65 ml/hr crash

[M5XTRM]

First, I'm fine. Second the M5 performed superbly with all it's safety features and third God was watching (perhaps not very carefully).

The accident occured tonight at 8:23 pm West bound I-4 outside of Sanford Florida.

It was raining very, very heavily, visibility at time of accident was very poor.

I was in second lane from the left in 4 lane highway, the instigator (who run away after causing the accident) was a Honda Civic on the second lane from the right.

Traffic was moving steadily at 65 ml per hour when suddenly the rain got really heavy. As we were going up a hill (It's Florida - more like a mound) the Civic move into my lane trying to pass a car in front of him. I had no time to even blow the horn, I had to stir to the left to get out of his way by that time we were going down the hill with no room to get back on the lane with out causing other cars to stir out of control. Neatly to say a combination of weather, road condition, angle of decent and gravity, the car lost traction momentarily, (remember BMW M5 driving school skid pad practice?- brake and cluth- it comes handy). I was able to stir out of the way of other cars as the car started spinning and the DSC was going on and off, spin one time, two times, I saw the mediam; tried to stir back into the highway, but half way into the third spin, the front tires hit the wet grass and started to go into the ditch. At that point all traction was lost, the car spinned two more times. I held to the stirring wheel and brassed for impact. The car hit the guard rail in the right rear side (It was loud and very hard impact since I had not being able to slow the car much before impact), then one and a half more spin and the car started to slide backwards (I was facing incoming traffic- lucky for me I was in teh ditch at that point). The car slide fro approximately 120 ft and stopped.

The instigator was no where to be found. An off duty police officer stopped to check if I was Ok. I rolled the window down, he saw I was wearing a racing harness, ask me if I was Ok and if needed help. I told him I was fine. He said well done wearing the harness, told me the person in his car was reporting the accident and took off. I did not even had time to ask his name or anything.

Neatly to say, I was still in the ditch, rain was very hard and no one else stopped. I got out of the car to assess the damage and see if the car could be driven of the ditch. To my surprise the damage is severe, but not as bad as I expected with that type of crash and speed. I got back in car and manuevered it back to the payment. I called the highway police and requested for someone to come and write a report. I called my wife and gave her the news of what had happen.

The highway patrol showed up 15 minutes later, help me check the car again as a couple of questions, assessed my condition and wrote the report.

I'm now back at home safely after driving the car for 70 miles more. The car drove very well given the damage it sustained. The DSC is not working, Lost the light array on the rear right, the right side is compressed about 1 ft into the rear wheel( but did not touched it). Both back doors cannot be opened. The left side sustained less damage overall. The car has a severe vibration over 60 ml hr, but besides that, the car is in good shape concidering.

No air bags were deployed, engine did not cut off, door seals have no visible damage, the cabin is perfectly dry and during the drive home, I did not hear any difference in road noise, except for the exhaust seems louder (I'm sure other parts broken, but not visible).

Will try to post pictures tomorrow after the severe headache goes away.

[b56tc]

GREAT to hear you're OK; great job with the harness!!!

In the heirarchy of needs - everything will be fine - it's just sheetmetal, and all replaceable, if necessary.
Your beast took care of you.

REAlly glad to hear you came out of a potentially terrible accident.

As a guy who deals in trauma for a job - I guarantee you, traveling in general, driving specifically, is profoundly the greatest risk to our health under age 50.

56

[TCM]

I am glad to hear you are ok, that is all that really matters. I am amazed you could drive the car home afterwards after an accident like that!! Did you hit any other person or just the guard rail? Did you get a witness to say that the Civic caused the situation? Please take some pictures of the car and good luck in a swift recovery. Nice to see the M5 is designed for safety as much as it is for performance.

[alpinadvl]

Glad to hear you are ok. It is always unfortunate when one of us is a victim of an accident. Fortunately, you are amoung enthusiasts who share your "pain." Even though not everyone posts...everyone that looks at your post ...I am sure....know that this could have easily happened to them.

I am surprised the officer just left suddenly...I was assuming he would go after the honda civic. But the way you describe it....the guy in the honda probably wasn't looking back anyway. Not withstanding the description of the impact and the definite safety the car presented for you......I am a bit surprised that the car would start sliding that violently going down the hill...to the point where you made contact with the grass.

Hope you are well....take plenty of Ibuprofen for the next 24 hours (400mg every 6 hours).....most probably...unless you were "relaxed" at the time of impact...you will start aching tomorrow.

Take care!

[KRM]

M5XTRM, really glad to read that you are ok and thanks for still taking the time to post about your accident tonight. Hope you have a speedy recovery.

[chunpng]

Glad to hear that you are physically unharmed. That actually is the only thing that matters. I'm sure insurance will take care of the car and other inconveniences. Stay well and enjoy the next beast.

CP

[EBMCS03]

Wow!! OMG... Glad to hear that you are ok. Thats nice... the beast doesnt just provide nice, fun, and fast driving pleasures it provides safety! Post some pics of the damage when u get a chance. Once again glad u wernt hurt!

[Need4Spd]

Glad to hear you are OK. That is the most important thing. Also be glad it happened this year and not next. You can still get a brand new 2003 M5 as a replacement if need be. Next year, and you'd have to get a used one or wait for the Bangled replacement. Stay safe.

[Lonman]

Your OK good, forget speed and handling, the car did it's Number one job too. Hope it works out OK.

[Gustav]

Puh,

spinning that many times must be very scary.
Glad everything turned out OK!

[Adam]

Relieved to hear that you are not hurt..and im very glad to hear how well the m5 did in that situation, but the road must have been very very slippery...i hope the police catch the civic..

all the best
adam

[MEnthusiast]

Glad you're AOK. Thats the most important thing as everyone knows and has said.

Youre also somewhat lucky that since there were no passengers in the car, it impacted with the rear. The fact that both rear doors do not open and the car shimmies at ~60mph leads me to suspect you have some frame damage. I would advise the obvious of- you probably shouldnt drive it unless its on to a flat bed. If you plan to be back in the seat of a M5 and your car really has frame damage, trust me on this one, get it fixed and sell it or find a way out of the lease if its leased. Ive had frame damage to a car once and it was a miserable experience because the car never drove right after the accident- and heres the kicker- I was stopped! Some drunk driver drove at 5mph right into the front of the car at an angle just enough to cause frame damage. It might not be a bad idea to put yourself on a list for a M5 as production ends Feb 03.

But this little rant aside- the most important thing is youre around to do whatever it is you want to do in the future.