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MG Midget and Sprite General - Show us yer bloodied cars!
| We all have nice pictures of our cars posed in pretty places, but what about the alternative ? Remember that scene from "Jaws" when the three are comparing scars on board the "small" boat?! Here's mine from '76 to get the ball rolling. Blue paint courtesy of a Zagato Bristol... Season's Greetings to all! 
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| David Cox |
| Great thread but I'm blameless and so far unscathed (completely by luck) :0) |
| Gary & Gaps |
Not a Midget but an MGB GT. A lesson on the perils of using old tyres. It may look safe enough ... but this was where the car came to rest after a 370 degree spin. It was immovable until the detached tyre tread could be unwound from around the rear axle. We were very lucky this happened on the M50 rather than the M5.
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| Geoff Ev |
It's possible to track the later stages of the spin ... the mark along the top of the kerb was made by the rear silencer box (which now has a "flat spot". It looks too as if a wheel(the "broken one") mounted the kerb.
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| Geoff Ev |
| Do mangled tyres can't count unless they also mangle the car, or are caused by the car mangling the tyre? How about a pic of my bike mangled on the M25? Nah, car thread. |
| Lawrence Slater |
| If you look carefully, you can see that the rear fog lamp was no longer in an operable state after being thrashed by the tread. Sorry to taint this board with a picture of a "B" but the perils of using old tyres apply to everyone. |
| Geoff Ev |
| I bet that wheel wasn't up to much afterwards either was it? :) Noooooooooooooooooo, I can't imagine anyone using old tyres. :) |
| Lawrence Slater |
Here is another damaged BGT courtesy of a deer
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| Doug Plumb |
| Dunno what you're on about Geoff, that just needs an innertube and a bit of air in it and you're good to go.... Seriously though, that must have been a bit alarming, and is one of the reasons why I changed the 27 year old tyres on the front of the P6... The orange B looks like it's been punched. oof. Mine's also unscathed, though a badger did in the wing once, I don't have a picture of it.. |
| Rob Armstrong |
| Plenty of pictures of my car in an utter state, but I guess mid-restoration photos aren't the same as post-crash photos! That said, I am pretty sure my car has been crashed at some point... A picture of how it was when I bought it 15 months ago (how time flies!) There was me thinking, how hard can it be? ha ha! Cheers, Malcolm 
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| Malcolm Le Chevalier |
| Doug, One of my biggest fears driving mostly narrow wooded "B-roads" are the deer. Recently saw a car just in front of me knock one down with minimum dammage to both the car, and the deer. Regards, Larry C. '74 B/GT & '69 Midget |
| Larry C '69 Midget |
Actually, the wheel was hardly damaged - all the damage you see is bits of tyre in odd places.
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| Geoff Ev |
| Looking at Geoff's car reminds me of a local guy who had old but good looking tyres on a recently restored B roadster. On the motorway at 60mph got a vibration and according to his passenger tried to drive through it as he thought it was just a wheel wobble. It was actually the tyre delaminating and it punctured, sending the car into a spin and it flipped. The passenger survived to tell the tale, but unfortunately the driver was killed. So, yes, old tyres can be very dangerous even though they may have lots of tread on them. Bernie. |
| b higginson |
Courtesy of a bl**** Hyundai !
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| H. D'HAENENS |
| OUCH! That IS bloodied! |
| David Cox |
| thanks for re-awakening the painful memory, David It was two years ago tomorrow a stupid woman drove up the back of me as I was waiting to turn right. Couldn't find any pictures but wish I had one of the mess the back quarter of the midget made of her Punto. Her right front wheel and driveshaft were lying on the floor. My welding seemed to hold up rather well... |
| MarkH1 |
Not a very good picture, but the result of meeting another car backwards at Zandvoort 2005. It was "straightened" at the track enough to continue racing!
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| Max max-at-midgetmax-dot-com |
| I did a head-tailcrash in 1998 when I "lost" my rubber bumper but have no digital pictures of that. And the midget was hit LAST SUNDAY on the left rear by a lady in a Toyota Prius. I was on a right-of-way road and she moved at a crossing on my road from the left... She didnt see me at all... I know the midget isnt the biggest car in size but with a beige hood up its not so camoflaged is it? Its not a big damage and so repairable but a waste of time and energy to get everything sorted again. :( Btw, I can take a photo but the the photo's are to big to post on here and honestly I dont know to get them smaller and tryed it a couple times but its just to much hassle for me (yes, computers and I arnt best friends) :) |
| Arie de Best |
| H. D'HAENENS, Did you get it repaired? I Hope so. |
| Lawrence Slater |
| Arie, Get adobe photoshop, cut and paste the content you want to show, into a new file, then save as a smaller jpg. I think you can do the same with paintshop pro, but I prefer Adobe photoshop. Or email it to me and I'll send you back a smaller version. |
| Lawrence Slater |
| Lawrence/Arie You can do it easy with good old free allready on any pc instaled PAINT! There is an option that just says change size. You can select percentage or pixels (percent is easiest) fill in a number (like 25%) and it does it. Make sure you tick the box to keep the height width ratio the same. Then save as so you wont ruin the big original |
| Onno K |
| If you've got Microsoft Office, there's a brilliant program tucked away under "Office Tools" on the "All Programs" menu on the START button. It's called Picture Manager, and it automatically resizes to whatever size you want at the click of a button - document, web, email or custom - it produces compressed images perfectly. Lots of other basic editing procedures as well, far easier than Photoshop where I find you need to know what you're doing LOL. HTH |
| Max max-at-midgetmax-dot-com |
| Most of you will have seen this before... thanks to a friend of mine this happened! :-( 
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| Andrew McGee |
Is this the incident you were stating Max?
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| Andrew McGee |
| Andrew, It appears the grey/ yellow #26 was hit so hard the steering wheel wound up on the wrong side of the car ;o} I'll get my coat. . .Phil |
| Phil Burke |
| Not quite Andrew. That was Race 1, when Joop span out in front of me and I went past him. It was race 2 when he span on his own oil, destroyed the car in the barrier, then bounced back into me as I spun on his oil! Mark Dols was great, despite his car being wrecked he lent me his jacks to get straight for R3. Good guys, great times. |
| Max max-at-midgetmax-dot-com |
| oi! he lent *me* his portapower to get you out in race 3, ISTR you were all for putting it on the trailer. I learnt a good lesson that weekend; portapowering your own car is a daunting proposition but portapowering someone else's car is a piece of cake, I wonder why that is? |
| David Smith |
| Hah yes that's right! It wasn't just the damage, ISTR I had "1500" springs on the rear and it handled like Russell Grant on ice! Probably part of the reason it swapped ends so easily. |
| Max max-at-midgetmax-dot-com |
| FISC race Croft 2000 Started on 'dry' tyres with about 2mm of tread depth, coming up to Barcroft flat out at 7200 in top (3.9 diff) the heavens opened... Suddenly I'm going backwards on th grass - I could see Pieter's green Sprite stationary in the tyres (he'd just had the same accident) - guess where I was headed... I reckon I hit him at about 90mph - we both ended up in the med centre albeit I was released fairly quickly... I only have this copy of the photo - it was posted on t'internet by a Spridget enthusiast, but his site isn't up any more. We rebuilt the car for the following season by cutting the back off and putting a new rear end on... I won the class B championship of the Midget Challenge in the car in 2002. 
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| James B |
| Jeeeez. 90mph, sounds like someone up there was on your side then. That's looks like a fibreglass back end? I reckon you were lucky to end up in the med centre and not the morgue. |
| Lawrence Slater |
| Are there any prizes being offered All this came from avoiding a badger, I managed to do £1200 worth of damage to my Audi last year hitting one! Carl 
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| C Bintcliffe |
| Yes, it did have a fibreglass rear end - actually they tend to absorb impact very well... When we built the car we fitted it with a bespoke cage that looked like a NASCAR cage - and held up to the impact like one... The race seat was pretty second hand though... My present car was welded together by the same guy that built my first one, I have high standards when it comes to preparing racing Spridgets |
| James B |
| Carl: Was the badger hitching a ride in a 30 tonne lorry when you "avoided" him? |
| David Cox |
| No David A wet road and skinny tyres left me parked here. Luckily the hedgerow was much smaller than it is now! Carl 
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| C Bintcliffe |
| No Carl the driver parked the car there |
| Nigel Atkins |
| Nigel, I think you will find that I was not in control of the car at the time :) |
| C Bintcliffe |
| sorry forgot the badger bit just saw you blaming skinny tyres and wet roads that made no sense at all |
| Nigel Atkins |
| Carl. What will you do next time you approach a Badger on the road? An Audi, and a Midget, I think you've done your bit for wildlife conservation. Might I suggest road kill next time with a shot gun? |
| Lawrence Slater |
| badgers are very solid creatures best not hit with something like a Spriget |
| Nigel Atkins |
Before
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| Ole Aaen |
After
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| Ole Aaen |
| What happened to the screen Ole? The best advert I can find for a full "FIA" cage. Please someone email to Pieter Bakker.... |
| Max max-at-midgetmax-dot-com |
| Screen were ok after I straightened it out - glass, see picture. As I see it, there were lots of free space under the car for me. I newer felt in any danger. But what I will say - ladies and gentlemen - I've always strapped me very tight in the safety belt, and that is very importent. You have to stay very tight in the seat. I'll post some fotos of the "roll" Ole 
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| Ole Aaen |
1
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| Ole Aaen |
2
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| Ole Aaen |
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| Ole Aaen |
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| Ole Aaen |
5
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| Ole Aaen |
6
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| Ole Aaen |
| Oft! You lucky man! How did you end up sunnyside up in the first place?! Malcolm |
| Malcolm Le Chevalier |
Today at my office
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| Ole Aaen |
| All of which shows why I would always race with a full cage and a full-faced helmet, all the *stuff* blowing around in an accident has a great chance of getting in your face. IMHO you're a very lucky man, Ole. Lovely repair though :-) |
| Max max-at-midgetmax-dot-com |
| Flippin' heck... I could have said something stronger. Full cage for me forever and I can see why you've put a taller roll hoop in now but what will stop that from folding over. I don't fancy the idea of my helmet being ground away on the tarmac either should we have the misfortune to invert the current car or indeed my son's car to be. As Max say, you're a very lucky man indeed. Yikes! |
| Andrew McGee |
| Not even a diagonal brace. Do they really let you race like that in Denmark? |
| Dave O'Neill2 |
| Ole, you changed the rollbar design on the reconditioned car. Just out of curiousity, why? The model in the car during the axcident seems to work pretty well even without the diagonal brace Dave mentioned. The new one seems to be a bit higher tho. |
| Arie de Best |
| Now we are at it you might as well see it all: Video from car behind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pllRge51Bqc Video from my car: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PaYHk1r1Ps You've asked some questions and I'll try to answer them. I'm not driving with a full-face helmet as I get carsick - I do simply feel bad. I have to get full vision. So I've always been having it. I do use googles to prevent things in the eyes - splinterfree as the FIA regulations require. And before things are worked up too much - the rollbar worked fine I got out of the car without a scratsh - Lucky? maybee but I felt pretty safe all the way. The Rollbar I had was as required by the FIA regulations, I got a remark a couple of times, that the scruteneers would prefer a straight upper insted of the angled, thats why I made the new one straight - I might install a full roll cage this winter as FIA is about to change the regulations for 2012. I made it a bit heigher because I ground it against the track - it is perhaps a bit too high now. If you go back on my blog (www.midget-62.blogspot.com) to september - october - november 2010 you can see the steps of rebuilding. The blog is in danish, but there are a lot of photos. I went back to the same track this last september and raced again, 3-4 seconds faster than last year. The first time I went by the corner I thought of my axcident, after that I just concentrated on racing. Ole |
| Ole Aaen |
| Hi Ole, the vid from in the car made me feel mildly queasy to say the least, at the point of the crash. I'm not a racer, so can you tell me why the accident happened? It looks like the rear spun out, and drove you into the wall. Is that what happened? |
| Lawrence Slater |
| Thank god for that safety barrier! ;-) You would have been fine if they hadn't littered the edge of the track with that huge orange and white safety blob! Glad you escaped unscathed tho. Cheers, Malcolm |
| Malcolm Le Chevalier |
| Hell's teeth Ole, that's even worse in the flesh. Good job it was only a light roll in rallying terms! The impact on the safety barrier seemed to hurt more! I know they never raced with full face helmets and roll cages "back in the day", but thankfully there are so fewer people hurt these days it's a no-brainer. Ole, I feel hemmed in by my spectacles but there's no way I'd race without those...when I was a kid, a mate crashed his motorbike and scraped along the road on his nose..thankfully he was wearing a f/f so his cherubic good looks remained. I hear what you say, but I cannot understand why o/f helmets are allowed. Regarding scraping your helmet, it's not just the height of the bar but the angle it makes...a full cage keeps the whole cockpit off the ground when upside down. |
| Max max-at-midgetmax-dot-com |
| <<"can you tell me why the accident happened?">> I too am not a track racer but it looks to me as if the sudden unexpectedly early braking by the Cortina forced Ole to tighten his line into the corner and possibly touch the brakes at the same time =sudden oversteer and hello barrier! A bad moment, but glad Ole came out unhurt. |
| Guy |
| Lawrence: You are right - the Ford Cortina in front braked at the enterance of the turn - where you normally go 3rd and flat out - and there are a little bump on the track. I had to touch my brakes just a little, but enough for me to loose the back. The curbe is a bit steep there also, so when I hit the curbe the car got airborne...for some totally stupid reason someone has found it important to place a "safety" blob at the edge of the turn, and hitting that - still airborne gave me the final push round. Max: Riding my Ducati 250 racer I do ride fullface. Because offcause you are right in what you write. And I'll probably ride full rollcage next year - it also makes the car stiffer. Ole |
| Ole Aaen |
| Ole, I wondered why you gained so much on the Cortina in the curves. I guess the MK1 cortina isn't so good rounding bends as Spridgets then. Did you have words? If he wasn't supposed to do that, I would imagine you were a little peed off. :) |
| Lawrence Slater |
| >>>>I wondered why you gained so much on the Cortina in the curves Lawrence, it's called "racing". It's what we do ;-) |
| Max max-at-midgetmax-dot-com |
| Speak for yourself Maxxy boy! I've never brake checked anyone in my race career as I need all the speed and momentum I can get down the following straights. Altho I do recall using the person in front to help slow me down when I've overcooked it and I do recall a certain fellow Yorkshireman using me for the same reason which saw me well and truly buried in the gravel at Dijon.... ironic that I now own that very car that made contact with my old one!!! Motorsport is a non contact sport afterall!!!!! |
| Andrew McGee |
| Watching the videos that corner doesn't look that tight, and given the line that the Cortina was on I doubt that he actually needed to brake at all. Either he was panicking, or it was intentional to get Ole to back off a bit. A couple more corners and Ole was going to take him anyway. |
| Guy |
| Anybody object if I post a couple of pics of my wife's (ex) MG ZS180? My Midget, of course, came to her rescue! |
| Mark Perry |
| Lawrence: Yes we spoke - he is one of my friends - and still is. he was panicking at the entrance of the corner - I overtook him in that corner the day before. It was a race incidence I should have taken a line a bit further out, and overtaken in the next corner, but I wanted to get by, as Guy notice I would have taken him anyway, but there were only one more turn before the straight, so I needed all the speed I could get to prevent him to pass me again on the straight. |
| Ole Aaen |
| No Andrew, I meant "beating a Lotus Cortina in a Midget" - THATS racing, THAT'S what we do. F/X hitting head on desk top. |
| Max max-at-midgetmax-dot-com |
| yeah yeah yeah... I knew what you meant Max! ;-) oops that me nearly have a Bob moment and it becoming a row! :-) |
| Andrew McGee |
| Hey Max Any chance that you could post some webcam footage of you hitting your head on your desk on YouTube please...? ;-D |
| James Bilsland |
| He'll only be advocating the wearing of a full face helmet anyway James, best leave him to it! :-) |
| Andrew McGee |
| You mean - he wasn't wearing one when hitting the table with his head?????????? |
| rachmacb |
How not to take a bend covered in black ice.
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| Mark Perry |
The finished article
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| Mark Perry |
| Ouchy Mark - was she ok? |
| rachmacb |
| the contrast between your first and second photo just go to show, in the first it 'looks' like you could just slide the car out with perhaps just a few scracthes |
| Nigel Atkins |
| Despite the fact she has full life insurance, I'm pleased to say she walked away with only a broken finger nail and a crushed ego. |
| Mark Perry |
| LOL - better increase the life insurance then!!!! Glad to hear that, I guess they are stronger than they look .....:) |
| rachmacb |
| >>>>>stronger than they look Finger nails or ZSs? You know what I'm going to advocate now...HANS devices LOL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTk3E4xefhc&feature=youtube_gdata_player |
| Max max-at-midgetmax-dot-com |
Midget vs Neanderthal in a Freelander at Dartford tolls who decides to reverse (!) because person in front was struggling with change.
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| Dean Smith ('73 RWA) |
| Dean, I hope you managed to repair this... Sadly most folk in 4 wheel drives can't drive them... and Oppps the 'parking sensors' didn't see you... W*nkers...! Yes, I did own and drive a Discovery when living in the Uk, but I was aware of everything around me and didn't use it as a Sainsburys shopping car.. Mark. |
| M T Boldry |
| OK I'll take my litt;e bump to the end of the queue glad that no people were hurt in the bending of all this metal! |
| David Cox |
| Although not my MG, I think this one hurt me more :-(( Have a great xmas all Richard 
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| r parker |
hit a cone at about 45 mph , square on whilst sprinting oops, good old gaffa tape
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| Darren 2litre frogeye |
This thread was discussed between 15/12/2011 and 22/12/2011
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