'*******s' is the key word phrase here.

Well looks like my time came last night and unfortunatly I had an accident in the valver.

Went to my local hatton meet after week, which although I showed up quite late, was still an excellant meet with a good turn out! Car looked in good shape, had it cleaned and polished earlier, even autosoled the exhaust.

19:30 odd;





Stayed for afew hours before heading off in convoy with some others from tamworth.

I went back to my house, had some tea and set off to university with a mate in the car. Instead of going back to my accomodation carpark, at the last minute decided on going for a drive round town, 20 seconds later....

21:30 odd;







I was doing about 35 and approached a bend in the wet, the car didnt make it round. Me being inexpierencing braked it, but straight it went. It took out the big steel bollard which you can see under the car, but the lampost didnt shift atall. I immediatly turned the ig off, got out and tried to see if there was any potential danger from the car, but it looked ok. 2minutes after I dailed 999 the police came.

The car had to be moved, so the police officer who was first on the scene asked me to try and see if it drove, which remarkablly, it did! Was ****ing oil though, so could drive it anyway, so he then asked me to reverse it back onto the pavement. Which again, it did ok. Only thing I could hear was the rad fan clicking

21:45;









and that was that. I was surprisingly calm about it, and it only really set in when i had some time to myself in the night. You live and you learn I guess.

Today I assessed the damage, will post about that later. Ill be back on the road, either in this one or another soon enough I hope.

Cheers for everyones support ive talked to!

dave



PS the VW badge from the grill lived!

 

Damn mate, thats really bad luck, know how you waited for ages for the insurance and everything to drive it [:^(]

At least your alright, car can be repaired or replaced, hopefully sooner rather than later.

If it helps.. I have managed to disable every electrical accesory in my car and no money to sort it

 

f**k that looks bad mate are you gonna keep it ifr it can be repairedlooks pricey tho??

 

Nooooo! Unlucky mate, hope you can get it sorted!

My mate did pretty much the same thing on friday. Understeered in the wet into a curb in his mini cooper. Did all the front wheel and suspension and the cost from BMW? 1400!

 

Mate that's tragic! [:^(]

 

shame dude but don't think that will be back on the road again

 

Unlucky, but at least it was bollard and not a person.
Usually when the headlamps are facing each other it is the end of the road for the car.

 

luck had nothing to do with it....he messed up

spoke to dave on msn, sounds like he locked up and stayed hard on the pedal.

you got the panels off to have a look at the hidden damage yet?

 

Is that the bit by what used to be the Litten Tree, or maybe still is, and by that pub in the bottom of the Spire, called Spire I believe?

 

Unlucky mate, happens to the best of us...and the worst.

just lucky.....if that was a rover it'd be in about 2000 peices.

 

hehe

 

Ive seen a few people hit the bollards there in the wet!!

Tut tut though, isnt it a 30mph limit there!!!

From what i can see of the damage i will have everything to fix that lying in my garage!

Oh and on a final note.. David has been owned by a lampost!!!

 

The thread for that is here, moron, and it is still going strong.

David, 35 round there in the wet, you are quite brave aren't you!

They've already replaced your bollard though, which is supprisingly efficient of them!

 

Hard luck David, looks nasty. Let us know what happens with it

 

oops damn mate!!!!!

yeah 35 around a wet bend is a tad quick lol....

 

Ouch, if only you were driving a GTI-R. [:^(]

 

You live and learn dave - hope the next one lasts longer, shame you saved so long over the summer for this to happen - just take it easy in the wet

 

Ouch though! Unlucky. How bad is the extent of the damage?

35 in the wet is adventorous! 30mph gave my lift off oversteer when i had the mk2 in the wet!

Hope its ok and won't be too bad. Hope insurance works out ok.

 

So i managed to get a better idea of the damage today. The car ended up at a friends house, he has more space than me which is always a bonus, oh and 5 golfs at the house...And the dad is a mechanic. GWM had some good overnight company...



I had some confrontation with the old man about me taking it home last night, he wasnt having it on the drive, he wanted it scrapped straight off, didnt want to 'clutter his house' and mess the driveway up. Argued for a good half an hour last night. Anyway, I told the lorry driver to set off to my house anyway.....I was either going to plonk it on the road outside, or stick it in a carpark nearby, both being not the best of plans. Anyway on the way, i had a spark of brain energy and remembered this guy, and he was happy to let me keep it there Basically, over my dead body it was getting scapped Was abit hairy on the final mile odd, he lives down a long country lane which was getting thinner and thinner....and had a ford on which was flowing, lorry nearly cut out when going through!

anyway, back on track. Now in the daylight, the damage came abit more clearer...









so as you can see, theres a novelty sized lampost shaped dent in the front... Managed to open the bonnet eventually, heres the result;







so, it doesnt look toooo bad initially. The rad hose is as bent as george micheal, and the fan is making love to the rad and engine block. Also the impact damaged the filter, or something around it so its leaking oil. Its not from the sump though.

this is where me and my mate noticed the first signs of another problem. There was a big crack on that (mount??). Also you can see in the second picture, the CV joint cover to the right of the red wire is touching the thing behind it. which of course it shouldnt.





I checked the gaps between the tires, the right i could get about 4 fingers behind or more, the other only 2 and abit....Took the wheel off to have a look



anyway, before I took the tire off as above, we'd spent a good hour and abit getting off the front. bumper, slampanel, rad trim etc, being careful not to break the fogs and headlights. At one point the angle grinder came in handy felt weird though, chopping up your own car [:^(]





just a minor ding, it'll push out.





I wasnt totally sure if I was going to right it off or not. So left it until my friends dad came back from work. Got a call at 7ish, and he confirmed it was indeed not the worth the money to repair. he said the chassis leg was bent, although this wasnt noticable by eye.

Once I saw the wheel and driveshaft earlier I knew it was over. So just accepted it.

Im still not sending it to a scrapyard just yet. I'll have a think.

I said 35 on approach, so started slowing down before hand, but still was obviously to fast, car couldnt grip....smack.

I shall keep you updated on the situation, and GWMs journey to **** knows where.



Dubya, sure is that bend. And ye, they came to do it an hour odd after I KO'd it. As my brother in law said (police) and the copper that arrived on the scene, it happens most weeks. Im sure its routine for them now. When the landscape guys arrived I tried saying "I swear it was already knocked over" but didnt work...They used the original bollard I noticed. I also noticed my bodywork was still hanging on the lampost

DAVE2227, would rather it was a chav than a bollard although the lampost did the damage really! Sturdy as a cliff that was. Not a dent.

Deako, if i was in a GTI-R i'd probably of ended up in teh church thing behind the lampost!

G-Man, *******s to going through insurance, it already costs to much! They'll **** rape me!

 

ooooft!


shame

if you're not repairing it - break it for bits! you'll gt a fair whack (pun intended!) back that way