Lotus Elise Kissed

[austin552]

What happened? He didn't seem to going in that fast. Man, that really sucks azz.

[HardDrive]

Strange. I was looking for something obvious. The sound cuts out (probably so we can't here him cursing), but it was already gone when the sound goes. There are some small sounds just before it lets go. Gravel hitting the underbody? Mechanical issue? Sounds like he might have got off the throttle mid corner.

He has an extra body in the passenger seat. You add a 250lbs weight in a 2000lbs car, it might have thrown him off.

[equality72521]

From his blog:

http://www.lotuseliseblog.com/

So I haven't updated the blog in a while, guess I was waiting for a BIG update... The Elise is officially no more. Earlier this year while driving through rural Indiana we came around a tricky corner that sent the car into a spin & into a guardrail. We weren't going excessively fast, nowhere near my or the car's limits, it really was just an odd turn. You come into it after leaving a right hand corner and going uphill, just as the hill crests you are pushing into the left hand section. As we crested the car got really light really quick, enough so to push the rear end out far enough that I couldn't recover.

[serge944]

"nowhere near my car's limits" - apparently not for this turn. Hills can be interesting.

[austin552]

Goodyear tires maybe. The road was wet before the turn though.

[Aurel]

The car must have lost adhesion because the curve was on a bump. Upwards weight transfer made the centrifuge force spin the car.

Aurel

[masraum]

top of a hill mid corner coupled with possibly a lift.

[cstreit]

Interestingly it looks like the passenger reached over to countersteer just as or perhaps slightly before the driver did... Sucks though...

[svandamme]

stiff suspension, and that don't work with bumps in turns
he didn't clutch in when the suspension maxed out to put his drive/traction in neutral
coupled with a very slow reaction on the steering wheel

all he needed to do , was clutch in on that hump
and instantly correct at the same time, one hand yank to the right instead of correcting slow, hand over hand...

That's one reason why i didn't take the sport option and 17" wheels on my 1 series bimmer, it's great on highway's and billiard tables, but it's contraproductive on the bumpy country roads around my house...

[ChkbookMechanic]

Sucks for him but at least he ended up with a better daily driver: an E46 M3.

[stuartj]

Its also a characteristic of mid engined cars......grip, grip, grip........no grip

[widgeon13]

I think he just screwed up. If he didn't exceed his limits it must just have been the car's mistake.

[dewolf]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

I think he just screwed up. If he didn't exceed his limits it must just have been the car's mistake.

Agreed, no excuses, crap driver. All the cars in front went through ok.

[austin552]

The guardrail is pretty banged up in that area. Looks like he wasn't the first.

[stuartj]

Dont be too harsh. Those things weigh 800kg, the car has gone light and rotated around its own mid engined axis. He was a little slow, and he went in.

[Schumi]

He tried to correct it with steering, but didn't see enough braking... Both feet in- it's the best for something like that. No steering input can correct that.

That's what happens when people get comfortable and think they can control a spin with steering like it's a powerslide. Not the same forces at work.

And again... the cars in front went through OK...

[rouxroux]

Nothing technical on that turn....Maybe daddy will buy him a big honkin' 4x4 so he can chase his buddies.

I wish I could hear the audio DURING the spin....probably something like this:

"Hey dude, you f'ed up your dad's Lotus".

[stuartj]

There is actually something technical on that corner, and that is the bump/rise on turn in which the effect of unweighting the car.

[the]

Originally Posted by serge944

"nowhere near my car's limits" - apparently not for this turn. Hills can be interesting.

Agreed, "nowhere near my car's limit" is by definition incorrect.

[Pazuzu]

Heck, it doesn't matter what he did to the body, watch the tach...he might very well have blown that engine (I don't have sound, maybe pinning the tach wasn't that bad with sound).