RE: What happened to the Rallye? PH Blog
Thursday 13th March 2014
I know. I'm sorry. This happened 10 days into 306 Rallye ownership, having only had it on the road properly for a week following the exhaust repair. It's taken until now to write about because, well, it's rather upsetting to talk publicly about crashing a dream car!
Heartbreak doesn't come close; it was a beautFurthermore, having only TPFT insurance cover and nowhere to store a damaged car meant a repair wasn't viable. It was on eBay almost as soon as I had signed it over to the recovery company. I hope someone buys the Rallye and fixes it up as it was a really sweet car, a credit to its previous owners.
What happened to the Rallye? PH Blog
Better to have loved and lost? Something for Matt to meditate on as he mourns his 306 Rallye
A combination of very greasy roads, over-enthusiasm, budget rear tyres and the 306's fondness for rear axle rotation resulted in the picture you see here. It was terrifying, the car literally snapping the instant after an ill-advised dab of brakes. Hitting another car just exacerbated the humiliation and damage. Thankfully it was only my pride that ended up getting injured.
Heartbreak doesn't come close; it was a beaut
Whatever anyone says can't make me feel any more despondent about the crash. It was a mistake that had the worst possible consequences, only a mile from my destination. Idiot.
Now I'm broke too! Shed Civic will probably be sold to raise some funds but I feel like there's some unfinished business with fast Peugeots. So as soon as money allows I will have another, be that 306 or 106 or 205. With good tyres fitted immediately. Until then please feel free to chuckle at the PH Reporter defeated by a FWD hatch!
Matt
Discussion
Heart felt condolences! Killed a MR2 MK1 id just finished restoring in a similar style luckily no other cars involved just a lamp post.
We are all used to alot of grip in modern cars with modern tires and i suspect driving the A45 AMG may have been poor driver training for a rallye. Hoping no lasting ill effects! What doesnt kill you makes you stronger :-)
We are all used to alot of grip in modern cars with modern tires and i suspect driving the A45 AMG may have been poor driver training for a rallye. Hoping no lasting ill effects! What doesnt kill you makes you stronger :-)
Glad to hear you're OK.
I had a similar moment in my old 205GTI years ago. Around 70mph on a dual carriageway coming up to bend followed shortly after by a roundabout. Realised I was going to fast, braked hard and the back end came out. Luckily the road was quite and I was able to control the car and keep it off the grass, but a very scary moment!
I had a similar moment in my old 205GTI years ago. Around 70mph on a dual carriageway coming up to bend followed shortly after by a roundabout. Realised I was going to fast, braked hard and the back end came out. Luckily the road was quite and I was able to control the car and keep it off the grass, but a very scary moment!
BritishRacinGrin said:
I'm sorry but I can't be the only one thinking that there must've been some pretty over-exuberant driving involved?
I'm sure if a new user subsribed to the forum and posted this up, people would've been either generally taking the mickey or suggesting driver training etc by now.
You're not, we're all thinking that - the clue was in the story, when he mentioned it himself. I'm sure if a new user subsribed to the forum and posted this up, people would've been either generally taking the mickey or suggesting driver training etc by now.
People make mistakes, that's why we're legally bound to buy insurance.
My experience with "old skool" french hot hatches is that they actually bite you when you don't expect it! When you are "hooning" you are ready for that tail to sweep around, and you drive accordingly, but often, at much lower speeds, it can do the same thing (bump in road, greasy road, and even worn out 'rear steer' bushes!) but you're simply not ready for it to happen, and by the time you have reacted, it's all too late.
My Zx16v would often be found completely sideways at high speed, throttle pinned, a load of oppo thrown at it, all was good. And then one day, at about 25mph, on a innocuous bend, whilst i was in a high gear (no drive torque to pull the front straight) the rear outside wheel hit a small pot hole and the car turned 90deg to the direction of travel in (what felt to be) an instant. By pure luck, i was the only car on the road, and a couple of fence posts were the only victims of that misadventure. After that, i taught myself to left foot brake at all times, even when trundling, so that there was no requirement to lift the throttle at any time into a corner.......
A close friend of mine, who had also brought a cheap 16ver from the local auction wasn't quite so lucky and managed to park it shiney side down in the middle of a fairly busy road, having visited a couple of ditches, 50m of hedge, and a couple of trees one the way there.
So RIP to the Rallye, hopefully it looks rebuildable, or at least it will give up it's powertrain to keep another running, and a lesson learned is a lesson learned hey!
My Zx16v would often be found completely sideways at high speed, throttle pinned, a load of oppo thrown at it, all was good. And then one day, at about 25mph, on a innocuous bend, whilst i was in a high gear (no drive torque to pull the front straight) the rear outside wheel hit a small pot hole and the car turned 90deg to the direction of travel in (what felt to be) an instant. By pure luck, i was the only car on the road, and a couple of fence posts were the only victims of that misadventure. After that, i taught myself to left foot brake at all times, even when trundling, so that there was no requirement to lift the throttle at any time into a corner.......
A close friend of mine, who had also brought a cheap 16ver from the local auction wasn't quite so lucky and managed to park it shiney side down in the middle of a fairly busy road, having visited a couple of ditches, 50m of hedge, and a couple of trees one the way there.
So RIP to the Rallye, hopefully it looks rebuildable, or at least it will give up it's powertrain to keep another running, and a lesson learned is a lesson learned hey!
People always blame the over-steer handling but in practice it's just cheap crap tyres that ruin these cars.
Why would anyone who had looked after the Rallye as a previous owner have had cheap crap tyres on it?
Were they old 90's P6000's
Then again the pre EBD 306's had those weird brake adjusters on the back axles, maybe that was playing up and caused a bad amount of rear braking bias?!
In my experience a well maintained 306 with good tyres will not bite at all. They are wonderfully soft and playful all over the place. Only an idiot would be able to crash a good one!
Dave
Why would anyone who had looked after the Rallye as a previous owner have had cheap crap tyres on it?
Were they old 90's P6000's
Then again the pre EBD 306's had those weird brake adjusters on the back axles, maybe that was playing up and caused a bad amount of rear braking bias?!
In my experience a well maintained 306 with good tyres will not bite at all. They are wonderfully soft and playful all over the place. Only an idiot would be able to crash a good one!
Dave
20 years ago i used to fit worn-out tires at the rear of my Mark 2 Jetta 1.8 which was great fun ... and... as you guessed right ended up in (almost) tears .. i got away with it alive and nobody got hurt.
So yes ! Go out and buy another Peugeot and immediately fit good tires and buy a set of extra wheels with cheap worn tires for special occasions :-)
So yes ! Go out and buy another Peugeot and immediately fit good tires and buy a set of extra wheels with cheap worn tires for special occasions :-)
Mr Whippy said:
People always blame the over-steer handling but in practice it's just cheap crap tyres that ruin these cars.
Why would anyone who had looked after the Rallye as a previous owner have had cheap crap tyres on it?
Were they old 90's P6000's
Then again the pre EBD 306's had those weird brake adjusters on the back axles, maybe that was playing up and caused a bad amount of rear braking bias?!
In my experience a well maintained 306 with good tyres will not bite at all. They are wonderfully soft and playful all over the place. Only an idiot would be able to crash a good one!
Dave
This! Why would anyone who had looked after the Rallye as a previous owner have had cheap crap tyres on it?
Were they old 90's P6000's
Then again the pre EBD 306's had those weird brake adjusters on the back axles, maybe that was playing up and caused a bad amount of rear braking bias?!
In my experience a well maintained 306 with good tyres will not bite at all. They are wonderfully soft and playful all over the place. Only an idiot would be able to crash a good one!
Dave
Once I had good tyres on my 205 gti it took alot to ahem 'provoke' it even in the wet you had to be consciously trying.
chungasarnies said:
s
t happens, I suppose. People will sneer but I bet most of us are guilty of 'over exuberant' driving too. Why only TPFT?? Almost never cheaper these days, especially on a 15yo hot hatch driven by a younger guy I'm thinking?
Silly hangover from pre-university driving where there was a big difference in prices. Just (foolishly) thought any incident would be cheaply repairable. Won't be doing it again!t happens, I suppose. People will sneer but I bet most of us are guilty of 'over exuberant' driving too. Why only TPFT?? Almost never cheaper these days, especially on a 15yo hot hatch driven by a younger guy I'm thinking?blackchrome917 said:
You really ought to take more care with a new (to you) car.
We live and learn I guess. But the above quote has some resonance with me.I always give a new (to me) car a month or so where I work out how much I can lean on it and how it behaves.
I've done it throughout the 20 odd years I've been driving and never had a problem.
It's a wonder these Peugeots weren't banned for being so dangerous ;-).
Prime example why you shouldn't be a tight git on tyres, only thing that stops you pointing in the wrong direction into a hedge (see above)
I once fitted some 'infinity's' to my 306hdi when I was a skint young'un and after the first wet bend I took the car back to the garage and to my great expensive (really couldnt afford it at the time either, why I went for the plastic tyres in the first place)got some decent rubber put on it.
My 306 died much more spectacularly (Not my fault or the tyres I may add and I was bloody hurt lol, I wish I was in a modern car now regardless of this extra weight we always seem to winge about)
I once fitted some 'infinity's' to my 306hdi when I was a skint young'un and after the first wet bend I took the car back to the garage and to my great expensive (really couldnt afford it at the time either, why I went for the plastic tyres in the first place)got some decent rubber put on it.
My 306 died much more spectacularly (Not my fault or the tyres I may add and I was bloody hurt lol, I wish I was in a modern car now regardless of this extra weight we always seem to winge about)
Edited by dukebox9reg on Thursday 13th March 11:22
Edited by dukebox9reg on Thursday 13th March 11:26
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff