El_Douglito
30-12-2006, 16:21
Hey folks, sorry for the length of this one, but I though after the brown trouser moment of a few moths ago when I had a high speed rear tyre blow out you guys might be interested in the next episode in motoring mayhem on the same bit of road.
Having been away for a little while, today was the first time in a couple of weeks I’d had the pleasure of driving the Willy. Unfortunately high winds, a super storm and a near encounter with an M3 nearly curtailed the fun.
Driving to my mum’s home along the A38 I came to the Plymouth Marsh Mills fly-over and being atrocious conditions I backed right off to about 50-60ish (70 limit on dual carriageway). While cruising over a super gust of wind blew in off the estuary and nudged me off course and into a deep puddle of standing water next to the armco barrier. Firmly pushing the brake pedal, ABS whuring and tyres aquaplaning I managed to correct the line and point the car back in a straight line. It was at this point I noticed the brand new M3, which had just fractionally passed me at about 70. He was hit by the same gust, which caused the tail to snap out and sent it veering into the armco. The M3 then rebounded into my path about 20 meters ahead of me, spinning with the full force of a high-speed accident. Fortunately I was able to instinctively point the Williams into the decreasing gap in the outside lane, squirt the throttle and squeeze through unharmed.
Shakily I started to digest what had just happened and it became clear how lucky I was that 1, the Beemer didn’t T-bone me, 2, I had the common sense to slow on a part prone to crosswinds and didn’t panick when the handling went very light 3, I wasn’t collected by the BMW on rebound from the barrier, 4, I wasn’t hit by any shrapnel off the M3 and 5, I was driving a Williams 3 with ABS and sharp handling.
Driving back the opposite way about half an hour later I noticed the same Beemer being loaded on a truck with the front end deposited over much of the inside lane and passengers sheepishly standing by taking insurance pics and most importantly I think they were all unharmed.
Having witnessed the incident at first hand, do I now need to make a police statement and try to get in touch or because there was only 1 party involved is this a private issue now between the M3 owners and their insurers?
Having been away for a little while, today was the first time in a couple of weeks I’d had the pleasure of driving the Willy. Unfortunately high winds, a super storm and a near encounter with an M3 nearly curtailed the fun.
Driving to my mum’s home along the A38 I came to the Plymouth Marsh Mills fly-over and being atrocious conditions I backed right off to about 50-60ish (70 limit on dual carriageway). While cruising over a super gust of wind blew in off the estuary and nudged me off course and into a deep puddle of standing water next to the armco barrier. Firmly pushing the brake pedal, ABS whuring and tyres aquaplaning I managed to correct the line and point the car back in a straight line. It was at this point I noticed the brand new M3, which had just fractionally passed me at about 70. He was hit by the same gust, which caused the tail to snap out and sent it veering into the armco. The M3 then rebounded into my path about 20 meters ahead of me, spinning with the full force of a high-speed accident. Fortunately I was able to instinctively point the Williams into the decreasing gap in the outside lane, squirt the throttle and squeeze through unharmed.
Shakily I started to digest what had just happened and it became clear how lucky I was that 1, the Beemer didn’t T-bone me, 2, I had the common sense to slow on a part prone to crosswinds and didn’t panick when the handling went very light 3, I wasn’t collected by the BMW on rebound from the barrier, 4, I wasn’t hit by any shrapnel off the M3 and 5, I was driving a Williams 3 with ABS and sharp handling.
Driving back the opposite way about half an hour later I noticed the same Beemer being loaded on a truck with the front end deposited over much of the inside lane and passengers sheepishly standing by taking insurance pics and most importantly I think they were all unharmed.
Having witnessed the incident at first hand, do I now need to make a police statement and try to get in touch or because there was only 1 party involved is this a private issue now between the M3 owners and their insurers?