Not good news, Chimeara crash Crawley

[Byker28i]

Chimaera left the road, Man seriously injured.
GWS chap.
https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/26688056.man-serio...

A timely reminder the roads are slippery now, even if the sun is out.

[OIC]

Looks like he's gone sideways into the street lamp pole and spun at high speed.

If you roll you're not going to survive, but in a spin hopefully he will be ok.

All the best fella.

[AB]

Oh dear, that doesn't look good, I hope he makes as quick a recovery as possible and life changing injuries are the least life changing they can be.

[HiAsAKite]

That does not look or sound good at all.

Fingers crossed for as much recovery as is possible

[frontfloater]

Having rolled a hot hatch several decades ago, as an S2 owner for many years I always wondered how much (if any) strengthening the factory put into the windscreen A-pillars. The roof hoop is just fibreglass over a piece of thick wire, so even if raised, it wouldn't give any protection in the event of a roll.

Sadly, this photo seems to indicate that the answer is "none".

Sending thoughts and good wishes to the occupants(s), but it looks grim.

[OIC]

Later cars (Sag / Tam / T350 / Tusc2) have a roll-cage around the front screen welded to the chassis.

It's clearly visible in the T350 cars.

If you roll them you stand a chance of surviving.

Earlier cars have nothing there at all and will collapse on impact.

Don't know if anyone has ever added airbags to a TVR, but that alone would be a major safety upgrade.

Looking at the car, once again I'm impressed by the strength of the TVRs.

A lot of modern cars would have been ripped in half by hitting a thin steel pole at high speed.

[Rotary Potato]

The Three D Mucketeer said:

The spacing of the lamp posts would tend to indicate it was a 30 MPH zone .

It's been many years since I've driven that road, but I believe it was a NSL dual carriageway. Not certain if it still is ... or if there's a section at a lower limit that my brain can't recollect ...

Either way, I hope the driver makes as good a recovery as possible.

[The Three D Mucketeer]

Later I saw a comment on the report that it wasn't 30MPH , that's why I deleted at the same time you post.
Plenty of trees and wet leaves, slippy roads ... All the best to the chap for a speedy recovery , I think we've all had our moments.

[Zeb74]

frontfloater said:

Sadly, this photo seems to indicate that the answer is "none".

I was commenting this news on FB saying that I was shocked by the steering wheel position and someone answered that it's probably the work of the rescue team. If they sawed the steering column, they may also have saw the windscreen too.

[_Rodders_]

Looks a nasty one.

[_Rodders_]

OIC said:

A lot of modern cars would have been ripped in half by hitting a thin steel pole at high speed.

I'd wager every single car built this century would be a better prospect to crash in.

Side impact into the driver's side with a thin object like a pole or tree is about as bad as it gets.

[Basil Brush]

Zeb74 said:

frontfloater said:

Sadly, this photo seems to indicate that the answer is "none".

I was commenting this news on FB saying that I was shocked by the steering wheel position and someone answered that it's probably the work of the rescue team. If they sawed the steering column, they may also have saw the windscreen too.

As said above, later T cars are a lot better, with tubes both in the windscreen frame and in the roof behind the drivers head, along with bars in the doors. No roll protection, side bars and seats bolted to the fibreglass floor isn't great if you do crash.

[QBee]

Has anyone seen any updates on the driver's condition?

I agree with many of the comments about crash safety and Chimaeras.
I mounted a roll hoop immdiately behind the seats and just under the targa hoop, and bolted my seats though the chassis rather than the fibreglass.
But you are all correct, even with those modifications I wouldn't have been any better protected from a side impact, least of all a lamppost.

[MrBen.911]

Rotary Potato said:

The Three D Mucketeer said:

The spacing of the lamp posts would tend to indicate it was a 30 MPH zone .

It's been many years since I've driven that road, but I believe it was a NSL dual carriageway. Not certain if it still is ... or if there's a section at a lower limit that my brain can't recollect ...

Either way, I hope the driver makes as good a recovery as possible.

Looks like location was about here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/EsR3JXdKJf2eK5Q5A It's a 70 limit and just coming off a roundabout.

I can't find anything online about the driver's condition other than the statement at the time of 'life-changing injuries' - certainly makes one think, I'm sure we've all had moments that could have gone wrong like this.

[BritishTvr450]

The worst kind of impact and a risk in any car let alone a soft top as side impact is probably the most risk.
I hope the driver is recovering with his family.

The road furniture seems rather over the top and not spaced how you would expect them to be on a public highway but it must be quite legal!
Those narrow steel poles are never going to be anybodies friend and spaced so close offer no escape route.

Forget any kind of speeding this incident can happen to anybody used to dry gripping roads during a long hot summer then treacherous conditions overnight when we get a little rain and all the rubber and oil comes back up and turns very slick.

The car looks like it’s been cut open to allow better removal of the driver. If the position of the front wheel is anything to go by there was a possibility his feet were trapped hence the extensive cutting and chopping.
My thoughts are with the owner and family

Edited by BritishTvr450 on Wednesday 4th November 12:18

[The Three D Mucketeer]

If that's a 70MPH dual carriageway , those street lamps are a safety hazard themselves !!!!!
The number of them and their close proximity to the road.

Edited by The Three D Mucketeer on Wednesday 4th November 14:08

[astonman]

You are spot on.If that's a 70mph road,the street light posts are unbelievably dangerous.
Of course I understand that unlike other bodies, the Highways agency doesn't have a duty of care,and just claims crown immunity?

[_Rodders_]

I remember seeing for the first time that my seats were bolted to about 1cm of fibreglass.

There were plenty of reasons why I didn't really bond with it but seeing that was definitely one.

[ATG]

OIC said:

Later cars (Sag / Tam / T350 / Tusc2) have a roll-cage around the front screen welded to the chassis.

It's clearly visible in the T350 cars.

If you roll them you stand a chance of surviving.

Earlier cars have nothing there at all and will collapse on impact.

Don't know if anyone has ever added airbags to a TVR, but that alone would be a major safety upgrade.

Looking at the car, once again I'm impressed by the strength of the TVRs.

A lot of modern cars would have been ripped in half by hitting a thin steel pole at high speed.

Looking at that car shows you just how weak a Chimaera is in a side impact. Look at the driver's side sill in that photo. You can also see how the front wing has been sliced into pieces by the fire service. Look where the steering wheel is. The whole driver's side has folded from the side and crushed backwards into the passenger "cell" ... quotation marks because the Chimaera doesn't have passenger cells; you're just sitting alongside the chassis's central beam.

Like Qbee, pretty much the first thing I did when I got a Chimaera was to head up to Tower View in north London to have one of their roll hoops fitted. Even that was a big compromise as it wasn't laterally triangulated and it put a heavy steel tube far too close to your head for comfort.

If you're in a big crash in a Chimaera you are in big trouble. They were far, far more dangerous in a crash than most contemporary cars let alone compared to modern cars.

It didn't stop me driving one, but it's really not sensible to overestimate their safety. We need to try to assess risk rationally even if we then choose to run strictly unnecessary risk just for fun.

[ATG]

_Rodders_ said:

I remember seeing for the first time that my seats were bolted to about 1cm of fibreglass.

There were plenty of reasons why I didn't really bond with it but seeing that was definitely one.

That's the ejector seat safety feature.