Kimble, did you have a Brabus EV-12? - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Gustav · 18th August 2004, 23:25

...and did you crash it

I read that in an interview some years ago on your site.

to crashing such a rare car

You have had Mercedes E50 AMG (crashed), E55 AMG (crashed when it was a servicecar) and then the Megacar which was a basis Mercedes S500 with Brabus 5,8 liter conversion? What is your impression of Brabus and also the new AMG cars from Mercedes, such as the S65 AMG and CL65 AMG? What would you choose, Brabus or Mercedes AMG?

Also, do you have some pics of your E v-12 if you had one?

Here is one Brbaus EV-12 Estate we saw in 2001.

Voyager · 19th August 2004, 00:25

yes he did have them all and he crashed them all

Kimble · 19th August 2004, 00:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gustav

...and did you crash it

I read that in an interview some years ago on your site.

to crashing such a rare car

You have had Mercedes E50 AMG (crashed), E55 AMG (crashed when it was a servicecar) and then the Megacar which was a basis Mercedes S500 with Brabus 5,8 liter conversion? What is your impression of Brabus and also the new AMG cars from Mercedes, such as the S65 AMG and CL65 AMG? What would you choose, Brabus or Mercedes AMG?

Also, do you have some pics of your E v-12 if you had one?

Here is one Brbaus EV-12 Estate we saw in 2001.

Gustav,

I wrecked the following cars:

Mercedes Benz S500 (4)
Mercedes Benz S320 (3)
BMW 750iL (1)
AMG E50 (2) + (1, which I wasnt driving at the Gumball 2001)
Brabus EV12 (1)
Brabus S58 (Megacar) (2)

The unmodified S classes and the 750iL were rentals and when I was really young & stupid me and my friends used to go "airbagging" and highspeed driving on gravel roads in the bavarian alps. The 750iL (brand new) was totalled after a 20 meter jump on a highway construction road.

My first E50 crash was in one of the first AMG E50 sold in Germany. The car still had some flaws. Weak stability and no ESP. I drove 250kmh on a 3 lane highway from Berlin to Munich. It was just after midnight with very light rain and wet conditions. I am in a slight left curve and about to pass a white VW Passat still 300 meters away. All of the sudden the VW is moving onto my lane for no reason. From the very right lane onto the very left lane. I still believe he was falling asleep. I had no choice but to brake. The car was out of control immediately and slided sideways into an EXIT sign. From that moment on i know nothing. The friends who were driving behind me in an Audi A8 told me later that the car flipped over several times. I wasnt wearing a seatbelt and got away with a broken left arm and some minor injuries. This is how the car looked after the accident:
http://www.kimble.org/cgi-bin/pic?car03.jpg,1563926

I totalled my second E50 when driving at night on a snowy private air field close to munich. The car went of the runway during a controlled high speed spinning manouver and slided on ice until it crashed into a parked Chessna airplane. I always loved driving on air fields and managed to get on major airports in europe several times (always late at night). One of these trips to the munich airport triggered major publicity in german media. Here is a little blog i wrote in 1997: http://www.kimble.org/airport/airporteng.html

Bodo Buschmann (Mr. Brabus) and me were driving the first EV12 on a highway near Bottrop. 330kmh without problems. Bodo, who is a very good driver teached me whats possible with his car and I learned a lot from him. I was so amazed by the performance of the worlds fastest sedan that I wanted to buy one. But Bodo said it wasnt a good idea to buy it yet, because my driving style was to aggressive and his car, a true monster, wasnt really stable because of the extra weight of the V12 engine, causing the back to be unstable. He adviced me to start with a Brabus S-Class and switch to the EV12 later. This is where the idea for the megacar was born. One year later someone wanted to sell a used EV12. We met for a test ride at the Hockenheim Ring. After 2 laps at the maximum the left rear tire exploded on a long streight. The EV12 went into the wall, bounced off into the other wall and the car was history. The owner was lucky, his insurance paid for the damage.

The megacar was first totalled in an underground street racing event in the south of France (close to Monaco). Some of my car enthusiast friends, including 2 former Formula 1 drivers, met once a month to drive for money. 6-8 cars, 50 miles, the winner got 10K from each loser. The second time was on the way from Monaco back to Munich when a truck decided to takeover another truck. It took forever so I decided to use a highway carpark to pass the trucks. Unfortunatly the carpark was very wet and I hit a metal seperator before i got back on the highway. The car made it back to Munich, but it needed some major fixing.

And to answer your question, I would always chose a Brabus. They are going a bit closer to the edge without ******* up. They have great engineers who make the impossible possible. But i would consider a Kleeman Turbo modification over the Brabus Turbos.

There are no mistakes, only lessons.

Gustav · 19th August 2004, 01:29

Wow, what a story

Thanks for the time to reply in a perfect way, there is no unanswered questions regarding your cars now. Great reply. Crashing with a Cessna, now that is one way of destroying a car (and a plane)!

"The second time was on the way from Monaco back to Munich when a truck decided to takeover another truck. It took forever so I decided to use a highway carpark to pass the trucks. Unfortunatly the carpark was very wet and I hit a metal seperator before i got back on the highway. The car made it back to Munich, but it needed some major fixing."

Overtaking via the highway carpark is risky!

You were lucky with your first E50 AMG crash, in anycase its my advice to wear seatbelts

People not looking in the rearviewmirror are very dangerous on the Autobahn. I guess he never got caough the Passat driver? Also was the ESP not working or did you disconnect it?

I always been curious about the taste in cars from a couple of years back on your site since you seem to have the good sense of choosing AMG or Brabus over regular, boring Mercedes cars. I guess you don't like manual gearboxes...

And crazy story about the Munich airport

Also, I actually was told about Nightflight but never had the time to go there last month. When we visited Brabus in 2001 we were very impressed with them and their facilities are huge. But I like BMW, but you always have to know the enemy

Also the stories about Monaco underground races, you learn something new everyday.

Danish · 19th August 2004, 04:29

Great stories, Kim!

racerke · 19th August 2004, 09:52

Now that we know how many cars kimble crashed with his driving style, I would also like to know how many cars lonman crashed with his driving style :p