[stevesingo]

Glad to hear the everyone is OK and the car will be fine.

As always the case, when we "press on" and we think it is well within the reason, there is always someone else on a different script. I find it intensely frustration that people are allowed such a great responsibility of controlling a machine that can kill and cause havoc, but at the same time be blissfully unaware of that responsibility. Being in the military, I am fully aware of the lengths that we go to in order to ensure safety with fire arms, but equally dangerous machines are put in the hands of imbeciles every day, without a thought.

Best of luck for the future

Steve

[35secToNuvolari]

I can only reiterate what others have already said. It's good to hear that everyone is fine. All the best.

[Libertine]

If it has happened in any other car, no one would have bothered publishing it. Oh, the price you pay to drive such a machine...a price that I'd be willing to pay

Good to hear it from the horses mouth, so to speak. Any idea on the time to get it back into shape?

[flemke]

Libertine said:

If it has happened in any other car, no one would have bothered publishing it. Oh, the price you pay to drive such a machine...a price that I'd be willing to pay

Good to hear it from the horses mouth, so to speak. Any idea on the time to get it back into shape?

I won't even hear the ETA until end of month or later. My uninformed guess is Dec/Jan.

[Police State]

flemke said:

Libertine said:

If it has happened in any other car, no one would have bothered publishing it. Oh, the price you pay to drive such a machine...a price that I'd be willing to pay

Good to hear it from the horses mouth, so to speak. Any idea on the time to get it back into shape?

I won't even hear the ETA until end of month or later. My uninformed guess is Dec/Jan.

Very sorry to hear of your bad luck; but I guess 'small' bad luck is preferable to 'big' bad luck. On another note, will you be claiming on your insurance, or being mindful about the potential hike in premiums, will you take it on the financial chin? I assume you're most likely able to absorb the direct cost, but given that you have a 'collection' of lovely motors, I also assume it would have a financial impact across the board. You can of course avoid the potentially nosey question (but is really idle curiosity), which would be understandable. It's just that I was recently in an almost identical situation, albeit on a significantly more modest scale and took the financial decision to cough up the cash on the basis that it was the 'cheaper' option; but I figure you don't necessarily have too much worry about future financial outlay, respecting of course that regardless, money is money and should be respected to a certain degree.

[Benni]

Good to read that no one was hurt except the cars, maybe wallet and pride.

I have been reading here for a long time and have enjoyed the "tune" of both the car and the thread,
including some diversions into the history of sportscars and lettering (wd?)design.

NOW in am putting my Simpson 5-layer flameproof suit on, but I have to make a remark about the
"missing signs for highway under constuction" as I drive there some times a year :
Is this downhill part of the A 48 not restricted to 100 Km/h (62mph) anyway ?
http://www.autobahnatlas-online.de/A48.htm
So my guess is that the "caution / reduce speed-roadworks ahead / lane(s) closed" signs
were put up closer to the construction site because of the speed restriction already in place.
Or was this way before the exit "Bendorf/Neuwied" and the Rhine Bridge ?

Hope OP will reach the Ring (or other destination) in better shape next time.

[flemke]

Police State said:

flemke said:

Libertine said:

If it has happened in any other car, no one would have bothered publishing it. Oh, the price you pay to drive such a machine...a price that I'd be willing to pay

Good to hear it from the horses mouth, so to speak. Any idea on the time to get it back into shape?

I won't even hear the ETA until end of month or later. My uninformed guess is Dec/Jan.

Very sorry to hear of your bad luck; but I guess 'small' bad luck is preferable to 'big' bad luck. On another note, will you be claiming on your insurance, or being mindful about the potential hike in premiums, will you take it on the financial chin? I assume you're most likely able to absorb the direct cost, but given that you have a 'collection' of lovely motors, I also assume it would have a financial impact across the board. You can of course avoid the potentially nosey question (but is really idle curiosity), which would be understandable. It's just that I was recently in an almost identical situation, albeit on a significantly more modest scale and took the financial decision to cough up the cash on the basis that it was the 'cheaper' option; but I figure you don't necessarily have too much worry about future financial outlay, respecting of course that regardless, money is money and should be respected to a certain degree.

I'm waiting for them to get back to me with the name of a person at the underwriter who has the authority to make decisions.
I was legally obliged to inform them of the incident, which I have done. They (the industry generally) can say all they want about no-claims-this or loading-that: they're just words. It will come down to what they would propose to do about settling the claim, and how my claiming or not claiming would affect future premiums.

[flemke]

Benni said:

Good to read that no one was hurt except the cars, maybe wallet and pride.

I have been reading here for a long time and have enjoyed the "tune" of both the car and the thread,
including some diversions into the history of sportscars and lettering (wd?)design.

NOW in am putting my Simpson 5-layer flameproof suit on, but I have to make a remark about the
"missing signs for highway under constuction" as I drive there some times a year :
Is this downhill part of the A 48 not restricted to 100 Km/h (62mph) anyway ?
http://www.autobahnatlas-online.de/A48.htm
So my guess is that the "caution / reduce speed-roadworks ahead / lane(s) closed" signs
were put up closer to the construction site because of the speed restriction already in place.
Or was this way before the exit "Bendorf/Neuwied" and the Rhine Bridge ?

Hope OP will reach the Ring (or other destination) in better shape next time.

Benni,

No worries about flameproofs. If I cannot answer a challenging question adequately, I should keep my fingers away from the keyboard.

Yes, this is the downhill section just before the left bend, the B/N exit and then the bridge, and, yes, it's restricted to 100 kph, both normally and currently.
The incident occurred at about 1:30 pm on a Friday. That is, far from a time when traffic would be at its densest. Yet even at this time, the traffic had stacked up as far back as the apex of the bend. Based on this, at rush hour the queue would be even farther through the bend and up the hill.
If the normal, no-roadworks, speed limit for this section is 100 (because of, I presume, the bend and the hill), then how can the speed limit for the same section, when there is a premeditated, total closure just beyond that bend, also be 100 kph? Either 100 is too low for normal daily usage, or 100 is too high for a total closure.
I would say that they're both wrong. I have always thought that about the former. Wrt the latter, when I was leaving the scene and had traveled just that bit farther ahead, I was gobsmacked to see that they were taking every vehicle off the Autobahn, as the motorway itself was blockaded. The section of Autobahn beyond was filled with giant asphalt-laying machines, rollers, piles of materials - the entire width of carriageway was a work site.
ISTM that you can't send Autobahn traffic, which only about a mile previous had been on a fully derestricted section, down a long, steep hill and into an unsighted blockade at "only" 62 miles per hour and expect that it will all sort itself out.

Cheers.

[Mazda Baiter]

Good to hear that you (and the others involved) are ok.

Being as the car will be pulled apart soon, will the car stay blue? Or is this the time to change colour? I know you have mentioned fairly recently about a darkish green.

[Fume troll]

Glad everyone's ok. I experienced a similar set of circumstances (albeit in somewhat less exotic machinery!) a good while ago, and ended up wishing I'd stayed in the over taking lane and hit the person who pulled out in front of me. In fact I didn't, thinking there was more room in the left hand lane. There was, but not enough, and I ended up meeting a lamp post. The driver who pulled out in front sailed blindly on.

Cheers,

FT.

[dan101smith]

Sounds like a massively annoying series of events.

Are you thinking of using this opportunity to try out one of the many different colours you've been considering?

[deviant]

I think Flemke can 'win' this thread now:
http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Muzzlehatch]

Good to hear you're in one piece.

flemke said:

There were 3 cars in the middle lane, going more slowly than I. As I neared the back of the 3rd of them, with no warning its driver swerved directly in front of me. The speed differential meant that I would crash into the back of him, so I could only avoid by going into middle lane. The problem now was that, for some reason unknown to me at that moment, the 2 cars in the middle lane, which were already going a good bit more slowly than I had been, slowed very sharply.

Just a thought, which may seem to rationalise things... it plausible that:
- the leading car of the three 2nd laners would have the furthest view around the corner to see the slowing traffic ahead, thus braking first, with the 2nd car following suit PDQ
- the brake lights of the leading car may have been unsighted by you, as the other two cars were blocking your view due the angle of your approach and their proximity to one another
- the 3rd car therefore panic swerved to avoid rear-ending car 2, whilst briefly glancing into the rear view mirror, but didn't see you due to the low roofline of the F1, and continured on his merry way
?

Whatever the chain of events, it seems there will be no comeback on the 3rd car, which I imagine is immensely frustrating for you.

For the rebuild, perhaps you should ask for a few Q-Branch modifications, such as stinger missiles, to remove any unwanted swervers from your chosen route?

[blueST]

I think you have said that you don't plan to pursue it, but it sounds to me like there was something very wrong with the layout of those roadworks.

In the uk these things are very tightly controlled, both in terms of the advanced signage and the positioning of closures in relation to bends, slip roads etc. Here chapter 8 of the Traffic Signs Manual provides the guidance, I would be very surprised if the Germans don't have an equivalent.

Anyhow, glad you are ok and look forward to reading more about the car.

[timmo]

Flemke

As you dont receive any private emails I will post this on here
I recently met Dr Ernst Wustinger the CFO for Carbo Tech

Eugen-Muller Strasse 16,5020 Salzburg,Austria

email - [e-mail]

www.carbotech.at

They supply the carbon fibre tub for the new McLaren and the Carrera GT

Might be worth an email or call

Cheers


tim

( ive met you a few times at the Nordschliefe )

[Joe911]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

Guys, in honesty usually rules of :
drove in to the back of = responsibility ?

So - you are in lane 3 and passing someone in lane 2 and they jink out in front of you at the last second - that's your fault is it?

[Slinky]

Don't worry F, someone already knows how much the repair bill is going to be...

http://jalopnik.com/5602260/this-is-what-130000-in...

:shakes head:

[El Guapo]

Flemke, do you know if McLaren keep an inventory of any of the parts that will be required for the repair (radiators, lights and such)? I imagine CF panels will be made to order, but would this be done in Woking or farmed out to a third party?
I'm sure that many on here will be interested to hear how the work is progressing once it is under way.

[flemke]

Mazda Baiter said:

Good to hear that you (and the others involved) are ok.

Being as the car will be pulled apart soon, will the car stay blue? Or is this the time to change colour?

Not sure about colour status, but that is possible.

[Peloton25]

Slinky said:

Don't worry F, someone already knows how much the repair bill is going to be...

http://jalopnik.com/5602260/this-is-what-130000-in...

:shakes head:

In defense of Jalopnik's number, they're basing it off the information supplied by the local police estimating damages to the F1 at €100,000 which has been published in every news article released so far. The current exchange rate sits at about $1.32 for every €1.00.

>8^)
ER

Edited by Peloton25 on Tuesday 3rd August 11:54