A DIARY OF DISASTERS - NATURAL AND MAN MADE (Well, Passenger Made, mostly)
At Home, March 2004 The morning after
unloading our new LCR from the van, we woke up to find the trusty ol'
Tranny rather more 'semi' than 'hi-top'. After nearly two years of trying, it looks like the insurance company aren't going to cover this loss.
WE DON'T RECOMMEND LLOYDS TSB FOR INSURANCE!
If
anybody is interested in buying a well maintained LWB transit, with
full air conditioning, give me a call. Previously owned by a convent,
it's low mileage and in generally very good order, although it could do
with some work to the back doors (as well as the roof, of course).
It would be ideal for a camper conversion or cheap transporter.
Croatia August 2005 - Somebody elses disaster (1) Quietly enjoying a lie-in on a campsite on
the island of Krk in Croatia, I was abruptly awoken by an enormous
boom!
It sounded and felt as if something had crashed into the
caravan, and as I tried to collect my thoughts, the caravan
shuddered. What the..?? I scrambled out of bed to a
clattering on the roof of the van.
Once outside, I couldn't
immediateley see anything amiss. Then through some trees, I
spotted flames about 50 meters away on the beach front.
Turned
out the premises of a local sea-front fish restaraunt had just blown
up. The caravan had been rocked by the shock-wave, then sprinkled
with debris!
Pity really - we had been looking forward to a
visit there.
Croatia August 2005 - Somebody elses disaster (2) Cresting a
rise on the autobahn whilst driving home after our race at circuit
Grobnik, I glimpsed what looked startlingly like a large yacht in the
fast lane. 'Hm. I'm
hallucinating. Must be Dan's turn to drive', thought I. In front of me a rash of stop lights
lit up, as I realised that actually it really was a forty-foot yacht, and now
it was in the fast lane and the centre lane as it slithered to a
halt.
After a long wait whilst a crane was brought in, we eventually drew alongside just as it was pulled upright.
So Dan was able to sleep on for another day or two.
Assen 1st September 2005
Approaching some back markers in the Durtch Championship race at Assen, Andy Laidlow
braked a little early, forcing me and Dan up the inside and
onto the grass. At around 150mph, the bike immediately went into a vicious
spin and overturned, throwing Dan heavily up the track. I was pinned in the bike as it slid at full speed upside-down
across three kerbs of the chicane, eventually coming to rest inverted and
half-buried in the sand and gravel trap. I managed to partially dug my way out,
but was trapped by a leg.Dan
managed to lift the bike a little before collapsing with pain.After a brief examination, Dan was clipped into neck brace,
strapped onto a backboard and whisked off to hospital with a suspected
spine injury. (A big 'Thank you' to the circuit Van Drenthe medics, and all at Wilhelmina Hospital for your help!)
“Thankfully,
Dan’s back injury turned out to be ‘only’ torn muscles.Sore enough to make even walking difficult, It’s probably a good
job we didn’t realise until we got home that he also had a broken a
wrist, and I had broken two ribs”
(See Gallery for 'Final' picture)
Mallory Park - 9th October 2005
RACE 1: Disaster struck exiting Gerrards on lap three. Just
reaching peak RPM, our best engine, (affectionately known as ‘Old
Faithful’) after giving us a European title on 2004, and then
completing a further full season of World Championship racing, finally
and dramatically expired.
The disintegrating engine burst through the carbon catch tray, covering
the bike, riders and the track in oil. The oil instantly ignited
on the hot exhaust. In a bid to reach a fire extinguisher at the next
marshals’ post, Gary guided the machine, in a ball of fire, down the
back straight. Dan immediately ran for an extinguisher, and Gary
swiftly put out the blaze.
It appears that a big-end bolt had broken on No1 cylinder, with the
entire con-rod and piston assembly exiting through the front of the
unit. Note the hole through the casing on the lower right of the picture.
A sad end to an old friend.
And most disappointing of all – Eric didn’t get to ride the Parade event with Dan.
Perhaps next year.
Zante - 18th, & 21st October 2005 - Frightening time(s).
It was supposed to be a relaxing week in the sun.
But, TWO
earthquakes in less than ten minutes, and after-shocks for the rest of
the week spoilt the 'relaxing' bit. Zante buildings are all built
to withstand earthquakes, since the entire island was levelled by a smaller 'quake in 1953.
We saw on the Greek news that night that the first quake had been a 6.5
on the Richter scale. The Pakistan earthquake that had killed over
30,000 shortly before was a 7.0.
Internet research when I got home showed that we had indeed suffered
THREE earthquakes. Classified as 'Moderate' (as was the Pakistan
'quake), the Richter scale doesn't allow for proximity of epicentre,
depth, or wave-amplitude (how much the earth actually moves). It turned out these 'quakes were only 10Km deep, ( they're
usually hundreds of
kilometeres deep) and out to sea a mere 2Km off the beach of our
resort. That's about as near to an earthquake (not just the movement on the surface) as it's possible to get
without being swallowed by the earth.
A big sigh of relief when our
Manchester-bound Boeing eventually left the ground on the last day.
I
guess we should all be grateful for the experience, and to have
survived. Somehow, it doesn't feel like that. 2006 season has
thus far been mercifully short on disasters (of our own, anyway, but
see pictures from Assen and Sweden in the race reports!).
But we've been very close to a few. Like when the caravan broke
its back on the journey home from Croatia. We arrived to find a
gap of several inches all around the front half of the caravan, between
the body and the floor. The picture is looking from the inside.
The green bit is the hedge outside.
It took several weeks to repair this - time that should have been spent
developing the bike. Still, it could have been a LOT worse!
And the caravans now built like a Tank.
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