Dream TVR supercar hits the skids
Jan 17 2009 by Paul Loraine, The Journal
THE driver of an expensive sports car had a narrow escape after being caught out by a patch of black ice.
The proud owner of a TVR was left hanging when his car spun off the road and down an embankment. Trees caught the £46,000 supercar after it hit trouble on Lansdowne Gardens, in Jesmond, Newcastle, leaving the stunned driver and his passenger teetering over the edge of Jesmond Dene.
After delicately pulling on the brake, they switched off the engine, then carefully and quickly climbed out of the car and scrambled back up the bank.
A recovery vehicle was called and painstakingly pulled the dream car back up the slope.
The driver, who has owned the car just four months, and asked not to be identified, was visiting friends in Newcastle when the accident happened last Friday. He said: “When I got the car serviced I was told to drive it like an old lady in the wet, and on snow and ice. Now I know why.
“I must have been doing under 30mph when I just touched the throttle. The bad mix of black ice, and a heavy camber on the road sent the car into a spin.
“I thought I’d managed to control the slide, but the rear wheels must have just crept over the curb, and the car just slid down the bank backwards. Thank goodness the trees caught me.
“It’s definitely one of the most exciting cars I’ve ever owned. Nearly 400bhp and very little weight is a great combination for fun and speed. But it takes a lot of skill to get the best out of it.
“Because it doesn’t have any of the usual modern aids like traction control and anti-lock brakes, it all comes down to driver skill and error. It can be very unforgiving.
“The car definitely turns heads, but not usually for this reason.
“This is the first accident I’ve had in many years, and it has really hurt my pride. But the most important thing is no one was injured. My passenger told me afterwards that he had been watching rally crashes on Men and Motors, and thought that we were going to roll over and over, all the way to the bottom of the vale.”
Amazingly, the damage to the car is expected to be minor.
A spokesperson for Northumbria Police said: “At 2.23pm on January 9 police received a report that a TVR car had skidded off the road and down a small embankment at Lansdowne Gardens, Jesmond, near to Wolseley Gardens.
“A driver and passenger were inside the car but were unhurt. No other vehicles were involved.”
The car definitely turns heads, but not usually for this reason… it has really hurt my pride
