camban
male, 58 |
Commercial Director
Hull / UK
member since 28.04.2004
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It was 0300 hours, a dry, warm Sunday morning, but very dark. The Opel Kadett GTE was hurtling down a steep hill, the spotlights were showing only the valley bottom, the speedo was hovering around 125mph and the engine note faltered as it bounced off the rev limiter at 7500rpm. We had to force our heads up as the g force pushed us into our seats when the car shot up the opposite side heading for a blind summit. I hesitated briefly but the Navigator said "flat", I kept the throttle pedal pressed onto its stop. The car crested the rise and took off before rejoining the narrow strip of tarmac about 20 metres down the other side. Then we were back on the rev limiter as we repeated the process. Dealing with the g force again, we set off up the other side. The navigator again said "flat". As we neared the summit again, then said "oh shit", stiffened in his seat and tightened his seat harnesses. Then we were airborne again. As the nose of the car began to point down again, I could see a substantial dry stone wall across our path, the road turned 90 degrees to the right along its base, behind the wall, I could only see blackness. It was obvious that no amount of braking would slow the car in time, even then, I had to wait for it to land before I could do anything. The instant that the wheels touched the ground I stood on the brakes, huge clouds of smoke errupted from the tortured Yokohama semi-slick tyres. We barely slowed at all. I came off the brakes then steered sharply to the left, away from the direction of the road, more tyre smoke billowed in our wake as the car went sideways towards the wall. Then I applied full right hand lock, the car swung visciously from one side to the other, but it was at least now facing the same direction as the road, still travelling too fast as the wall loomed. Into second gear, full throttle, the Limited Slip Diff locked both rear wheels, more smoke, but now we finally began to change direction away from the wall and, as we waited for the impact, the car shot along the base of the wall with millimetres to spare. The navigator said "good save, OK, now 100 (metres) long fast left down hill". |
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