I just got back from a rally in Red Wing, Minnesota a few hours ago. The
rally was Saturday night, I took the Mazda RX7, not the MGA, so you can tune
out now if you're not interested. I only venture this to this list because
of the recent discussion about roll bars, particularly the parts about how
likely it is to be able to get an MG upside-down.
Left home at 9 am. registered at 3:30 pm. first car off at 4:31, I was car
#3, started at 4:33. Started to snow big time at 4:35 sharp. 30 minutes for
the ODO distance, rallymaster dropped the average speed from 35 to 30, didn't
help much, roads got very slick very soon.
Had a tough time getting up one hill, claimed a 1-1/2 minute time allowance
at the first checkpoint. Then couldn't make it all the way up another long
hill, backed down 3/10 mile and took a better run at it, like 15 mph max all
the way up. Lost 5-1/2 minutes, nobody caught up or passed me, made up 1-1/2
m, took a maximum 3-1/2 m time allowance at the second checkpoint and went
on.
Five minutes later, easily running on schedual, I slipped the RX7 off the
edge of a crowned road into the ditch at about 20 mph and hit the brakes
hard. Just before stopping, keeled over about 30 degrees to the right, LF
wheel hit a 3" high bump and flipped the car on its roof, made a nice big
sitz mark in the snow. Seat belts worked good, no bumps or bruises to me,
just a little disorienting hanging upside down. I killed the ignition, put
one hand on the roof, popped the seat belt and slid out the drivers side
window.
Shortly there were a few other rally cars there, and a couple of cell phones.
Standing around in 2" of snow, called only for a tow truck. In a few
minutes there was a volunteer fireman there in a pickup truck, said there was
a fire truck and ambulance on the way. I'm ok so he called to cancel the FD
& Amb, but they came anyway. The local sherrifs cop showed up next, nearly
lost his car into the ditch at the same spot at 2 mph, so figured it wasn't
my fault, not much help either but kept the flashers going to protect the
scene. Then the fire truck showed up, looked things over and left. Then the
ambulance came, signed off and left. Finally the tow arrived (after about 45
minutes), winched the car out and back upright.
I checked the oil, brake fluid, battery, all ok. The car started right up
and was driveable, but the roof was down about 2" in the center front and the
windshield crushed in, so the cop wouldn't let me drive it, had to be towed
into town. I stayed over in Red Wing for Saurday and Sunday nights, ordered
a new windshield glass Sunday morning, made arrangements for a local shop to
straighten the roof enough so the glass could be installed. Got the work
done on Monday and drove it home. Now I can attend to the wrinkles and paint
at my liesure.
The primary reason for taking tha RX7 instead of the MGA was that I didn't
have a navigator, was going to run solo and decided I needed the good reading
lights in the RX7. Otherwise it may have been two of us in the MGA. The RX7
tends to lend itself to a bit more serious thrashing on the country roads,
also gives the driver a more confident sense of a security blanket, so maybe
likely to drive more vigorously? I assure you I was being quite careful with
the RX7 at the time. If I was running the MGA that night I probably would
have been even more careful on the slick roads, but not sure all the care in
the world would have kept the MG on the road in the same place.
Maybe this will give some of us another chance to think again about how ugly
a roll bar is (or isn't).
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA
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