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... "the driver cried for two hours"

1K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  robm.UK 
#1 ·
I recall tales of the second R129 press car being wrecked at the Estoril circuit, but I couldn't find any info on this until I came across this article.

The moral of this story is, if you're airbourne, don't turn the steering wheel until you land.
 

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#2 ·
Given that the article was written in 1989 with the launch of the R129, it was very insightful and future minded.
Reading it now I appreciate exactly what he was stating and what has come to pass :wink

EDIT: I remember Estoril from many years ago (Very expensive). ....................Pete's dad probably had one then :grin
 
#5 ·
Thanks for that Rob - I can remember that incident very well and saw one in the flesh a few years later in Johannesburg. To me it was the most beautiful and high tech sports car I had ever seen; being an ardent fan of British sports cars like the E Type and Austin Healey.

I just love driving mine when ever I can and still marvel at the ease of operating its rag top:grin
 
#6 ·
Cheers!

It's a golden nugget for sure. I thought the forum members would appreciate it. Gives some interesting insight.

The article also shows a jack stand being used to support the front quarter by the jacking point. Never seen a pic of this before, but I have read plenty from other members talking about making their own versions.
 
#9 ·
Nowadays yes, but probably not in the 1980s. I guess they would have assumed that a journalist from Horse and Hound did actually know how to ride a horse.

I remember once inadvertently taking a short hump bridge at 55mph in my SL. I wasn’t familiar with the road, and it was dark. Unintentionally going mid-air I suddenly became acutely aware of a hidden 90 degree left hand bend immediately over the crest. My instinctive reaction was to brake and turn the wheel, but I was also acutely aware in that moment that it would probably all end in disaster. Time slowed down (probably due to Adrenalin). Almost instantaneously I eased off the brakes as much as I dared and the SL did the rest. It just took it in its stride, like it just said “ahem, leave this to me”, and it brought me home unruffled and in one piece. I was amazed that it didn’t unsettle the SL in the slightest. I remember thinking wow!... any other car... could have been a very different story, as the numerous repairs in the stone wall on the bend testified.
 
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