An unfortunate sunday

megazoid · 15th January 2009, 19:33

Well, it started of as one of the routine weekend drives we normally do. It turned out to be neat little disaster by the time we were finished. It was a bright sunday morning and we thought we would go and do some good fast driving. The car was an old shape honda city vtec and we were three in the car. It all went off well initially and we were enjoying the drive, doing neat speeds and the car taking things well. Before I forget, the place was mandardevi ghats, a lovely piece of tarmac that winds its way up the side of a hill. The landscape was dry and the whole place had a desolate and burnt look about it. We had planned to test the intercom that we had built for the rally and we did quite a bit of fine tuning with the intercom. We were driving around with helmets on, to test the intercom and once we were done with it, we took the helmets off and took a breather. Had chai at a local tea stall and decided to proceed on our way.

The roads looked an absolute monte carlo copy and coupled with the desolation around enticed us into doing a small pace notes exercise. We did one pass of a two km stretch with lots of winding turns and prepared our notes. Then decided to hit the same patch a little fast at road speeds. A few turns into the stretch it happened. A medium left turned tight and it was over an undulation although a gradual one. I hit the turn at close to 80 clicks, the car takes off over the undulation and then the turn suddenly tightens and we have no contact patch to turn. A situation where we are going straight over and falling off the hill. I somehow manage to get the car turned in a little but we still reach the gradient on the opposite side of the road. The car is already over the gradient, but sideways. More gas and we drive straight at a tilt angle on the gradient parallel to the road and then somehow manage to climb the gradient with full gas and then the car swerves and hits an embankment at full clip and comes to a dead stop. A good 40 feet drop welcomes us right where we stopped. Front passengers have the seat belts on, so we dont even budge. The backseat passenger surprisingly just gets pushed around comfortably and nothing at all happens to anyone.

It is a different story with the car though. All kinds of things have gone wrong. The engine was still running but the front right has suffered bad damage and the front grill had come inside because of the impact. Surprisingly, we could drive the car, even though with a big soundtrack for company. We decided to retrace back to pune to fix the car. After doing 30 odd kms more, the car suddenly stopped. We got a tow truck to get us to honda service and the car went straight for fixing. Radiator, condensor, front beam, engine casing...all kinds of things suffering damage. The bill when it was done came to a whopping 1.4 lacs. Thankfully, nothing happened to anyone inside. So much for a sunday drive. A few pics attached.

Technocrat · 15th January 2009, 19:54

Damn thats one rally experiment gone bad. Nice to know no one got hurt.

swale84 · 15th January 2009, 20:12

Thank god no one got hurt, that sounds like a close call.
I mst say, looking a tthe pictures of the car, a 1.4 lakh bill is really surprising. I guess thee's more internal damage than external.

Bass&Trouble · 15th January 2009, 20:27

Hard luck there. Glad to see no one is hurt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by megazoid

A medium left turned tight and it was over an undulation although a gradual one. I hit the turn at close to 80 clicks, the car takes off over the undulation and then the turn suddenly tightens and we have no contact patch to turn. A situation where we are going straight over and falling off the hill. I somehow manage to get the car turned in a little but we still reach the gradient on the opposite side of the road. The car is already over the gradient, but sideways. More gas and we drive straight at a tilt angle on the gradient parallel to the road and then somehow manage to climb the gradient with full gas and then the car swerves and hits an embankment at full clip and comes to a dead stop.

Could anyone translate the above paragraph into English please?

yatinchoubal · 15th January 2009, 20:41

Damn, thats bad. ! I hope theres no internal damage to the engine. Lucky you guys were safe, even when u were not wearing helmets

Nitin · 15th January 2009, 21:39

Thank you lucky stars for that!Hope everything gets fixed soon.

snaronikar · 15th January 2009, 21:53

Good no one was hurt. The car looks pretty bad in front. 1.4 Lacs is a whopping sum for repairs. Hope you will get most of it as insurance except ythe plastic + rubber parts

Bhargava_sr · 15th January 2009, 22:08

What a Scary Incident, Good to know that no one was hurt ..

iraghava · 16th January 2009, 01:28

Sad to know about the incident but thankfully all of you escaped without any injuries. For the next drive I would suggest a little caution and a better set of tyres.

ImmortalZ · 16th January 2009, 08:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bass&Trouble

Hard luck there. Glad to see no one is hurt.

Could anyone translate the above paragraph into English please?

Quote:

A medium left turned tight and it was over an undulation although a gradual one. I hit the turn at close to 80 clicks, the car takes off over the undulation and then the turn suddenly tightens and we have no contact patch to turn. A situation where we are going straight over and falling off the hill. I somehow manage to get the car turned in a little but we still reach the gradient on the opposite side of the road. The car is already over the gradient, but sideways. More gas and we drive straight at a tilt angle on the gradient parallel to the road and then somehow manage to climb the gradient with full gas and then the car swerves and hits an embankment at full clip and comes to a dead stop.

What was supposed to be a medium turn turned out to be a tight one. There was a change of height on the road during the turn and he hit it at high speed, launching the car into the air for a moment. When he realized the turn was tighter than he anticipated, the car was airborne and thus couldn't be steered. He expected the car to go straight off the road and down the hill.

However, his steering input has some effect and the car changes direction a bit, but too late. The car reaches the other side of the road, sliding. A lot of pedal and the car manages to stay on the hill and gets back on the road. However, it goes straight into an embankment (you know, cement thingies built at the sides) and comes to a stop.

I hope that's a proper translation

moralfibre · 16th January 2009, 09:02

Glad to know you and others are safe Hari. Was Ashvin reading the pace notes? Where are these roads?

amitoj · 16th January 2009, 09:11

Whoa.
I guess credit goes to your rally driving skills there. An uninitiated driver would have just stood on the brakes and let the car go off the hill!!

suman · 16th January 2009, 11:16

Sorry to hear about the damage to the car & the cost

But thank God you guys are safe!

jaysmokesleaves · 16th January 2009, 11:23

Its amazing that you can recollect all the steering input and driving detail of the crucial moments and are able to pen it down well enough to give the reader a decent description of the event.
Glad you guys escaped unharmed.
Btw, is Mandardevi somewhere near Pune ?
How to get there from Mumbai?

Surprise · 16th January 2009, 12:14

Good that everyone came unhurt and the way you wrote it says about your driving skills

After reading tons of scary experiences here, even the uninitiated drivers like me were educated on how to act during such scenarios. Mentally many of the regulars at our forum would have prepared to "think and act" during such situation rather than getting panicked. Also its important to understand that real time situations are a different ball game and keeping cool is definitely not walk in the park... I am preparing myself to think before natural reaction of standing on the brakes (Hopefully we dont end up there

)

15th January 2009, 19:33	#1
megazoid BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 502 Thanked: 3,371 Times View My Garage	An unfortunate sunday Well, it started of as one of the routine weekend drives we normally do. It turned out to be neat little disaster by the time we were finished. It was a bright sunday morning and we thought we would go and do some good fast driving. The car was an old shape honda city vtec and we were three in the car. It all went off well initially and we were enjoying the drive, doing neat speeds and the car taking things well. Before I forget, the place was mandardevi ghats, a lovely piece of tarmac that winds its way up the side of a hill. The landscape was dry and the whole place had a desolate and burnt look about it. We had planned to test the intercom that we had built for the rally and we did quite a bit of fine tuning with the intercom. We were driving around with helmets on, to test the intercom and once we were done with it, we took the helmets off and took a breather. Had chai at a local tea stall and decided to proceed on our way. The roads looked an absolute monte carlo copy and coupled with the desolation around enticed us into doing a small pace notes exercise. We did one pass of a two km stretch with lots of winding turns and prepared our notes. Then decided to hit the same patch a little fast at road speeds. A few turns into the stretch it happened. A medium left turned tight and it was over an undulation although a gradual one. I hit the turn at close to 80 clicks, the car takes off over the undulation and then the turn suddenly tightens and we have no contact patch to turn. A situation where we are going straight over and falling off the hill. I somehow manage to get the car turned in a little but we still reach the gradient on the opposite side of the road. The car is already over the gradient, but sideways. More gas and we drive straight at a tilt angle on the gradient parallel to the road and then somehow manage to climb the gradient with full gas and then the car swerves and hits an embankment at full clip and comes to a dead stop. A good 40 feet drop welcomes us right where we stopped. Front passengers have the seat belts on, so we dont even budge. The backseat passenger surprisingly just gets pushed around comfortably and nothing at all happens to anyone. It is a different story with the car though. All kinds of things have gone wrong. The engine was still running but the front right has suffered bad damage and the front grill had come inside because of the impact. Surprisingly, we could drive the car, even though with a big soundtrack for company. We decided to retrace back to pune to fix the car. After doing 30 odd kms more, the car suddenly stopped. We got a tow truck to get us to honda service and the car went straight for fixing. Radiator, condensor, front beam, engine casing...all kinds of things suffering damage. The bill when it was done came to a whopping 1.4 lacs. Thankfully, nothing happened to anyone inside. So much for a sunday drive. A few pics attached.
	(3) Thanks

15th January 2009, 19:54	#2
Technocrat Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: GTA Posts: 14,813 Thanked: 2,700 Times	Damn thats one rally experiment gone bad. Nice to know no one got hurt.
	() Thanks

15th January 2009, 20:12	#3
swale84 BHPian Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 459 Thanked: 9 Times	Thank god no one got hurt, that sounds like a close call. I mst say, looking a tthe pictures of the car, a 1.4 lakh bill is really surprising. I guess thee's more internal damage than external.
	() Thanks

15th January 2009, 20:41	#5
yatinchoubal BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Texas / Pune Posts: 144 Thanked: Once View My Garage	Damn, thats bad. ! I hope theres no internal damage to the engine. Lucky you guys were safe, even when u were not wearing helmets
	() Thanks

15th January 2009, 21:39	#6
Nitin Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 3,294 Thanked: 20 Times View My Garage	Thank you lucky stars for that!Hope everything gets fixed soon.
	() Thanks

15th January 2009, 21:53	#7
snaronikar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 2,845 Thanked: 29 Times View My Garage	Good no one was hurt. The car looks pretty bad in front. 1.4 Lacs is a whopping sum for repairs. Hope you will get most of it as insurance except ythe plastic + rubber parts
	() Thanks

15th January 2009, 22:08	#8
Bhargava_sr BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: HOSUR Posts: 317 Thanked: 18 Times View My Garage	What a Scary Incident, Good to know that no one was hurt ..
	() Thanks

16th January 2009, 01:28	#9
iraghava Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Bhaiyyaland Posts: 8,033 Thanked: 265 Times View My Garage	Sad to know about the incident but thankfully all of you escaped without any injuries. For the next drive I would suggest a little caution and a better set of tyres.
	() Thanks

16th January 2009, 09:02	#11
moralfibre Team-BHP Support Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: MH-12 Posts: 8,451 Thanked: 13,972 Times	Glad to know you and others are safe Hari. Was Ashvin reading the pace notes? Where are these roads?
	() Thanks

16th January 2009, 09:11	#12
amitoj Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Windham, NH USA Posts: 3,348 Thanked: 3,105 Times View My Garage	Whoa. I guess credit goes to your rally driving skills there. An uninitiated driver would have just stood on the brakes and let the car go off the hill!!
	() Thanks

16th January 2009, 11:16	#13
suman Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Kolkata Posts: 4,589 Thanked: 279 Times View My Garage	Sorry to hear about the damage to the car & the cost But thank God you guys are safe!
	() Thanks

16th January 2009, 11:23	#14
jaysmokesleaves Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Mostly Mumbai Posts: 1,702 Thanked: 1,452 Times	Its amazing that you can recollect all the steering input and driving detail of the crucial moments and are able to pen it down well enough to give the reader a decent description of the event. Glad you guys escaped unharmed. Btw, is Mandardevi somewhere near Pune ? How to get there from Mumbai? Last edited by jaysmokesleaves : 16th January 2009 at 11:24.
	() Thanks

16th January 2009, 12:14	#15
Surprise Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Chennai Posts: 2,523 Thanked: 454 Times	Good that everyone came unhurt and the way you wrote it says about your driving skills After reading tons of scary experiences here, even the uninitiated drivers like me were educated on how to act during such scenarios. Mentally many of the regulars at our forum would have prepared to "think and act" during such situation rather than getting panicked. Also its important to understand that real time situations are a different ball game and keeping cool is definitely not walk in the park... I am preparing myself to think before natural reaction of standing on the brakes (Hopefully we dont end up there )
	() Thanks