Have you thanked your MINI lately? Well, I sure had occasion to a coupla nites ago - my MINI, Brooksie, saved my butt. Not while I was running the twisties, not being stupid and street racing, just driving along minding my own business when chance throws you curve, and you live to tell about it. Just thought there might be a few stories out there like this little wake-up call that happened to me recently:

I was driving home late last Saturday night, it was clear, no fog, and the backroad to my house was left to me and one other car. He was in the left lane ahead of me by about a hundred feet, and although we were both travelling at the speed limit, it was a 50 mph suburban parkway, so it wasn't exactly slow. It's a popular street race spot, so I make a point of watching my speed - the peelers are known to frequent the area in force. We had reached a stretch of the road between developments that had no street lights or traffic signals for while, going around a right-hand sweeper with a slight rise, so naturally I took the right, inside lane, when about half-way through the turn the car ahead of me braked hard - I could just see his lights around the uphill bend.

You know that feeling you get, when something is about to happen, and you can see things with utter clarity? It happened RIGHT THEN. I let off the gas a little on instinct, and as I approached the apex, there it was - someone just seconds before us had gone over the inside curb after losing control, knocked a fire hydrant clean off, and the car was dead in the water, LITERALLY, right in my lane! Water was gushing up about 20 ft high, cascading back on the road, flooding everything, and even tho it was pitch black, I could see everything SO bright. I hit the water fast, and it just blasted muddy water right over my car - my first thought was, D**n, there it goes right into the intake! I was just straight enough to tap the brakes a tad to get down to a safe speed to manouver, and boy howdy, I'm glad I did. The wreck was right in front of me, my headlites just starting to reflect before impact - I had the wipers going instantaneously 'cause I couldn't see a darn thing, I downshifted, steered left, and missed his steaming hulk by inches. Whew! Not so fast, pal, what's THAT IN THE ROAD NOW?? The spinning front bumper of his car was torn off and lying in the other lane!!! - obviously grazed by the car ahead of me, so now I had to whip over to the right, in the water, still!!, just missing that chunk by hair, and now I'm well in the clear. WHEW!!

I'm sure had I been in one of my other non-MINI cars, I'd have t-boned that poor guy, or lost it in the wet at least, for sure. Brooksie went thru without a qualm, never missed a beat, and stuck to the road like super-glue, in appalling conditions that would've meant doom for a lot of other cars I've driven. I thanked her right then and there, and no car deserved it more. I slowed down carefully and stopped, whipped out my cel-phone and called 911, only to be told two SDPD units were on the way, and I could just hear 'em coming up the hill, with lights and sirens. Evidently the crashed car had lost control going the other direction, crossed the median, and whacked the hydrant! Hope the folks in the crash ended up OK - the cops told me thanks for stopping, but you can go on home. Luckily, the water was mostly falling down, ;-) and I didn't get any up the intake, thank God. Brooksie was awful dirty the next day, and as I'm not usually one to ride her hard and put her away wet, I treated her to a wash right after work. Some cars'll kill ya, and some'll save ya, so I'm glad Brooksie is one of the latter.

Remember to thank your MINI now and then, is my advice.

BCNU,
Rob in Dago

 

Wow Rob! That's quite a story! I'm glad both you and Brooksie are okay. :smile:

I still say "Good Morning" to Peanut when I get in to go to work each day; I still give her lots of love in the form of detailing and other maintenance type of care, but tomorrow I'll have to give her an extra pat on the dash just to say "thank you" for being such a great automobile!

 

That is some story,glad you and your MINI are alright:smile:
One of the cloveleafs I commute through every day,acutally I drive through it at night,is getting resurfaced,was slow going for awhile as the road crews had been working on it for over a week.Lots of pylons,barracades and such.Well 3 days ago the new asphalt was laid,and I went through it at the posted speed
very nice and smooth.So the next night I go for it abit,and some bone head
had put pylons all over the rampsaw the first one just as I was about to hit the throttle to go through the tight part of the curve and go onto the desserted highway.I was tight on the shoulder and there it was right in front of me,swerved to the left,missed it and there are two more,hard right,left,in the clear.No other car I've owned could have done that.
Now I want to try motorcross,but in daylight,and a chance to see the track first
Now I do have to dodge critters alot,so I treat my MINI nice all the time

 

So good to hear that my future car has such good handling. I always wonder though if the driver (me) will be able to respond so swiftly and accurately. Nice driving, Vanhall. One question though, is your MINI equipped with DSC and did it turn on during all the swishing and swerving?

 

I generally drive with the DCS on, and it was working during the incident - I'm kinda glad it was, too. I wouldn't underestimate yourself - this car makes it easy to drive well, and inputs are transmitted in a very positive manner - recovery from mistakes is fairly benign, as well. If you haven't included DSC with your order, my advise is to do so - saved me grief a coupla times before this. You can always turn it off for autox or twisties, if you feel like it.

BCNU,
Rob in Dago

 

Rob,

Being 'all in one piece' is a good thing, especially when the alternative is 'all in lots of pieces.' Glad that you're OK, and that Brooksie was such a help.

Last summer I had an incident in Nor. Cal. on Hwy 92 near Skyline Blvd that included 1 lane traffic, a UPS truck, and someone crossing over the line after falling asleep. Ollie kept it from being a 3-car accident.

I guess thanks should go all the way back to Sir Alec.

See you soon.

Jim

 

Wow, Rob! Your Brooksie came through again! Great write-up, and so glad you're unharmed, sweetie! I'll be chihuahua-sitting for Mom in La Jolla soon...we'll have to motor! Gotta give her Z4 a workout, since it only has about 1300 miles on the odo! LOLOLOL!!!

Clo/Wanda

 

What a great story. I had a slightly less dramatic event a few weeks ago and thought about posting then. I was traveling on a 25mph road leaving our town. I was doing the speedlimit and it was a bright day when I had a close call. A woman was sitting at a side street waiting to pull out. Which she did when I was about 30 feet from her. We were very close as I could see her eyes looking right into mine (though not romantically ). I immediately stood on my brakes and began looking for an excape route(with the voice of every motorcycle instructor I've ever had screaming in my ear "YOU WILL GO WHERE YOU LOOK!!!"). As I turned to the right to slide behind her she stopped leaving me no room so I looked to the left and still hard on the brakes I eased past the nose of her car. I've been driving Crxs and an MR2 spyder until I got the Mini. I can honestly say that if I had been in either or those cars I would have hit the other car for sure. I could actually feel the car reacting to the incredible amount of braking and still allowing my to steer the car. The mini was awesome!! My girlfriend who was in the car now thinks I am a race car driver, which I'm not, but if that works for her that's fine.

 

Whiptastic Handling - isn't that the latest MINI catch-phrase? Sir Alec's tradition carries on.

BCNU,
Rob in Dago