Head on confrontation with an Audi R8

[plasticpig]

It's not often I feel the need to vent my spleen about other drivers. I very rarely get angry with another driver but the tt in a white Audi R8 I met this morning deserves a special mention.

7 am'ish on a nice sunny day; the top is down; hooning along a twisty A road. I come out of a sharp bend on to a long straight and see a line of oncoming traffic headed by a tractor. A BMW pulls out and overtakes the tractor. Not a problem as there is plenty of room and it's perfectly safe. 300 yards to the tractor and I see a white apparition suddenly appear on my side of the road from the middle of the queue Brake pedal to the floor time. So what does Mr R8 do? He dosen't brake and pull back in. He doesn't put pedal to the metal and try and make it. He brakes to halt on my side of the road

If you see a white R8 Cheshire today with a dent on the bonnet surrounded by a reddish orangey stain. You will know the driver is a tt. You see I was a bit angry to say the least and I vented my anger by launching an open can of Red Bull at his car. It was handy and it wasn't a long distance throw. A bit of an instinctive reaction and it would have been far better aimed at the drivers head rather than the car.

[plasticpig]

amare32 said:

Pretty bad (and dangerous) piece of driving by the R8 driver.

But chucking a can of Red Bull and damaging his bonnet ? Sounds like you're jealous because the chap has an R8 and decided it's a convenient and easy way to vent your anger/frustration.

I'm willing to bet if it was an elderly lady in a Ford Focus you would have gesticulated and moved on without inflicting any damage to another person's property - pretty much sums up a part of British society. Can't have it. Damage it.

Err I could afford an R8 actually. A second hand one admittedly but I choose not to spend 10K a year on financing a car. I spend it on my existing toys instead or cheaper classic toys.

Throwing the can of Red Bull was an instinctive reaction. If I had been driving some of my other cars I wouldn't have posted this. I would either be in A&E or the morgue as it would have been a head on collision at a fair speed.

I posted because it's such an unusual reaction for me to do something like this as I said in my original post. Ending up half a cars length from a head on was somewhat frightening.

[plasticpig]

K87 said:

So maybe he realised he didnt have time for the overtake, and noone was letting him back in, so he braked to a stop 300 yards from you, there by giving you plenty of time to stop had you been observing the conditions correctly (which you obviously were) so wheres the problem? I'd be filing for criminal damage against you.

Inconsiderate cock.

He didn't brake to halt at 300 yards though. He was accelerating at 300 yards to overtake the traffic. Not sure when he actually started breaking but he ended up stationary 7-8ft from my car. I am pretty sure I can't throw a can of Red Bull 300ft. His car was stationary when I threw the can.

[plasticpig]

live ade said:

it surprises me that no one has mentioned....
"hooning it along.....OPEN can of red bull"

I don't think I can add too much more to this "debate"... but if any of you would like to cast the first stone...

Safely held in a drinks holder. Proved by the fact that I am not currently desperately cleaning Red Bull off a cream interior.

[plasticpig]

OnTheOverrun said:

plasticpig said:

live ade said:

it surprises me that no one has mentioned....
"hooning it along.....OPEN can of red bull"

I don't think I can add too much more to this "debate"... but if any of you would like to cast the first stone...

Safely held in a drinks holder. Proved by the fact that I am not currently desperately cleaning Red Bull off a cream interior.

This is going to continue to go badly for you unless you start to realise that the guy in the R8 cocking up an overtake by mis-judging the approach speed of your hooning car is a lesser crime than your act of criminal damage. There is simply no excuse for your thuggish behaviour and even less excuse for you continuing to defend it.

I am not defending it. I said in the first post that it was an instinctive reaction. It's not like I sat there for a couple of minutes and thought about throwing it. If I had thought about it I wouldn't of thrown it.

The only thing I have defended against is the assumption that:

A: I threw it out of spite at not being able to afford an R8.
B: That it was somehow unsafe to secured can of open drink in the car.
C: That there was a greater distance between the two cars when they became stationary than there actually was.


Presumably if he had hit me it would have been OK to throw the can of Red Bull?

[plasticpig]

Bugeyeandy said:

You sound like you also think its acceptable to start lobbing stuff at other peoples cars when they make a mistake.

No "e-warriors" here whatever that is supposed to mean. Just normal people who find his behaviour ridiculous.

I'm sure we've all had a bit of road rage before but I doubt many of us would come onto a forum inhabited by car nuts to proudly shout about damaging someone else's car. Especially considering the OP has admitted it was heat of the moment and he wouldn't have done it if he'd have thought about it first.

Which car were you driving at the time Plastic?

The Jag XKR thankfully. If it had been the Scimitar in the same situation there would have been a collision. The brakes are nowhere near as effective.

[plasticpig]

Ayez beera said:

Just out of interest what happened after you threw the Red bull?

Surely both head. with traffic you didn't just part ways?

Sorry I'm gonna call bullst on the throwing of the can.

I threw the can. We looked at other for maybe 30 seconds. He then drove off. The rest of queue had passed by then. There were maybe 8 to 10 cars behind the tractor with him being fairly far back.

[plasticpig]

mcdjl said:

plasticpig said:

Ayez beera said:

Just out of interest what happened after you threw the Red bull?

Surely both head. with traffic you didn't just part ways?

Sorry I'm gonna call bullst on the throwing of the can.

I threw the can. We looked at other for maybe 30 seconds. He then drove off. The rest of queue had passed by then. There were maybe 8 to 10 cars behind the tractor with him being fairly far back.

Clearly either the damage wasn't that bad, or he decided he didn't want to face you and was reading your number plate....it'd be interesting to hear his version of events if he does go to the insurers/police though.

To be fair I didn't see a dent on his bonnet. Not exactly sure how full the can was. There was clearly enough to give some weight behind it and splash some red sticky substance on his bonnet. If were a steel car I doubt it would cause any damage other than perhaps paint scratch. Aluminium is softer though.

[plasticpig]

Mr Gear said:

The Wookie said:

I've got to ask... What happened after you threw the can? Did you both just sit there sheepishly until a gap appeared in the traffic for him to pull into, did he pull over to the other side of the road, or did the OP get out and start hurling abuse while he jammed it into reversed and hightailed it back from whence he came?

Good question.

Answered here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[plasticpig]

Sisyphus said:

carreauchompeur said:

bonsai said:

I find the OP's behaviour rather unbecoming of a Director.

I am currently on the 'phone to Companies House regarding his directorships. This kind of behaviour is frowned upon within the higher echelons of the Directorship world.

His behaviour displays a lack of maturity not usually found in people who possess the necessary qualities to do well in business.

Plus I can't get over that 30 second face-off scenario, I just can't see it happening.

I also know the owner of an R8 convertible who lives over that way so I will call him tomorrow to see if he has been a bigger tit than usual lately & report back.

It wasn't a convertible so good luck with that. I was in the rag top not the R8 driver.

[plasticpig]

For those asking it was sugar free Red Bull. The rozzers didn't come knocking last night.

[plasticpig]

dick_dastardly71 said:

OP's original post never hinted at near fatality - tone of the post was "I taught a lesson to a cock in a flash Audi, aren't I great". OP even criticises the Audi driver for not flooring it to get past but just braked to a halt. No suggestion of near doom. OP later added the near death comments.

Who knows what really went on and whether the hurled red bull was simply a reflex action in the heat of the moment. But what I find difficult to understand is, several hours later with time to have cooled down, the OP posts about his actions with no remorse. If he'd said it was a silly thing to do and admitted that with hindsight it was a bit of a tttish thing to do, then this would have turned out different. Would have been a duller three though, so carry on...

I posted on here so I could get a textual flogging for my actions instead. A virtual wearing of sack cloth and ashes. I did realise before posting that not everyone would approve of what I did and a mixed reception would be the best I could expect. I don't justify my action I just put down what happened.

[plasticpig]

TonyRPH said:

OP, question for you?

You say you were drinking Red Bull. Is this because you were tired and needed a pick me up?

Is it possible that your concentration levels could have been low, and there could equally have been a misjudgement on your part too?

Perhaps you were not as alert as you should have been?

The Red Bull was purely a caffeine replacement for the gallon of tea I would usually guzzle. I wasn't tired.

[plasticpig]

Tallbut Buxomly said:

Balmoral Green said:

FesterNath said:

BG, you are wrong.

Of course I am.

R8 goes to overtake.

R8 has to stop dead in an emergency stop on the wrong side of the road.

Oncoming traffic has to stop dead in an emergency stop on their side of the road.

R8 is blameless.

I don't often lose my rag in these forums, but go boil your head!

Edited by Balmoral Green on Tuesday 22 June 19:50

BG i am and have at no point said R8 driver is blameless if you really wanted to you could claim he is solely responsible but we dont have all the facts at hand so that would be wrong. I was simply trying to put across the point that none of us bar the op know the full story and tbh even the op may not have the full story.

People are making out the R8 driver is solely to blame or that the op is a total tool etc. We dont know all the facts so arent really in a ecent positon to criticise other than that i think the op weas very childish for throwing his can of red bull. Uncalled for and premeditated unlike the spur of the moment claimed is how i read it with the statement (stationary for Roughly 30 sec's)

That's not what I said.

[plasticpig]

Since people have been asking about the road.

The bend:



The straight:

[plasticpig]

ManOpener said:

Looks like a good bit of road for an overtake, plenty of visibility. Exactly how fast were you going?

Not that fast round the bend. The bend is just after a 50 limit with speed cameras.



That's the same bend as in my other picture but on the approach to it.

[plasticpig]

I was going to stop replying to this thread as the majority seem to think that it's been done to death (and i tend to agree). However for all those who say they are would commit physical violence on my poor frail body here are a few thoughts for you:

You get out of your car and hit me a few times. I call the police and you get done for ABH.

You get out of your car and hit me a few times. I have a heart condition. The stress of the near miss and the physical violence afterwards causes a cardiac arrest and I die. The police get called and you get done for manslaughter.

If I was mad enough throw a can a Red Bull; how do you know I am not mad enough to run you over when you get out of your car to beat the crap out of me?

I might get a police caution or a slap on the wrist at the magistrates for my actions. What would be the consequences of yours?