The 'look at what I did today' thread

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Mon May 19, 2014 9:33 pm

mercutio wrote:was trying to work out what you spotted was it that there is no rope holding the bonnet to the roof?

Yep - Phil had untied it earlier and we forgot that we hadn't taken it off!

Post by **Doggo** » Mon May 19, 2014 9:49 pm

ooh bugger!

Still. Everyone walked away, and it already makes a good story

Rotten luck, mate

'92 Si VTEC · Post by **jjmartin349571** » Mon May 19, 2014 10:01 pm

That looks like a brown trouser moment! Glad you're ok matey that's the main thing.

andypont · Post by **andypont** » Mon May 19, 2014 10:06 pm

Not good, but as said previously - could have been so much worse. The main thing is everyone is ok.

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Mon May 19, 2014 10:22 pm

mercutio wrote:how did you manage to spin the disco?

Not sure, was only doing between 30-40 at the time with absolutely no sign of any problems before and I wasn't heading to go any faster. Didn't feel particularly dramatic at the start and I did what you do to bring a snake back under control.

Think it was an unfortunate combination of things.
Ideally the CX would have been better the other way round - trailer wasn't tail heavy because of all the crap in the back and boot of the CX, but it would have had better nose weight the other way round. That's the way I've always towed them before, but it wasn't easy to load it up that way round on this occasion and the trailer balance still felt ok.
We were on a gentle left hand bend transitioning into a gentle right hand bend at the time and there are a couple of ruts across the road just before where it started pitching, so those could have given it a bit of a bounce and initial throw off line.
Then after we were on the move again, the back right outside tyre on the disco went completely flat. Hadn't noticed anything about it before and it pumped up ok without changing it and still had normal pressure this morning, so it might have a slow puncture and it just reached low enough at that time to also destabilise things.

Think probably a mixture of those things. But not sure.

One thing I'm pretty sure that didn't happen though, is that the load didn't shift - at least not until the rear quarter of the Disco smacked it in the arse when it jackknifed! Even then it still stayed on though.

That's one of the 2 really lucky parts of it I think - that the CX didn't get flung off the trailer and cause god knows what else carnage and even more luckily that there was some newly installed crash barrier where we hit - literally, they only installed it a week ago! If that hadn't been there, I think there's a chance of the wheels of the Disco digging into the verge and pitching it into a roll. I am now a fully signed up fan of arnco...

After the dust settled, we just needed to get on with unbolting and stripping the arnco to disentangle the Disco and get it all moved out of the roadway asap and then work out what to do after.

EDIT: Lisa kindly took some pictures of the aftermath (Phil sunbathing) and me talking to plod;

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Mon May 19, 2014 10:27 pm

prelude91 wrote:Overweight trailer, by any chance?

No don't think so. It's heavy, but well within the scope of the trailer and car. If there was any doubt about that, the Police would have jumped on it I'm sure, but weight never even crossed their lips.

Post by **Donald** » Mon May 19, 2014 11:24 pm

So what did the police say then?

The "S" express · Post by **honda-hardy** » Tue May 20, 2014 12:41 am

Donald wrote:So what did the police say then?

eve nin all...

blooming heck bud. thats a bit of bad luck. hope you are all ok.

Ted · Post by **Ted** » Tue May 20, 2014 6:15 am

Oops overweight disco I reckon, phils been eating all the pies again. Lucky escape really I suppose but damn bad luck too

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Tue May 20, 2014 8:29 am

Donald wrote:So what did the police say then?

Not a lot. When they arrived I think they saw that we were all alright, had everything under control and knew what we were doing trying to clear the road and just let us get on with it. Didn't breathalyze me or ask to see my license or anything. She said they'd report me for careless driving, consider the report and based on that write to me to offer driving courses if they thought there were any that could potentially help to improve my driving - but she also said there aren't any that cover towing anyway, so they probably wouldn't be any of relevance.

Having got all that out of the way they suggested I just get everything hooked up again, they'd block the road so we could do a Uey and get on my way.

When they blocked the road and flashed us to say to get on, Phil remembered the handbrake was still on the trailer so had to sort that with traffic queuing up behind them