Yup, my MINI is the first, and hopefully, the only casualty of MOTD 2008. First, me and my passenger, Rich (Echo) are fine. The harnesses kept us completely safe. After Katie's sphagetti dinner, I felt like going for a drive. I had not had anything to drink. Rich wanted to join me as I was really only wanting to take an easy spin, not wanting to push it on my first night-time run. We came across the bridge just outside of Fontana and on the second corner, doing about 50 mph, the rear end got loose, caught the shoulder and started to go, I got it back on the pavement, but it overcompensated the other way and we did a 360, went into the grass, up the side of the hill and bang, hit something immovable, at which point, the car rolled over onto its roof. We looked at each other, both said "Are you OK?" and crawled out, me through my broken window and Rich by opening the passenger door.
Another MINI pulled up a few seconds later (thank you, dude, I'm sorry I didn't get your name) and took Rich back to Fontana to fetch help. I stayed with the car and before long had several concerned people stopping to offer assistance. The cavalry arrived very quickly and we spun the car 90 degrees (as in the above pic) and rolled it over onto its wheels.



It started right up, obviously blowing a lot of oily smoke coz it had been upside down for a good 30 minutes. We shut it off and let it sit for another 20 minutes and Tuls drove it back to Fontana for me (coz I was a little shaken :). It's now in my driveway. The roof is dented badly at the windshield, windshield is broken, driver's side window gone, front crumple zones are, well, crumpled. I will be able to get a better look at it in the daylight but it will definitely have to be trailered back to Michigan. I'm feeling sad, angry (at myself), embarrassed, humbled, but, most importantly, grateful. Grateful that Rich and I are alright. Grateful for all the friends and strangers that rose up to help me out. Grateful for the strength of this car, because it really took a ****-kicking and came through it. I guess I should also be grateful that my first accident in over 40 years of driving was so much better than it could have been. Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who jumped in to help me out. This is an amazing community of people and I am grateful to be a part of it.

 

Somehow, I've never seen photos of your MINI before; it's beautiful.

Glad you guys are okay! Upside-down is always scary!

Everyone stay safe up there.

 

I know we all love our cars but its exactley that... a car. Glad everyone is ok, thats what really matters. Good luck with the fix or shopping.

 

Should buff out





Sorry, couldnt help myself. Im glad your ok and nobody was hurt. I'm sorry for your loss . I'll give my MINI a wash and wax tomorrow in memory of yours....

 

Glad to hear you're okay. Of all the cars I saw at the Dragon last year, yours made one of the biggest impressions on me. The black with the silver cove on the side really has a classic look, like the mid-fifties Corvettes, or the old Austin-Healeys and Bentleys.

 

That's fixable. I rolled my car once, it was out for 4 months.

 

I'm real sorry to see that...
Its going to be expensive to ship back to MI. Check on some freight companies...they might be cheaper.
I had my car shipped from AZ to NC and it was about 700.00. Of course that was back in October before all the gas prices soared.

Tell Tuls I am on my way...
Trace

 

WOW. Glad you all are okay!
It's amazing how the Mini held up!
Goodluck with the fix!
Time to make it better than ever!

 

As soon as we got there, and saw him standing by the car, we were all very relieved. I have seen lots of crashes and lots of injuries, and none of them are very pretty. I am amazed that this car....WOW is all I can say. As soon as I can, I will post some video I shot. These cars continue to amaze me.

I am just REALLY glad that you two are alright. I was really scared and mentally going through my trauma list in my head..so much so, Ed had to drive my car down! But, cars can be fixed. I am just glad we didn't have to fix you.

 

Yikes! Sorry for your mishap... glad you're OK... hope your baby makes a speedy recovery.

 

Crap that sucks! I'm glad you're ok.

 

I was looking at some old Dragon photos on Killboy.com and I saw your MINI... I really liked the sides... Very different, I wouldn't have thought to do that... I am very sorry to hear about the roll over and am glad to hear everything is ok.

 

Sorry to see this. I do have a great video of you and 3 others ripping through the Gravity Cavity on 129 on Monday. I'll post it eventually.

Yeah, that second turn after the bridge can be a real surprise, especially if it is just a tiny bit damp from the early evening fog/dew. . . . . I've gotten a little loose there on a couple of occasions.

 

Sorry to hear the news Big Daddy. Very glad to hear you and Rich are ok. You'll get it fixed up and good as new before too long.

 

Thank God you are okay! See you soon!

 

Wow! That was a great description of the incident. Glad to hear you are okay. More proof that these are tough little cars. By the way, you may have inspired me to do that same graphic on my Chili Red - kind of give it the Lightning McQueen look....

 

Damn..... That is a crazy pic, seeing the MINI upside down like that. First saw this on the mu are recognized you immediately from the Mich forum. Glad to hear both of you are safe.

 

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and support. Rich and I went out to the accident scene this morning to try to re-create what happened and figure out why the back end of the car got so loose so fast. It was immediately apparent. Right at the edge of the asphalt, it was pushed up from below by a tree root or something and there was about a 3" bump in the pavement. You could see how the right rear wheel passed right over it and immediately lost traction, as evidenced by the skid marks. We followed the trail for about 30 feet to where the tire hit the grass, followed not long after by the left wheel. At this point we got completely sideways, hit a pile of dirt which spun us in a left-hand 360, pushed us up the bank where we hit the wall and rolled. Total distance of the whole thing was only about 200-250 feet, which confirms we weren't going that fast. CSI Wrecker has pics of the scene to corroborate (feel free to add these if you want Rick ;D). Despite the fact that my car is a mess, it came out pretty good and Chad thinks we can make it as good as new. There doesn't appear to be any engine damage and the airbags never deployed. I laid awake pretty much the whole night trying to figure out what happened and I feel pretty confident now that there wasn't anything I did wrong or could have done differently to prevent this (other than not hitting that bump which neither one of us saw last night). The fact that it was in the high 30's temperature wise and my summer performance tires were very cold probably contributed. In the end, it was an accident. Everyone please be careful out there and leave me with the dubious honor of being the Dragon's (well, more precisely, the Hellbender's) only casualty this year. Keep it between the lines.

 

Liz and I saw your MINI at the dinner and were talking about it for a while after. So sorry to hear about the accident. We are about to head out and run the Dragon for the first time, and this is definitely a sobering reminder, particularly for night runs.

Hope your baby is back in shape in no time!

 

As I said on the MMMC board... no worries mate! You and Rich are safe and sound, and that's what counts.

 

I certainly hope that you change your strategy for the rest of the trip.
Thank goodness you two were okay.


That was the first thing that popped into my head after reading your initial account. Most summer tires get very hard/slippery/useless below 40 degrees.

You've got both Chad and Way there; chances are you'll have the car rebuilt before I get up there on Friday.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your accident... I'm glad you're ok!

That's a really nice-looking car. Good luck with the fix.

 

That sucks. Glad you are OK. I've seen your car before & I love those side graphix.

Watch out for the bump they hit folks! The bulldog in the MINI comes out when it gets loose like that! Ask me how I know.

 

holy crap....glad to hear that everyone is okay and that the MINI held up so well. I continue to have confidence in how safe and solid these little beasts are.

but wow...I can imagine how scary this all must have been. now I am going to be extra worried/cautious about my MINI on the dragon, since I don't have any confidence in my stock runflats, esp when wet out.

 

I can only repeat what others have said - it's only a car - yes it's YOUR MINI - but YOUR MINI saved your lives.....I'm SO glad to see that the 2 of you are okay....

Donna