotted it, in his rear view mirror, "coming at me like a missile".
"The white car was going a million miles an hour and I could hear the car engine screaming as it passed me," this man told police.
The witness also said he feared someone was going to be killed.
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Donlan eventually lost control between the intersections with Gungahlin and Haydon drives as he tried to avoid a collision.
His attempt to suddenly change direction at high speed spun the car around, sending it backwards off Belconnen Way.
The car hit a fence and a tree, causing it to flip over onto its roof. It also took out a road sign before coming to rest.
The victim was partially ejected through the rear passenger side window, in which some of his body was trapped until firefighters arrived to cut him free.
Donlan, who managed to extricate himself from the car, told police at the scene that he had been "running late".
He also made comments that included: "We were going a bit quick. We were being dickheads."
ACT Policing's major collision team documented the scene and calculated that Donlan's vehicle had been travelling at 152km/h when he lost control.
Donlan suffered a broken nose, but his passenger's injuries were far more grave.
The passenger sustained a lacerated spleen, an orbital fracture around his left eye, a broken leg, and fractures of the spine and skull.
In recognition of those injuries, Donlan pleaded guilty over the phone on Friday morning to a charge of culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm.
The Hawker man also admitted charges of driving an uninsured and unregistered vehicle, having let the Corolla's registration expire in January.
Magistrate Glenn Theakston referred the matter for restorative justice and ordered a pre-sentence report following the entry of the pleas.
The case returns to court for Donlan's sentencing on December 16.
