My Tale Of Woe

[Phoon Hoon]

Hi all,

It's taken quite a while for me to bring myself to write this post... I've gone over and over the events a million times in my mind, going through every emotion in the process - anger, pain, relief, sadess, grief... the lot. I hope after you read this you'll understand why.

OK - where to start.

I was travelling in the Toxic Beast and needed to head onto the freeway. It was quite a long entry ramp, and I brought the Phoon up to merging speed (about 110km/h). As I was crossing onto the freeway proper, I glanced over my right shoulder to double check that I was sweet to go.

I turned to face forward, only to find that the person in front of me thought the best way to merge was to slow right down and wait for a break in the traffic. At this time I was probably going even faster, maybe up to 115-120km/h.

You can imagine my surprise to find myself travelling at this speed with a guy in front puttering along at about 40km/h, and I was left with two choices.

1. Belt this guy fair up the clacker, possibly killing both of us in the process; or

2. Swerving to miss him, putting myself in danger.

I chose option 2. Now, as everyone on this forum knows, Phoons handle very well, but they are not designed to change direction so quickly when hurtling along so fast.

Next thing I knew I was travelling sideways through the trees next to the freeway. I came to a stop, made sure I was OK and got out of the car to check the damage. This is what it looked like...

Obviously, not good.

The first people on the scene were actually the highway patrol. They were travelling along somewhere behind me and saw the whole shebang. Now, heaps of people bag out the HP, but I must say these guys were fantastic. They made sure I was OK and offered me the use of their phone to ring my Mrs and anyone else I needed to. They were supportive, helpful and very concerned for my welfare.

Anyway, the upshot was that I got done for neg driving. The coppers explained that, even though the guy in front made life difficult, it was my job to leave enough space to stop safely between he and I. They also said I was doing over 110km/h. True.

I gotta say, when I had just belted $65,000 worth of car, a $300 fine and 3 points didn't worry me at all. My 4 kids could have lost their Dad.

And so to Part II

I travelled with the towy back to the smash repairers. He said at first glance a total loss (write-off) was a 50:50 call. He phoned me later that day to say that, on further inspection, he would recommend a write-off to the assessor. The damage included:

- Major panel damage (as you can see)

- A rooted ZF gearbox

- Mechanical damage of some description (car wouldn't start)

- side airbags went off

- both side and rear windows smashed

- floor pan was bent (could see it all up and down when you lifted the carpet)

- stuffed exhaust system

- front splitter ripped off

- alloys scratched to the sh1thouse

Now I've heard some horror stories about NRMA, but they have been great, too (so far). Their assessor wrote the car off, and called me to notify me. Within two hours, the NRMA claims department said that all I needed to do was to tell them what colour I wanted and a new one would be delivered as soon as possible.

I spoke with the Mrs and we chose Neo. The bad news is that there were none available for delivery straight away, but the good news is I get a brand spanker BFII with a 2007 build plate when it is delivered late January/early Feb next year.

As a side note, I called the smash repairer, wanting to go down and say goodbye. He told me that within an hour of the car being written off, it was taken away on a truck to be sold for bits.

I decided against Toxic again, as I felt that I needed a change. That car meant the world to me. It was a present we bought oursleves when I gained my recent promotion. The memories now are too painful. I'm just looking forward to putting this behind me and moving on.

Everyone I know has been great, including the couple of members I've spoken to - Marcis and Mal. Max, I haven't been able to bring myself to calling you and letting you know what happened. No doublt you'll read this at some time.

If you're interested, I'll let you know when the newbie arrives and I'll post a few pics.

Thanks for reading this - I hope I haven't rambled too much.

Cheers

[jetute]

holy fark mate... glad to hear your ok mate.... cars are replaceable.. dads arent... so you chose the right option

good luck with the new beast

[Kimberley Scott]

Fark mate, sorry to hear, dont beat yourself up to much about events leading up to the accident. You would not be the only one to merge like that, in fact it is courteous.

It may cost you a few bob, and some soreness, but no serious injuries, and the family were not on board. A new Phoon on the way, ENJOY.

Scotty

[zedman]

Not Good Man.

At least your ok and can live to tell one hell of a story.

Good luck with the new car mate so at least its not all bad.

Zedman

[PSYCHO XRT]

Its definately a day not to remember for anybody mate, but on a bright note, atleast u are fine and u get a 2007 model TYPHOON.

Tk care mate,

San.

[john s]

Hey Mate ..Thank God you are ok!! I drive for a living and see so many a/holes on the freeway and lack of driving skills I also am a F6 owner and have to have eyes in the back of my head when trying to merge on the freeway.

On a lighter note...enjoy your new Phoon.

[SAMSXR6T]

your a lucky b sted to come out of that in one piece. you must have someone looking over you...

[ZAP]

Clayton, It was a shock to hear about this when you told me, but I was happy when they wrote it off as it would never be the same car if it was fixed.

I also think that Neo is a great colour to get, much better than Toxic (you knew how I hated that colour on the F6).

I guess another upside is another lot of FPV goodies and another FPV drive day.

Pity it will take a couple of months to get.

[GreenXR6T]

Glad to hear you're OK.

It looks like it was a frightening ride. Fortunately there were no passengers, if there was you'd have stained seats for sure

[muzza420]

that's a sad news mate, I know exactly how it feels as I have gone through the same process.. its good no one was hurt which is the main thing.

Good luck with the next one

muzza