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The DBR 06 Wrecks Thread

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Old 09-25-2006, 05:04 AM
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Question The DBR 06 Wrecks Thread

Post up what you witnessed, if it happened to you, a story where you almost ate it....pictures, videos, etc...... Maybe people can learn from others' mistakes.

I came across this accident on one of the photographer's site: http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.d...?event=0DAE007M

e3opian caught a motorcycle off the side of the mountain Saturday night (in all that rain) on my camcorder. I need to upload that.

Story-wise: I had three close calls. Two were in the exact same spot with the exact same thing happening. Coming into the Dragon from TN, on my first time with the Cayman, I went into a bit of a sweeping right turn that sharply cuts right at the end (I think it is around mile marker 5 or so ) and lost it. The problem with that turn, coming from that direction, is that the sweeping part makes you want to push the gas harder and you end up with too much speed for that hard right. I went into it and the rear end slid (not around - I was still in my lane), but as I was trying to correct the slide so was the traction control. The two of us not working together caused me to point the car at the ditch on the opposite side of the road with ABS in full force. Fortunately, those Porsche brakes rock and I was able to keep it on the road and quickly get the car back in my lane. After completeing the NC --> TN leg of a night run with NO S8NT I turned the car off at the gravel pit. We chatted for a while then we went back. At that same turn I did the exact same thing again..... .....I forgot to turn the traction control off after restarting the car.

Moral of that story - traction control is bad in a Cayman on the Dragon.

Third mishap: I was following Import Sport with NO S8NT, 4theheckof_it, Shittles and a 993 C4S who left with us from the lookout, when we came up to the spot where two motorcycles collided in a turn. Import Sport turned around to head back, and I decided to keep going. I'm doing about 7 mph through the crash site when an older man stands in my lane and has me stop. He takes his time walking around to my window and says "Son, I just want you to know you're sitting in a puddle of gasoline and oil". I thanked him for letting me know, but I was thinking: "damnit man, why are you letting me sit in it with my tires just soaking it up - you could have stopped me another 5 feet down ". By this time the C4S had caught up to me (after every S2000 let him pass because he was trying to make the Dragon straight ). I got going slowly. I went about a half a mile, with the C4S all up my ass - he didn't know he'd driven through that puddle - and decided to get back on it. First turn - both of us went sliding through it with our rear ends in the other lane. There was a red AP2 coming in the other direction, and I'd still like to know who that was because I'm sure he was freaking out. Fortunately the C4S and I both got our cars back under control and were able to get through on a pretty fun run.

It was a wet weekend, and I'm sure everyone had some hairy moments like I did. Since people are sharing stories to help others out, please don't come in here and criticize them unless it is very deserved.
Old 09-25-2006, 05:17 AM
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I went off the road...about half a mile from the bottom

went into the turn too fast, as soon as I saw the turn I knew something was wrong and so then the rest was a blur but I remember sliding forward with brakes applied fully then kinda fishtailing into the opposite lane and then tried to get back into my lane and then ended up sliding the rear off the road which pulled the rest of it off but I was able to control it enough to hop back on and make it down...

nothing broken that I know of...Car still feels the same.

The two cars behind me said that there were sparks flying up (which I woulda had a picture of that lol)

but yeah got to the bottom and whoever was taking pictures down there said he heard it...

so yeah the dragon tried to kick my ass and did a good job of it too but I was able to get back on it and keep going....
Old 09-25-2006, 05:25 AM
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Time to tell my "Oops" story, which actually happened far away from the Dragon. I wasn't going to tell anyone else about it so it wouldn't ruin a clean DBR, but since there were other incidents I'll tell my tale It's pretty long, heheh.

My girlfriend/+1 for the weekend is from Maryville, just south of Knoxville. Her parents even live on the Dragon side of Maryville. In fact, they live so conveniently close that you just take a right turn out of their neighborhood and eventually you end up on the Dragon! We weren't sure we'd be able to make it until the last minute, so I figured rather than trying to find an open room we'd just make a dual purpose weekend and visit her parents too. I've driven from her parent's house to the Dragon before and it was no big deal...in good weather (ominous preview).

So Friday afternoon we went down to register at Fontana, taking the Foothills Parkway route down. No problems despite the bad weather. I don't even have trouble losing traction with the Kumho MX's I've got on now, unlike the old S-02s. We registered, talked to a few buddies, then headed back to Maryville.


(Excuse the crappy route drawn in Paint, lol)

Here's our route, pt A being Fontana and pt B being her parents house. Notice point "DOH!". We had gotten through all those turns. I had been up the Dragon and knew it was okay, so I kept my speeds normal on it (I'm a local and have run the Dragon several hundred times, so I know it pretty much by heart). But when we hit those back roads in the middle of nowhere I slowed way down, my average speed was probably 20 or 25. I had driven the road a couple of times, and wasn't worried despite the bad conditions.

Well, despite all my caution, we came around a blind corner and hit a washout in the road where gravel and debris was all over the place. I hit the brakes and NOTHING happened. It was a pretty damn scary feeling. If there's one thing you can usually rely on in the S2000, it's those awesome brakes. We slid through all that crap on the road, went into the grass, then the front end nailed a tree. We were probably going <10mph at the time of impact, but there was a foot or two drop right before the tree so we picked up some momentum right before we hit it. No airbags deployed, and nobody was hurt in the slightest. I ended up being very lucky in the way the car hit the tree. It missed the structural frame bumper (which probably would have set off the airbags) and instead smashed through a lot of the cosmetic plastic bodywork. The car was almost driveable, except for the fact that the radiator mounts were screwed up pretty bad on the right side.

We had it towed to a bodyshop Saturday, and the initial estimate is around $5,400. Not bad, considering how it looked. Right when we hit I thought it was probably totaled.

So, in summary:
1) Nobody hurt.
2) Car fixable, insurance covering it.
3) No ticket
4) Cool cop who is a fan of sports cars and the Dragon filling out the report (Quote: "240 horses out of a 2.0? Turbocharged or supercharged?" )
5) My baby smashed up bad
6) Don't relax just because you get off the Dragon...other roads can bite too

It was just kindof ironic overall. I always know in the back of my head that with the type of driving I do, wrecking is a distinct possibility. But you never expect it to happen when you're just lollygagging along.

Hope everyone else had a good time! I hate we missed the event, but we had a good time hanging out in Maryville with her family. My S will be fixed up ~1 month, hopefully I can get back to the Dragon before it gets too cold and make up for the lost time

P.S. My S was the 3rd in the body shop, bad weekend for us I guess
Old 09-25-2006, 05:36 AM
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I caught two bikes going down on video: link

Raul made sure that they were ok and that they didn't need anyone to stay before we rolled away.
Old 09-25-2006, 06:04 AM
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Originally Posted by SC_Highlander,Sep 25 2006, 05:36 AM
I caught two bikes going down on video: link

Raul made sure that they were ok and that they didn't need anyone to stay before we rolled away.
That was a crazy sight to see, I've never seen anyone go down in person, only on video..

btw your forgot to mention Raul bumped them off the road!!!
Old 09-25-2006, 09:04 AM
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Amazing video, Bryan. Thank goodness the quick responses and driving skills exibited by airgate, you and JAHumphrey! So glad everyone was OK.
Old 09-25-2006, 09:09 AM
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Originally Posted by RWD_HNDA,Sep 25 2006, 10:04 AM
btw your forgot to mention Raul bumped them off the road!!!
Old 09-25-2006, 09:50 AM
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Who beeped the horn?
Old 09-25-2006, 10:23 AM
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Wow, what a crash fest.

Nice video Bryan.

The 2nd rider just flopped over?

Raul was pushing them to go faster.
Old 09-25-2006, 11:14 AM
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It looked to me, like he locked up his brakes to avoid the first one, then fishtailed and bailed out. We were not even going particularly fast, nor were we 'pushing' the bikes. In fact, Raul had let them pass earlier because they got between us as we were leaving the gravel lot.


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