*UPDATE* 11/16/07

Incognito, a member on the boards here, bought this car at an auction! Its in the bodyshop now, and will apparently be up and running pretty soon. I'm sure it'll be for sale sometime in the near future by him, so stand by. It won't be in it's former glory, but it'll be back to some extent!



This is kind of a long post, so bare with me. Hear me out though, and read please.

So I never thought I'd be saying this, but I wrecked my Evo last night. Just got it a few weeks ago too, from an awesome guy here on the forums. I only have one picture of the car getting towed, but I'm sure when I post more pictures later some of you will recognize the car and either be really sad or pissed that I'd ruin such a car. Sorry guys. I definitely did wreck one of the nicest LY VIII's on these boards.

I will stand firm in saying that I am NOT what you all would call the "typical stupid young evo owner". I financed the car with my own loan, pay for it with my own money I work for, and thus I babied the living hell out of this car just like I did my SRT-4 and my Cavalier before this. I'm actually ridiculous with how well I take care of the car and have taken care of my cars. I don't beat on it, race it, or whatever. I drive the car for the love of Evo's and "import tuning" or whatever you want to call it. Its what I do. I love the whole scene.

There story is pretty short, really. I'm up here in Montclair, NJ at MSU visiting my girlfriend for the weekend. Before the day actually started and got going, one of the first things my girlfriend said after waking up is "Wow, I feel really anxious about today, I don't like it. I'm not feeling this day." We went over to Englishtown Raceway Park for the day to check out the Corvette and late model Mopar muscle challenge - it was really cool, loads of fast chargers and vettes. We went out to Applebee's for dinner and afterward decided to go for a little drive - we just didn't really feel like going back to the dorm quite yet. She directed me to a road she's travelled on quite often, and cited it as being fun for its curvey nature and small S-bends. I was like "sure, why not, lets go for it." and we decided to be off. I went up a small hill and inside of a small valley between some rocks and hills. Not speeding. Around the first turn there was a section of the road that was for whatever reason wet, so by no choice of my own and unavoidably, my tires became wet but not soaked - the road was simple damp with the water, it wasn't a puddle or anything. After that, we took one turn, and then one more. The last turn we took I downshifed to 4th from about 40mph in 5th gear, came out of the apex of the very slight 10 degree turn and accelerated with about half throttle. I gave a little more gas than I normally would - I'm not going to sit here and claim that I did absolutely nothing to contribute, but I have pushed the car harder before with no ill consequences. The amount of throttle I gave the car was barely what you would call "getting on it" or whatever. The turbo began to spool a little and I probably was going about 50-55mph when the back end of the car felt like it kicked out a bit to the right. This caused the nose of the car to face east which was the oncoming lane. The car continued to slide toward the oncoming lane and it's curb regardless of my andrenaline-induced attempt to counter steer and apply brakes. The front driver's side struck the tall curb first, turned slightly so that the passenger side front slammed it. The car was probably a few inches off the ground when it turned 180 degrees and struck a tree directly in the back bumper/deck lid.

The front of the car is severely damaged. The hood is dented up, and the passenger side wheel/control arm is bent up and out of the fender and its camber is completely out of wack. I couldn't see, but I'm sure the axle is bent or gone too. The back of the car's rear bumper is totally ****ed, along with the rear frame behind the crashbeam seemingly popped up and creased inside - lifting the trunk floor up to almost the deck lid. The wing was untouched. Most of the car's damage is in the front end. The whole front starting on the passenger side is mushed in toward the motor. The motor was running after the impact, and the airbags didn't deploy. The motor didn't seem displaced at all.

I haven't seen the car since the crash - its sitting at the local tow lot, I've still got to go see it on Tuesday.

All I can really say is that I am glad that my girlfriend is okay and that I'm unhurt. It could've been way worse, and one of my friends could've posted on here about serious injuries or even death. Trees tend to cause that - they don't budge.

I received no tickets from the officers who reported to the accident, and they attributed the crash mostly on the patch of road that was wet. But it definitely shouldn't have happened that easily. I've driven on the BFG KDW's in much worse weather, both on my SRT-4 and in this Evo, and I have never experienced such total and complete failure in traction traveling in a straight line. I don't really understand what caused the traction loss - the small amount of moisture on the tires is NOTHING compared to the WOTs I've done IN THE RAIN with no ill effect. BFG will be hearing from me I'm sure, because I'm pretty sure their tires do NOT work as advertised. All over the website they claim the KDWs will ensure that I can "drive in wet conditions with confidence!". I say its bull****, but thats a whole different issue.

Haven't heard from an adjuster yet - still waiting on that. I'm sure the car is totalled though. Sorry guys, never thought I'd ever have to post something like this. I'm sure you flamers will want to start with your "oh great now my insurance will go up" bull****, so go for it. Doesn't matter. The road was narrow and an experienced racecar driver could've probably corrected the loss of traction to turn out less bad, but I promise that anybody would've still hit at least the curb.

EDIT: Added more photos!















Any comments welcome, but I don't appreciate pointless flame.

 

Pic looks ouchy. Come on man! Where're the cliffnotes?

 

He was driving, back end came out and he hit a tree.

 

yea by that one pic it really doesnt look good just by that. glad you and your girl are ok, cars can be replaced... people cant.

 

**** happens
but id smack your gf for telling you to go on that road

 

damn, sorry to hear that, bro... Just be thankful that you and your girl are okay. The Evo doesn't mean **** when you or your girl are bound to a wheelchair for life.

I've been through a similar accident with my M3 two years ago - hit oil slick while accelerating and lost control of the car - one of the worst feelings ever while it's happening.

Off-topic, I spent about 4 years in Upper Montclair a few years ago while going to UMDNJ. Used to go to MSU library to study on a daily basis. Miss the area!

Good luck with the car, and next time CliffsNotes or ban!!

 

 

that sucks! good to hear there were no injuries!

Was this the LY VIII with the blue painted p45Rs?

 

Yeah the feeling of the back end giving away was absolutely horrifying. And before I knew it, I was in the woods.

 

Yeah I agree. I don't know though - only one 3 foot section of the road was wet. The road was bone dry where I lost traction.

 

Yep, unfortunately thats the one. I loved the car. I called Dave (evotagger) to tell him I wrecked his car I just bought. Needless to say he said "damn dude, that sucks".

 

Counter steer and take foot off both brakes and gas and you might have been able to save it. Bummer dude.

 

We all like our curvey back roads, just sounds like one of those unfortunate things that we learn from.

 

Ouch, sorry to hear

Same here ever since I spun my eclipse around about a month after getting my license (4+yrs ago) I still drive like an old lady in the rain and get nervous if I see a random wet spot I can't avoid while going around a turn.

 

the rarest color of them all