Motorsport is Dangerous, Our Car is Dead
Turbo Mini Forums

OK, so as I can now type a bit better and have been able to drive into work, not because I’m scared to drive, but because it bloody hurts to change gear it is time to give a brief description of what happened as I saw it.

The weekend was going pretty well, we had finished first and second in class on Saturday in very wet conditions and I was finally beginning to get the hang of the LSD. On Sunday it started with a damp track but was slowly drying during the morning. We were running on the slicks as there was no standing water. After lunch the track was getting really dry and I was first out in the car and pushing quite hard. From the hairpin at the bottom of the hill the course climbs steeply with a gentle right left snake into a big braking area. We had been going through the left hander in third all weekend as the hill was too slippy to get the power down out of the hairpin. With the drier track I managed to get into forth up the hill so I estimate I was travelling at between 80 and 85mph round the left hander. This was probably a good 10 mph faster then we had been managing all weekend. As I came into the corner I was beginning to come off the throttle in preparation for the braking area. I didn’t come off the throttle enough to induce lift off oversteer so all I can assume is that the track under the trees at this point of the track was damper than I was expecting. The rear end of the car just snapped round, giving me no chance of catching it and from then on I was a passenger. The car went sideways into the fence at the side of the track on the inside of the corner, smashing through the fence for about 18 meters. The car then left the road completely and rolled down the steep bank taking several trees with it until coming to rest against a tree. I had my eyes closed while it was rolling, but I was told it went over 2 or three times. As you can see from the pictures the car is obviously dead. As for my injuries, well a piece of fence seems to have entered the car at some point and collided with my left bicep. This caused it to swell up quite quickly and the pulse in my left wrist was very weak for a few hours which is why I had to go to hospital. My arm is still quite painful, but as I thought it was broken and could not feel it when I got out of the car I it recovering well. A twig also seems to have scratched my cornea, making vision in my left eye extreamy blured for 24 hours, it back to normal now.

All in all it seems I was very lucky. The fence and the small trees made my deceleration quite slow and the rolls were reasonably gentle. The bits of fence that did enter the car missed any of my more important parts and all the safety equipment I was wearing and the car itself seem to have done a good job in keeping me unhurt. We have been talking about getting a new shell for a while anyway, bring on the TT2…………

Cheers for all the consern

Ben

http://www.twin-turbo.co.uk
http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk/default.asp

A man without a project is like a like a woman without a shopping list.

The first rule of Motorsport is "shiney side up".....

to be honest, the paint under my car is a lot better than the paint on the roof!

Team Racing

Always a good idea to write "Thanks Marshals" on the underside of the car.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

how bad is the shell wil? can it not be saved?

Team Racing

Didnt Safety Devices put their adverts on the touring cars UNDER the car?!

LOL

What a tale Ben... very glad you ok thou :

ALex

AlexF

It probably would be possible to fix the shell, it mainly needs a new roof and a new bit of floor where the bit of fence that hit Ben's arm went through it.

However, the car was always an inch shorter on one side compared to the other, and the extra wack won't have helped. It'll give us a chance to make a slightly better effort of the welding etc. if we start with a new (or new to us) shell.

Wil

Edited by wil_h on 4th May, 2005.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

Mechanically whats the damage?

Hopefully you guys can get most of the mechanics out and into a new shell?

Glad to hear that Ben is ok.

Olivers is a lovely hillclimb but a right bitch if you make a mistake. If you have the luxury of making a choice it's either grass bank or trees, Either way you'll usually go over.

If I can help in any way please give me a shout.

Dave.

strongley think about a widow nets for next time ben

but where do you stop!?

Let Wil drive?




Sorry - uncalled for!

Edited by turbodave16v on 4th May, 2005.

GOOD un!

daves only joking!!!!!

bugger, but now for an even quicker TT2!

Gutted chaps, but if motorsport didn't involve a degree of danger it would be no fun for anyone! It always looked a lovely car, but developement is the way forward!!

Gutted for you lads.

I recently ended up injured and without a car so can kind of relate to your situation. Least you are ok and most the expencive bits can be retrived and screwed to a new shell.

Good luck with the build!

Just found this thread.

:(

unlucky...glad got out of crash ok...

hope nxt project goes good...start stripping wots left of other one and make into better..good luck

know exactly how you feel geezers, killed mine last july, on a wet roundabout just down the road from mine! chek out the link

http://photobucket.com/albums/v340/1976_mi...%20the%20crash/

at one time it was a luvly imaculate 1-lady owner 1976mini 1000 with a 1275 mg metro lump.

my heart goes out to ya!

it may b small but it purfectly formed
http://photobucket.com/albums/v340/1976_mi...roject%20turbo/

My mate destroyed his Zeemax-Mini 2003 at a wall. It was at a Slalom-race with the finish-speed of the second gear...







shit happens...

http://www.minifreunde.at

'ouch'

P.S. Can we have a thread for pics of smashed minis, then we got to guess what happened :)

Edited by Mike on 22nd Jun, 2005.

the next one...









Christian had touched a wall at a hillclimb-race the last month. But he can smile with a bottle of beer...

Edited by akirch on 13th Jul, 2005.

http://www.minifreunde.at

It dosen't look as dramatic as ours but it'll be a bugger to fix.

Your car looks a hell of a lot nicer than ours was, which always makes it worse.

Wil

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

only just seen the thread and only really just joined the site but i no wot its like unfortunatly the little ba@stard who done mine where never found, mint n reg mg turbo lump mini touched

glad he ok show me the pics of the tt2

era turbo - not even the mrs gets to drive it

only just seen the thread and only really just joined the site but i no wot its like unfortunatly the little ba@stard who done mine where never found, mint n reg mg turbo lump mini touched

glad he ok show me the pics of the tt2

era turbo - not even the mrs gets to drive it