johnmh Report post Posted April 3, 2011 I was on the way from Abu Dhabi to Dubai early yesterday am for a classic car meet and coffee when I was involved in this: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/tr...-pileup-on-e-11 The road went from clear to fog almost instantly. I had to brake from highway speed, swerve from the left lane to the right shoulder and thread the needle through some damaged cars to find a spot on the right shoulder to park. I can say with certainty I would not have been able to do that in my Toyota. The sickening thing was standing on the other side of the guard rail, shouting at people to get out of their damaged cars while you can hear the intermittent crashes as new cars pile into the back of the stopped cars. It took 2.5 hours to clear a path through the wreckage before I could leave the scene. CT and I were unscathed. I may owe my life to my little black car. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryjoint Report post Posted April 3, 2011 Wow, bloody well done to avoid that Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambo91 Report post Posted April 3, 2011 wow that sounds so scary....too bad they didnt have a helicopter to get that scene down from above..must be cool to watch you avoid like in the movies lol.. glad you and the car are safe. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANG Report post Posted April 3, 2011 whew...what a relief, that could have turned out so much worse!!! These cars with a ballsy driver were meant to perform around accidents - you proved that! pleased you and car are unscathed! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jota1995 Report post Posted April 3, 2011 damn that's one big arse pile up! Countach FTW!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFilipinoStig Report post Posted April 3, 2011 Glad you're okay! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert-LP Report post Posted April 3, 2011 you have been very lucky! and those big tyres did their job... ciao Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmh Report post Posted April 3, 2011 I must have been asked 10 times by people out of their cars 'are you ok?', followed immediately by 'is your car ok?'. My positive response to the second question earned the larger expressions of relief. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
12097 Report post Posted April 3, 2011 wow that sounds so scary....too bad they didnt have a helicopter to get that scene down from above..must be cool to watch you avoid like in the movies lol.. glad you and the car are safe. I read your comment twice to make sure, but there seems to be a fault in your logic. (helicopter + dense fog with zero visibility = no chance of viewing the incident) But also glad things went as well as they did. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortis Report post Posted April 3, 2011 Glad you are ok. Sports cars are certainly a lot safer than your average car, brake, handle and accelerate a lot better Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hovik Report post Posted April 3, 2011 Crazy! Glad you're okay. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter K Report post Posted April 4, 2011 whoa! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmh Report post Posted April 4, 2011 whoa! 'Whoa!' was precisely my thought at the time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NRG x Lambo Report post Posted April 4, 2011 now that we know you and the car are safe.... that's a great photo of the countach in the fog!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
emilio Report post Posted April 4, 2011 i am very happy to hear you are ok!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralfabco Report post Posted April 9, 2011 John, that car belongs in a museum Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmh Report post Posted April 10, 2011 I drive it pretty seldom (3-4 x per year) and it lives in air conditioned comfort, usually in a carcoon on four rubber pads to avoid flat spotting the tires. So in that way it is not much different from a museum. Once my LP5000S gets completed I may send the LP400S back home to Canada. One nice thing about living here is that you do get to use much more of the car's performance (in remote locations and on clear days!) without worrying about tickets, license, insurance, prison, etc. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken qv Report post Posted April 10, 2011 Great news you weren't damaged. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken qv Report post Posted April 10, 2011 Great news you weren't damaged. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFilipinoStig Report post Posted April 10, 2011 I drive it pretty seldom (3-4 x per year) and it lives in air conditioned comfort, usually in a carcoon on four rubber pads to avoid flat spotting the tires. So in that way it is not much different from a museum. Once my LP5000S gets completed I may send the LP400S back home to Canada. One nice thing about living here is that you do get to use much more of the car's performance (in remote locations and on clear days!) without worrying about tickets, license, insurance, prison, etc. How are Saudi police? Or have you not encountered them whilst driving? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpohl402 Report post Posted April 11, 2011 crazy.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADV.1 Wheels Report post Posted April 11, 2011 Glad you are alright! What causes the fog to roll in that quickly? Is it common? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmh Report post Posted April 12, 2011 Fog is common as the highways is just inland from the Gulf. It is quite humid, so when the temp drops the fog can get really bad. This is not the first accident of its type on that stretch of road. Sadly, the Countach was enjoying the cool, dense, most air that morning. It would have been a great am drive if nothing had happened. As for the authorities, they generally do not pull anyone over unless you are driving erratically, you usually get a speeding ticket based on a photo. Most photos are taken by fixed cameras, some spaced a good distance apart. No insurance companies get statistics on tickets, you only get demerit points if you are 60 km/h over the posted limit. On that road, that means blowing past a camera at 180 km/h. Even then, they do not always get your picture, especially if there are a number of cars in the photo. I enjoyed a 1am moonlit Testarossa drive back from the FIM Endurance race in Dubai a few months ago and thought I was going to get my car impounded as a result. I got very lucky with that one. The cameras used to flash at 161 km/h, after this most recent pileup the cameras have allegedly been reset at 141 km/h. A bit of a shame actually as some cameras were far apart. You would be amazed what speeds a vintage supercar can get up to between cameras at 5am on a weekend. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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