Why is it, that you almost ALWAYS have an accident with your first car???
Well, I was enjoying that Lotus immensely... drove it everywhere for the first few weeks. Then, early one evening, I was cruising... well all right... speeding around a turn on the East River Drive in Philadelphia, when I hit a patch of road where there was some water runoff from an underground creek.
The road was wet, it was a beautiful curve and I was enjoying how the Lotus was taking the curve when suddenly the rear end broke loose and I spun out at about 50MPH. The rear of the car did a 360 and WHACK!!! right into a Corvette coming in the opposite direction.
The impact tore a piece out of the rear of my Lots which was the size of a football, and badly damaged the rear quarter panel of the Corvette. Luckily, both cars were fiberglass, and the actual destruction of the fiberglass panels absorbed the impact so neither of us were hurt. (Except for my ego!)
Well, it was my fault... going too fast for conditions, and probably thinking I knew how to control that car..plus.. damn Dunlop Tires... they're design back then was more suitable for dry than wet pavement... but I should have known that.
Anyway, the other driver was quite cool about it all. Our insurance companies settled matters quite amicably, no body was injured, and both our cars were repaired within a week.
My first ever accident!! It was cheap "tuition" though.. I took competition driving lessons afterwards to learn how to control that car, and changed the tires to Pirelli's which were better suited for the multi-surfaced roads I was encountering.
Next... my next car... a Datsun 240Z....
Well, I was enjoying that Lotus immensely... drove it everywhere for the first few weeks. Then, early one evening, I was cruising... well all right... speeding around a turn on the East River Drive in Philadelphia, when I hit a patch of road where there was some water runoff from an underground creek.
The road was wet, it was a beautiful curve and I was enjoying how the Lotus was taking the curve when suddenly the rear end broke loose and I spun out at about 50MPH. The rear of the car did a 360 and WHACK!!! right into a Corvette coming in the opposite direction.
The impact tore a piece out of the rear of my Lots which was the size of a football, and badly damaged the rear quarter panel of the Corvette. Luckily, both cars were fiberglass, and the actual destruction of the fiberglass panels absorbed the impact so neither of us were hurt. (Except for my ego!)
Well, it was my fault... going too fast for conditions, and probably thinking I knew how to control that car..plus.. damn Dunlop Tires... they're design back then was more suitable for dry than wet pavement... but I should have known that.
Anyway, the other driver was quite cool about it all. Our insurance companies settled matters quite amicably, no body was injured, and both our cars were repaired within a week.
My first ever accident!! It was cheap "tuition" though.. I took competition driving lessons afterwards to learn how to control that car, and changed the tires to Pirelli's which were better suited for the multi-surfaced roads I was encountering.
Next... my next car... a Datsun 240Z....
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