Wrecking an Rapide
Discussion
V8LM said:
True. If you listen just before it goes pearshaped the car changes up one gear, he then flicks the left hand paddle to change down and at the same time twitches the wheel to the right (possibly he misjudged the exit at the fork in the road), the revs shoot back up to around 4.5 - 5k which presumably made things worse, jump on the brakes, bang
The gear shifts have nothing to do with it, he was simply carrying way too much speed for that particular corner. The car never got to the point of being Mid corner such was his misjudgement of the road.
GTDB7 said:
That wont be fibreglass.. it's some form of composite plastic, the DB7's had the same stuff on their front wings and I imagine so have most Aston's since then.
When scraped or broken it appears like fibreglass, white with stringy fibres.
GRP - glass reinforced plastic, or more commonly referred to as fibreglass!When scraped or broken it appears like fibreglass, white with stringy fibres.
mikey k said:
Composite my dear boy 
as is the bonnet
Weight distribution don't you know
Front wings are indeed a composite reinforced polymer, however the bonnet is aluminium. as is the bonnet Weight distribution don't you know
Regarding the fact he 'accidentally pressed' the DSC button, the fact that it has to be pushed and held for 4 seconds to disengage the DSC makes 'accidentally' pressing it seem a little far fetched. There is also a warning shown in the DIM that you have to 'read' and, on pre 12MY vehicles, a symbol on the speedo that's lit.
An example of the unbreakable logic of the money/talent/physics equation...
Still, no-one hurt. I wonder if the car will be a write off? The V/H platform can buckle if you rip off the wheels and end up as a write off, since AML will not sell a new tub you have to send everything back to Gaydon to be stripped and then fitted to a new tub.
Someone on here a few years back discovered this on the way back from Le Mans...
Still, no-one hurt. I wonder if the car will be a write off? The V/H platform can buckle if you rip off the wheels and end up as a write off, since AML will not sell a new tub you have to send everything back to Gaydon to be stripped and then fitted to a new tub.
Someone on here a few years back discovered this on the way back from Le Mans...
DB7 pilot said:
Do the airbags deploy only on full frontal impact? It did look severe enough for a side airbag to pop, that is if the Rapide has them.
Depends on the how the car decelerates, it's a bit complicated. I had it explained to me once and after he started on about yaw and pitch I sort-of switched off...
mikey k said:
JohnG1 said:
What is your bonnet made from?
Looks and feels like "AM composite" I'm going to have a closer look now!No the pic in my profile is one I found and loved so much I decided it needed a "special" place
"lightweight aluminium is also used for the roof and bonnet"
V8LM said:
Early '7 bonnets were composite but caused difficulties in that the paint delaminated when they got hot, so changed to metal pretty quickly afterwards. I imagine they have stuck to metal ever since.
V8V, V12V, DB9, Virage are all aluminium. DBS is carbon fibre.V12V has a substantial amount of c/f though.
Speedo just before impact is just above 9 o'clock. So that's >100mph. For a single lane 90 degree turn? Way too fast. He'd been full on throttle through 2nd and 3rd gears and was still going in 4th, then hit the brakes when he realised there was a bend up ahead. You can also see the traffic on the elevated motorway section that he is behind, then he passes and pulls away from them. Lucky in a way the guard rail was there otherwise straight off into the weeds with potential for rolling. Hope insurance was in place.
Gassing Station | Aston Martin | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff