Oulton Park Disaster
Discussion
It was a good day.
A beautiful bright Friday spring morning, a little cold and damp but sunny nonetheless.
I packed the car up with my helmet, toeing eye, tape for the lights, air pressure monitor and the rest of the gubbins and set off for one of my favourite places on the planet – Oulton Park.
Too say the car was looking breathtaking (to me) is an understatement.
I’d spent the last year getting it set up correctly, having the correct offset wheels fitted in orange, the orange carrera script had gone down the side a week ago with the matching badge at the back, I’d spent a small fortune on new brakes discs, pads, fluid, tyres and servicing in the last week and to top it all off Glynn O’Donnell from www.elite-detailer.co.uk had spent a whole day doing paintwork correction and detailing the body work – it looked stunning and Glynn can certainly work miracles on a car.
Looking at it that morning I had never seen black paint look so deep or reflective on any car. Nothing could wipe the grin off my face.
Half way to Oulton Park I stopped at a Shell garage to fill up with Optimax (or whatever the hell they call it these days) and also to witness the funniest thing of the year so far. Some idiot in an MR2 obviously was not best pleased with my rather loud Porsche and thought he’d snarl at me for a good couple of mins while I filled up. Then as he pulled away from the garage he decided to rev his car wildly no doubt to ‘show his stuff’ at which point he spun 360 degrees and lost complete control. I swear the garage attendant wet herself! I’ve never laughed so much in a long time.
I paid for my fuel and went my merry way, thinking this was going to be the best day of the year so far.
I was wrong.
I was very very wrong.
I couldn’t have been further wrong even if I tried really hard to be.
About a mile from Oulton Park on the A51 to Chester is a bit of a nasty crossroads. It connects two 60mph roads and has no green light filtering. What is worse is if you are on the A51 and turning off it then the turning is actually about 80yds after the lights.
At 8.15am this morning I was at this very junction, turning right. A stupidly large lorry that had been heading in the opposite direction was directly in front of me also turning right (ie we were going to cross each other) and stationary too, waiting for the traffic to stop. As the lights turned to red we both inched forward so as not to be ‘left in no mans land’ and as I did so a brand new Saab (the guy bought it 6 days ago) travelling at about 60mph ploughed into my drivers door without even getting the chance to hit the brakes. My head bounced off the side window and we both came to a standstill.
I got out the car and looked at my dream in pieces…..then duly realised I was still alive….which was a bonus. Checked on the other guy who was fine and spent the next hour watching beautiful RS’s and GT3, all still in one piece, going off to Oulton in the sun.
The nice lady who watched it all happen said she sees an accident at these lights every week and the policeman said he is called to one every 48hrs. He said it will take someone to die before the council does anything about it.
Brilliant.
Didn’t make me feel any better to be honest.
The guy whose house is on the corner of the junction came out to check his wall…apparently he has to check it quite a bit, but did remark what a nice car mine looked on the back of the trailer. Obviously he could only see one side.
The nice police officer got the cars towed away and kindly dropped both drivers off at Chester railway station to make our way home.
About half an hour later I collapsed.
I believe its called shock, it usually kicks in once the adrenalin wears off and the pain in your back and neck suddenly change from being a bit sore to totally unbearable.
The nice woman in the station had a minor fit and quickly called me an ambulance.
5hrs later I was released and I’m fine but guess I’m going to be in quite a bit of pain for a few days!
As I type my baby is currently on the back of another trailer and on its way back to GCR in Leicester…it’s a bit of a mess as you can see, but its fair to say the safety built into what is a 15year old car is phenomenal – the wing and door took all the impact and retained all the energy – thanks Mr Porsche.
And so this post starts my therapy.
Not a good day.
In fact it was sh*te.
Jason
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
_____________________________
Jason
You only live once....stop dreaming....just do it
964RS / 996GT3 / 944S2
A beautiful bright Friday spring morning, a little cold and damp but sunny nonetheless.
I packed the car up with my helmet, toeing eye, tape for the lights, air pressure monitor and the rest of the gubbins and set off for one of my favourite places on the planet – Oulton Park.
Too say the car was looking breathtaking (to me) is an understatement.
I’d spent the last year getting it set up correctly, having the correct offset wheels fitted in orange, the orange carrera script had gone down the side a week ago with the matching badge at the back, I’d spent a small fortune on new brakes discs, pads, fluid, tyres and servicing in the last week and to top it all off Glynn O’Donnell from www.elite-detailer.co.uk had spent a whole day doing paintwork correction and detailing the body work – it looked stunning and Glynn can certainly work miracles on a car.
Looking at it that morning I had never seen black paint look so deep or reflective on any car. Nothing could wipe the grin off my face.
Half way to Oulton Park I stopped at a Shell garage to fill up with Optimax (or whatever the hell they call it these days) and also to witness the funniest thing of the year so far. Some idiot in an MR2 obviously was not best pleased with my rather loud Porsche and thought he’d snarl at me for a good couple of mins while I filled up. Then as he pulled away from the garage he decided to rev his car wildly no doubt to ‘show his stuff’ at which point he spun 360 degrees and lost complete control. I swear the garage attendant wet herself! I’ve never laughed so much in a long time.
I paid for my fuel and went my merry way, thinking this was going to be the best day of the year so far.
I was wrong.
I was very very wrong.
I couldn’t have been further wrong even if I tried really hard to be.
About a mile from Oulton Park on the A51 to Chester is a bit of a nasty crossroads. It connects two 60mph roads and has no green light filtering. What is worse is if you are on the A51 and turning off it then the turning is actually about 80yds after the lights.
At 8.15am this morning I was at this very junction, turning right. A stupidly large lorry that had been heading in the opposite direction was directly in front of me also turning right (ie we were going to cross each other) and stationary too, waiting for the traffic to stop. As the lights turned to red we both inched forward so as not to be ‘left in no mans land’ and as I did so a brand new Saab (the guy bought it 6 days ago) travelling at about 60mph ploughed into my drivers door without even getting the chance to hit the brakes. My head bounced off the side window and we both came to a standstill.
I got out the car and looked at my dream in pieces…..then duly realised I was still alive….which was a bonus. Checked on the other guy who was fine and spent the next hour watching beautiful RS’s and GT3, all still in one piece, going off to Oulton in the sun.
The nice lady who watched it all happen said she sees an accident at these lights every week and the policeman said he is called to one every 48hrs. He said it will take someone to die before the council does anything about it.
Brilliant.
Didn’t make me feel any better to be honest.
The guy whose house is on the corner of the junction came out to check his wall…apparently he has to check it quite a bit, but did remark what a nice car mine looked on the back of the trailer. Obviously he could only see one side.
The nice police officer got the cars towed away and kindly dropped both drivers off at Chester railway station to make our way home.
About half an hour later I collapsed.
I believe its called shock, it usually kicks in once the adrenalin wears off and the pain in your back and neck suddenly change from being a bit sore to totally unbearable.
The nice woman in the station had a minor fit and quickly called me an ambulance.
5hrs later I was released and I’m fine but guess I’m going to be in quite a bit of pain for a few days!
As I type my baby is currently on the back of another trailer and on its way back to GCR in Leicester…it’s a bit of a mess as you can see, but its fair to say the safety built into what is a 15year old car is phenomenal – the wing and door took all the impact and retained all the energy – thanks Mr Porsche.
And so this post starts my therapy.
Not a good day.
In fact it was sh*te.
Jason
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
_____________________________
Jason
You only live once....stop dreaming....just do it
964RS / 996GT3 / 944S2
Shit. And indeed F*ck. What's to be said or added to what you've described? There but for the grace of God, I guess. Comiserations - your car did indeed look stunning before it got Saab'ed. Another RS meets a violent and dramtic end. Tough break.
Edit - llooks fixable to me, mind. Maybe you could use it as a start point for one of Ninemeister's M003 jobbies?
Edit - llooks fixable to me, mind. Maybe you could use it as a start point for one of Ninemeister's M003 jobbies?
Edited by loach on Friday 16th March 19:45
sad story mate all car enthusiasts will feel for you as we all apreciate what goes into keeping a car the way yours was, still it's replaceable and your not so chin up on that score, Glyn lives round the corner from me and I'm sure he'll be gutted to see all his hard work looking like that too..
So sorry to see that Jason, makes me feel sad just looking at the pics.
I wonder if it's worth suing the council too, dangerous idiots.
Glad you got out OK, drivers side hits are often far worse, count you blessings. The car looked superb, if you can do it once you can do it again even if you need a new shell, that car is truely something to strive for.
Best of luck sorting it all out mate.
I wonder if it's worth suing the council too, dangerous idiots.
Glad you got out OK, drivers side hits are often far worse, count you blessings. The car looked superb, if you can do it once you can do it again even if you need a new shell, that car is truely something to strive for.
Best of luck sorting it all out mate.
A very sad post, I can feel the emotion in your words 
Main thing is you didn't sustain serious injury, thank goodness it didn't come into the drivers door at that speed or you could be in hospital with broken legs, pelvis or worse -then the car would be the least of your worries. I sincerely hope the car is repairable. It was certainly a beauty, and deserves to be saved.
Main thing is you didn't sustain serious injury, thank goodness it didn't come into the drivers door at that speed or you could be in hospital with broken legs, pelvis or worse -then the car would be the least of your worries. I sincerely hope the car is repairable. It was certainly a beauty, and deserves to be saved.
What a terrible shame 
Glad you are in one piece. I was going to say that cars are replaceable, but even though I know nothing about Porsches, I know that RS's like that are thin on the ground. I know exactly the junction you mean and yes, it's dodgy for sure. How galling.
What did the guy in the SAAB say...? Or did you keep your distance to minimise the possibility of you caving his numb
ing head in...???
Glad you are in one piece. I was going to say that cars are replaceable, but even though I know nothing about Porsches, I know that RS's like that are thin on the ground. I know exactly the junction you mean and yes, it's dodgy for sure. How galling. What did the guy in the SAAB say...? Or did you keep your distance to minimise the possibility of you caving his numb
ing head in...???Jason, i remember talking to you via email sometime ago when i was looking for a car. I just saw the pictures and want to say how much i feel for you about what happened.
It is the worst possible scenario.
I' d like to offer help if i could, but can' t see what really appart from moral support.
I am happy that you made it in one piece and can still write about it.
Seeing the pictures, it looks like you were lucky.
I hope to see you soon again with a smile on your face: don' t worry after all, it is only material, there 1000' s of nice cars around.
Wish you all the best after this crap.
Regards,
Eric.
It is the worst possible scenario.
I' d like to offer help if i could, but can' t see what really appart from moral support.
I am happy that you made it in one piece and can still write about it.
Seeing the pictures, it looks like you were lucky.
I hope to see you soon again with a smile on your face: don' t worry after all, it is only material, there 1000' s of nice cars around.
Wish you all the best after this crap.
Regards,
Eric.
There but for the grace of ......
Could happen to any of us, glad you survived the experience. Unfortunately it looks like a write off
These bl**dy Saab drivers, they should be banned.
A 81 year old in one early this week wrote of a well known Specialists 993 Turbo, nick name of K4RMA
Could happen to any of us, glad you survived the experience. Unfortunately it looks like a write off
These bl**dy Saab drivers, they should be banned.
A 81 year old in one early this week wrote of a well known Specialists 993 Turbo, nick name of K4RMA
johnfm said:
Glad you're ok. Hope the car survives.
I can't quite gather from your post who is at fault here. It sounds like the tt in the SAAB. Hope the police prosecute him if so - 60 mph is no joke.
I can't quite gather from your post who is at fault here. It sounds like the t
t in the SAAB. Hope the police prosecute him if so - 60 mph is no joke.I guess I'll take the blame. Its like if you hit the back of someone...pretty difficult to prove its anyone elses fault and as I was turning right across the road and he was driving straight on then...
I have my doubts that the lights hadn't already turned red before he hit me and that the reason he was going so quick was that he realised he couldn't stop in time so just kept going...but he was a nice guy and I honestly think it was just an 'accident'...I've certainly thought could I have done anything different and I can't think of anything tbh. He cetainly didn't slow for the crossroads.
The crossroads is actually two raods which are 60mph each way....in fact I saw some pretty scary things go on while waiting for the men in blue.
Just be careful out there all of you....keep your really fast driving for the track....if you can manage to get to one
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