What's been your biggest/worst 'moment'??

Soldato
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As topic really :) What have been your closest calls or biggest self induced or otherwise moments???

Mine was earlier on this year, May time, driving down a big wide open A road in the middle of the day in my new Festa at about 70 - absolutely nothing else about.

Saw this astra appear on a side road, coming down to turn onto the road I was on, so lifted off, and prepared for him to do a stupid and pull out in front of me, but he stopped at the junction and went to look over his shoulder, so I put my foot back down.

Now, having looked over his shoulder and acknowledged my car (made eye contact with him), he pulled out in front of me. I had just passed the 100 yards to junction sign and was doing 70....eep!!

So, on go the brakes to the point of almost locking, and the car suddely veered to the left pointing at about 10 degrees to the left of the way it was travelling in a rather large slide, starting at 70, and rapidly slowing down :eek:

Anyways, I kept it under control just about, and the astra guy realised what was happening and put his foot down so I didn't even come close to running up the back of him (phew!)

Anyways, got home and checked the brakes, and it turned out that on one side, the water seal on the piston which activates the brake pad had come off around just under half of it's circumference, water had got in and rust was stopping it working - so only one front brake was working :eek:

Anyways, all fixed and no harm done, apart from some new hunderpants which were needed :p
 
Soldato
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Worst moment behind the wheel for me was running into the back of a D reg Nissan Bluebird in August whilst I was waving to a customer in a field at the side of the road. Unfortunately he then touched a Nissan Micra and the whole bill came to over £600 worth of damage :( Was a definite moment of brain fade and something I'd never do again. Fortunately I was not driving my own car (had I been, Im 99% certain I would have stopped in good time) and it didnt affect my personal NCB. My guvner wasn't right happy about it, but other employees have done much worse.
 
Man of Honour
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Ottakring, Vienna.
December.

Rain

Mountain Road (A4069)

Hairpin bends

Ford Sierra 2.0, ported head etc, twin choke Weber, 1.6 diff for sharp acceleration etc etc, RS 4 spokes on the front (7" wide) 165/75/13's on the back. Grip is not an option.


Something told me to go for a play up on the mountain. It was wet, windy and misty too, so I figured the mountain would be fairly deserted.
By the time I came to the 90 left uphill bend I was pulling around 100mph (trust me that's fast for the road)
Decided a slide was in order, slammed down hard on the brakes, dropped to third which locked the rear wheels, flicked her right a touch, dropped to second (which has a pendulum effect causing the rear wheels to break free) and nailed the throttle.

I got halfway through the bend in a sheer tyre-spinning frenzy of delight...then at the apex the remould on the passenger side touched the slippery centre-line of the road and round she went....as a spangly new Audi RS4 came charging down towards the hairpin from the other direction.

Had I had a limited slip-diff fitted I might have been able to hold the slide and pull it out of the spin. As it was, I managed a completely amateurish 270 degree pirrhouette in front of the Audi. :o

He had to come to a complete stop and was not amused as I attempted a flustered 3-point turn and drove off feeling very silly indeed.


There have been literally hundreds of near misses, but that's one that I'll always remember.
 
Man of Honour
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I'm back baby!
Hmmm @ Leon ;)

I was driving back from a nightshift in manchester. 6:30AM, Winter, M62, fog+drizzle. Not good.

Got to the top of the motorway (which goes over the pennines and is the highest motorway in Britain).

Dropped into a valley at the bottom of which there is a slight left movement required and then the road begins a rapid ascent once more before a fairly sharp bend to the left.

I blacked out right before the apex of the bottom turn. I was doing ~70/75 in the left lane (empty motorway) at the time. Came to 15/20 seconds later doing over 90 about to hit the rumble strips next to the central reservation at the top of the hill right when the left turn was required.

That REALLY scared me. I was seriously shaken when I got home.

That was the first and last nightshift from that week. I booked straight into the docs and was given medication for it. I hadn't fallen asleep, I'd blacked out. If I'd not come to when I did, I have no doubt I'd have been killed. 90-100 mph into the central reservation in those conditions aint good news.
 
Soldato
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Sounds like fun lopez :)

Had a brown trousers moment in cornwall a month or so ago - was coming to pass an oncoming tractor - had it's scoop in the air and a h00ge H bar girder balanced on the top - not even tied down :eek:

Just as I came up to pass him, he drove through a pothole, this girder wobbled, and started to slide off the scoop...just as i was driving underneath!!!!!! But it managed to keep it's balance and all was fine. I shudder to think at the damage to the car, or more importantly, me and a mate that that could have done!
 
Man of Honour
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It would have to be my crash last month.

I was driving home on my Suzuki TS125 at around 5.30pm along a main road which has 2 lanes in each direction, but not seperated like a dual carraigeway. I was doing about 40mph as it was a rotten night and the rain was lashing down. As I was going to turn right on up the road I changed to the right hand lane. I was approaching a petrol station on my left with some cars waiting to come out. I slowed a bit to about 35mph and when i was about 100yds away I countinued on as it looked like the cars had seen me. To my shock the driver who was coming out of the petrol station to turn right, therefore needing to cross my lane, just shot out into the middle of my lane, heard my horn and seen the light and stopped dead, RIGHT IN MY LANE. There was nothing I could do, I was doing about 35 and was less than 30yds from the car.

I hit the brakes and the stupid back drum brake locked the back wheel and the rear end slid out to the right which meant i hit the car with the right side of my body. I was flung right over the roof of the car (impact on the drivers door) and landed about 15 yards past the car. The bike didn't go over the car but instead shot off to the left. Luckily there were no cars behind me or else it would have been a lot worse.

The bike came out with surprisingly little visible damage. The solid steel petrol tank had a massive dent in the right side where my knee was caught between it and the car on impact. The front forks were bent slightly which meant it was written off.

Now I'm sitting here with an extremely bad back and dodgy knee. I'm just thankfull I came out without any major injuries, it could have been a lot worse. It did give me a scare at the time but now that I think about it it makes me want to drive bikes moreso than before. I always had my doubts before as I had never experienced a road accident (plenty of race crashes), but now I know the score and want to get biking again.
 
Man of Honour
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Oooh I've had a bike one too. :D

Suzuki GS125, first day on the bike and I'd gone up the mountain (surprise surprise) for a blast.
Infact, it was the same hairpin I mentioned in the Sierra incident, except this time it was dark and I was coming back down, makingit a right-hander with a barrier between me and 100 foot drop on my left.

I wasn't charging, probably braked to about 40 for the bend, leaned over and took the corner.
Unfortunately the Suzi had a pretty loose box - with my toe under the gear lever, as I leaned over my foot nudged the selector from 2nd up into 3rd....

Anyone who rides bikes can guess what that did - total lack of drive out of the corner, ran totally wide, leaned more and lowsided it. :o

I remember thinking "Musn't let my lid hit the deck!" as I slid down the tarmac. I actually thought I'd stopped at one point, tried to get up, and fell over again when I realised I was still moving at about 15-20 mph. :D

When I came to a halt the bike was still running. I picked her up, forgetting it was still in 3rd, the back wheel hit the floor and the bike promptly fell onto me.

I rode it home with no front brake (the reservoir on the handlebars had broken) and a busted headlight along with bent pegs and a dented tank.

What was more amusing was that it wore through the laces on my boots, I had none spare and needed them for school the next day, so I had to pinch the laces from my trainers (white!) and consequently became the laughing stock of all my biking mates at schoolwhen they noticed and I was forced to come up with what happened.
 

IDY

IDY

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Worst moment? when I realised that I was sliding into the car in front and I was not going to stop. I wrote my car off and the car I hit. Luckly the guy in front just bruised his elbow, I didn't even get a bruise.

IDY
 
Man of Honour
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I've described this one in the past, but here we go again :)

I was driving to college along the A38 - a dual carraigeway subject to a 70mph NSL. The road was very quiet - I was on the inside lane, with 2 cars behind me. I was travelling at 70mph.

As I rounded a long sweeping bend, I saw a tractor in the distance, with a car behind it. I gently moved out into the outside lane in plenty of time, and eased off the throttle expecting the car behind the tractor to pull around the tractor.

As I got closer, it didn't move - it stayed behind the tractor. We were approaching a slip road, so I assumed that the car (A white heavily loaded Mk3 Fiesta - 3 lads in the back, 2 in the front) was pulling off at the next junction hence no attempt to overtake the tractor in the 40 or so seconds I'd had it in view.

I began to raise my speed back up to my 70mph cruising speed, and was about to pass the tractor. The other two cars were still behind me. As I was getting close to the Fiesta, it suddenly lunged out into the outside lane without indicating.

The tractor was a standard one - not one of the super-duper fast ones, so it must have been travelling at about 20mph.

So, there was me, travelling at 70mph with two cars right behind me at the same speed, and in front of me was a fully loaded Fiesta travelling at 20mph. I did the only thing I could - I slammed my brakes on and hoped the people behind did the same. I could feel the ABS kicking in as the car slowed down, and I must have been about 3 feet from the back of the Fiesta when I managed to match it's speed.

I had to pull off at the next junction for a quick breather, as it was such a scary experience. I still do this day do not have any idea why the fully loaded underpowered shoebox spent so long behind the tractor when the outside lane was clear, and why it only decided to overtake when 3 cars were almost upon it in the outside lane. I also think myself very lucky that the two cars behind me (One of which was a Volvo estate!) had drivers which were paying attention. I also wonder what would have happened had I been in my previous car - which had no ABS, and rear drum brakes...
 
Soldato
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Best moment was getting my MG ZR, worst moment was a couple of days later chasing it down the driveways as it rolled away accross the road whilst getting it out of the garage:o
 
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Some silly tart in an artic pulling out in front of me on my duke on the A5...

My first ever stoppie....

Shook my head at her and she gave me a mouthfull of abuse....

Not like she shouldnt have given way or anything... but hey she's bigger than me so guess it don't matter... sheesh...

No wonder motorcycling is so dangerous with morons like that driving.....

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
Soldato
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Top thread.

Just got my '89 Mk2 GTI and was out for a hoon on the country roads in the hills around Lancaster. So in front of me is a nice right hander, which I got just right with a heel-toe down into 3rd, matching the revs nice. Unfortunately this right hander is straight for about 20 metres then goes into another right hander, which I was going way too fast for. I have nasty 'Vera' brand tyres on the front - queue much squealing from all tyres as I go into a slide heading hedgewards. Somehow I managed to save it - luckily I found the limit with those crap tyres without ending up in a ditch. :eek:

Also the other day I was driving at a decent speed on this road (fine for the conditions) and then noticed in front of me a sea of water. This was a serious flood. So on go the brakes, start sliding into this water, also concentrating on keeping the revs high to avoid a stall. Got through it okay but it gave me a fright.
 
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ive never really had a propper moment

once managed to come out of a 90degree left hander...tight as anything...on the wrong side of the road :o was only doing about 30 completly misjudged it :rolleyes: the funny thing was me and me mate realised at the same moment that i wasnt gonna make it as i first planned. both of us were going AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! all the way round the corner...hillarious...fortunatly no1 ever uses that road. not once ahve i ever seen another car on it. that was the first time id been on it so i was a little worried.

only other time i can think of is almost slamming into the car in front waving to lady friend...locked back wheels and somehow managed to stop. was only at 30 but i saw it late...never have i waved at anyone ever again

my car dont go fast enough to get me in trouble :p
 
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Back in my younger loonier days (Ok last year) I was going round a nice right hand bend at around 75 (ok it was a 60 limit and 75 was about as fast as was safe for the slightly wet conditions) when a car emerged from a conceled road on my left, foolishly I ifted off and tightend the turn a little (if he had come out any further I wouldn't have had a chance of missing him). Now I knew as I did it that lifting off was a bit of a bad idea but it was rather a reflex, the back end swung out (probably no more that 40 degrees or so, but it felt a lot) and the front made a bee line for the wrong side of the road some how I maneged to avoid hitting anything or ending up the wrong way but it took a few seconds to get the back under controll again. I bet that looked a sight a polo fish tailing down the road.
 
Man of Honour
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Originally posted by Lopéz

I rode it home with no front brake (the reservoir on the handlebars had broken) and a busted headlight along with bent pegs and a dented tank.


WUSS

GS125ES!

Electric Start and DISC FRONT BRAKE

you want a REAL GS

Kick Start that could break your leg, and Drums all round..


In Blue,

with a debaffled 250 twin exhaust welded on :p
 
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i wouldnt say this was a dangerous situation to be in, but it was rather fun.

went over a bridge at 70mph and the car took off :D when it landed over the other side i had to brake and turn left quite sharply, left a foot long skidmark on the road lol

think i even bellied the car cos it made a "thud" "scrape" sound hehe
 
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worst for me was when i reversed into my mates ford escort. i was reversing out of my drive and was more interested in what my mom was saying to me instead of looking where i was going, she turned to walk back into the house and i heard "crunch". so i pull forward and jump out, to find my back end caved in :o i go to check my mates car, and not so much as a scratch. cant even see where i hit it :rolleyes: insurance sorted it for me though :)

not really had any other scary moments yet
 
Soldato
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Originally posted by zippy
...I think i even bellied the car cos it made a "thud" "scrape" sound hehe.

A mate of mine did this a while back in a Citroen 2CV. It made a thud" "scrape" sound followed by a crack sound and went no further. He'd broken it's back!
 
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Only been driving ~ a year, but had a pretty dodgy moment last week. Going down a country lane that admittedly I didn't know. I wasn't going all that fast, about 40 in a 60. A lethal left hand bend came out of nowhere, none of those black and white triangle things to show that it was a tight corner, nothing.

Anyway, realising how tight this corner was at the last moment, I hit the brakes and threw the wheel round. Half way through the corner, I had gone wide and was on the other side of the road and then, noticing a JUNCTION :eek: about 10 metres away, I didn't have time to think before I had shoved the brakes as hard as I could.

The result ?? a huge slide right across the junction, on the wrong side of the road, and I stopped no more than a couple of feet away from a metal post. Luckily it was a quiet road and nothing was coming, although another car did pull up at the junction a few seconds later. Must have given them a good laugh :p

I've only had my car a couple of months, and it still has the nasty tyres that were on it when I brought it. Going to get them replaced asap now, because I wouldn't have had any probs getting round the corner with decent tyres.
 
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