We all enjoyed our jaunt into Wales last time, so we decided to go for another run. Thankfully the weather this time was far better than it was last time, so it was off to the valleys we went.
For this adventure we each had partners in tow, so rather than just the two cars, we had a total of 4. Myself and Emma in the Smart Roadster, Mike and Isabelle in the Subaru Impreza, Adam and Sarah in the Mazda MX-5 and Gregg piloting the GTO solo.
On the Friday we made our way to our first stop in Newport. Gregg was working in Liverpool so would meet us there. The remaining 3 cars hit the A36 with a vengeance, rolling into Newport around 11pm for debrief and cocktails. Gregg joining us shortly after.
The following morning it was onward to the fun roads of Wales. We followed a meandering route cross-country to cardigan bay for some lunch.
We took a break to consume plenty of bacon, and witness some crazy locals "enjoying" the wonders of the Irish sea. Nutters.
Suitably satiated, we headed north back to the Evo Triangle that we visited before the ScumRun via more excellent roads en-route. Round a few mountains, and a couple of lakes, and a sheep or two.
When we got to the triangle Gregg was in front. Unfortunately he took a wrong turning so radioed to the rest of us that he would catch us up and we should carry on. With that the rest of us took off.
This was a video Adam took from the MX-5, as you can see the weather was great.
Just as we were heading down the back leg of the triangle we got a phone call. The call was from a woman who said our friend had crashed. As you can imagine we feared the worst, but she assured us he was fine, but just couldn't get a phone signal from where he was. She had driven a mile or so down the road to call us on his behalf.
We pulled over to let the others (Mike and Adam) know, as our radio was being a bit temperamental, and then we set off back round the triangle to find Gregg. When we arrived, we found this...
It seems that the passenger side front wheel on the GTO decided that staying on the rim was boring, and blew out. Possibly due to a problem with the tyre, or something in the road, we may never really know. Either way, the car went into a spin, and ended up going backwards into a tree. The road was rated at 50 or 60mph, so if there had been other traffic it could have been a LOT worse. Nobody died, and the only real injuries were Gregg's pride, some slight seatbelt bruises, some of the grass, and the fence. Even the tree barely had a scratch. Unfortunately the GTO didn't fair as well.
As you can see from the pics above, there's a fair bit of damage to the back end. Scratches all over the bodywork where the barbed wire fence went up and over. Some body panel damage, and the exhaust was bent back on itself. The local garage came to tow it away, and secure the car for the insurance to look at, and then that was that. We made our way to the hotel for the night via the Llanberis pass, an excellent road but Gregg's transport situation was a little less auspicious...
The following day, we took a trip into Llanberis with the intention of going up mount Snowden (By train, not car) or the power plant, but weather and timing weren't on our side so after a brief tour around the slate museum, we made our way home. Some more spirited driving, but this time the Smart Roadster decided to play up after a fuel stop. Luckily she started up again after a few tries and we headed home.
A few months later after all the paper work was done we finally managed to arrange to get the GTO returned. A feature of the policy was that you got your car back no matter what the condition, so we had the opportunity to recover some of the modifications (like the CB, and LED lighting). Having a long hard look around the car, you can see that while there is a fair bit of damage, overall she faired quite well, considering. Unfortunately the rear damage is such that it was a fatal blow.
Having looked more closely underneath, it seems that the back of the car was crunched to the point that it almost impacted the fuel tank.
The bottom line is that things could have been much more serious so all in all Gregg was very lucky. The insurance company decided it was a complete write-off so that, it seems, is the end of that then.
Cock !
Well, s**t happens I suppose. We didn't spend a lot on the car, so the fact that it completed the run in one piece is a blessing, but it would have been nice to keep hold of it. Never mind.
We are looking at possibly doing the ScumRun again next year (2015), but that is TBD at the moment. Watch this space for more car related antics.
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