Crashed and wrote off the ex-vario at about 4am on new year's day. Driving near Penrith on the way to Ullswater, slid off on a tightening, downhill, off-camber corner.
The ambient temperature gauge said -3, and there was snow on the ground. I nearly fell over on foot when I got out of the wreckage, it was that slippy. Took 3 hours to get recovered to a local garage, and I had to pay £184 for the pleasure. And go get it with the 740 today.
I'm gutted to say the least. All of you have permission to slap me next time you see me.
Some photos from about 30mins after:







I've been busy starting to strip it today, but I'll let the news sink in before I pic dump the progress.

Let me be the first to commiserate you on the death of Red dude.

And the first to congratulate you on our continued walking around-ness, and not being all lying down with tubes coming in and out of you.

well saved.
Win.

Cheers man, I reckon I scrubbed off a lot of speed but still must have been doing about 20 on impact. Good job because that wall was the only thing between us and a 10 foot drop into an icy stream. Plus there was no mobile phone reception, not even for 999 calls. AND the fuel feed line snapped and p1ssed pez everywhere. Pretty scary when I look back on it.
On a slightly better note, it's become apparent that this isn't H584YRH's first crash. More on that tomorrow.

Looks like that motor could be too powerful for you.

Try a bus pass

Not the best of starts to the New Yr-still it's only a lump of metal at the end of the day.

I'll ask the current flavour of the month question after a crash......
Was the diff welded?sm75

At least I managed not to hit a sheep. Or was that Bill?
You're right about it being too perky, good job my other one will only have double the power.

Glad to hear your all right john, thats the main thing, shame about the car looked nice from what i saw of it when you came down.

Tis a bit scary how the bonnet just pops up like that though, hope it doesnt do it all the time.
i certainly think ill be slowing down for a while as ive had the back brake loose a few times over the past weeks due to the cold weather.

Look on the bright side tho, theres been a few great examples of 300's for sale lately and now you have the perfect excuse to buy one

Dan

Tell ya what IS weird, the bonnet is still A1 perfect, not a scratch. The engine bay is about 2 foot shorter on the N/S, but the bonnet just jumped up out the way. As for the impact, the crumple zone and safety cell did their jobs, I barely felt a thing.
Buying another may be a possibility, I'm rolling a borrowed 1.8 CVH sierra with near-terminal big end rattle and a serious appetite for oil.

filthyjohn wrote:At least I managed not to hit a sheep. Or was that Bill?

Baahhh,thump.Lamb chops

filthyjohn wrote:You're right about it being too perky, good job my other one will only have double the power.

Ahh,that's right 16v power.Best be pulling a couple of ht's off then or you'd be in the river for sure

Maybe's Torsten will trade what's left of the Auto against the Huggy mobile????

Do you wanna buy some lamps so you can see where you going off????

Nah this is my solution:



The question is, why didn't I fit them before going out over Hartside pass?

filthyjohn wrote: The question is, why didn't I fit them before going out over Hartside pass?

Cos in the muddy/icey they'll be worse than some econo tyres

The set I had had awesome dry road grip, but hated mud, leaves or ice.

^^^ Cool, that's one less 'what if' to worry about. The fronts were 'kingpin' remoulds, bought from a keen amatuer rallyist in wallsend...

filthyjohn wrote:
The question is, why didn't I fit them before going out over Hartside pass?

Because a 1400 auto wouldn't be able to climb Hartside with that monster rim/tyre combo

Bad luck friend - ice is a bitch for understeer.

Glad it's only your pride that's hurt - at least you'll have a good New Years eve story to tell

Auto? I swapped all that stuff out for a manual ages back.

You should start the story with an all time classic line "Twas a dark and stormy night..."