Physics can hurt (Destiny)
not sure what happened here, i've played 50 something races on venus, and this was the only time that this happened to me. I was in 4th place on a pretty close race, on the final lap, when my sparrow decided it just couldn't take it anymore :(
Too Much Damage.
by Morpheus 
, High Charity, Sunday, December 27, 2015, 02:23 (3491 days ago) @ Schedonnardus
Happens all the time, racing or no. If you take a really hard landing(or in your case when you're bombarded by three Hydras, a few Minotaurs and a belly flop on the floor) that Sparrow is out. The only thing that stopped you from just standing there as your Sparrow goes flying off like it's supposed to is the race itself. If that was on Campaign/Crucible, you'd just lose the vehicle.