mschuster, aschuster here. My worst was totaling a new 2001 Diablo in turn 12 at Road Atlanta.

 

The winch cable snapped when loading my 6gt3 started rolling backwards and I was stupid enuf to think I have super human strength to keep car from rolling. Luckily my friend yanked on the ebrake. It was heading into a nice ditch if it kept going. Mike

 

This thread inspired me to make a compilation video of all of my fails over the years. Much to be learned from failures (usually too little countersteer, too late), but I make it a point to learn on the track and drive like a grandma on the street.

 

FAVORITE BONEHEAD EPIC FAIL EXAMPLE.... CAN'T CURE STUPID

 

I was behind these two idiots when this happened and they were cruising for a bruising the way they were driving.

 

You witnessed that?? You were there? HAHAHHA WOW!

 

Car wash entrance in my cayenne.one of those cheap gas station ones where you punch in the code that you get at the gas pump. Was too far from the keypad so opened the door,put foot down to lean over..forgot was in drive, and car moved forward, closing door on my leg as it connected with the pole the keypad stood on, trapping me.Main bruising was to ego, of course….

 

Driving my wife's Cayenne Turbo. We pull in to a gas station and we switch drivers and I take the wheel. I head out, stomp on the gas on the hwy on ramp and I put it in manual. I am hauling now and I am planning to do a quick clutch and shift, stomp on the brake thinking it was a clutch and we both slam forward. She wasn't to happy about that.

So some months later I am driving the Cayenne again with another couple and my wife off to a cottage. I am gliding into a parking spot and coming to a complete stop. I hit the brake with my left foot. Lucky we were all ready going slow and it wasn't to bad this time but I really hate automatics.

 

My driveway and garage floor has a minimal incline, really not much but it is enough for the car to roll out if it is in neutral. (using this just to roll the car out for a wash for example.)
I always leave the car in 1st and some handbrake. Well, one night i was driving my wife Audi and somehow I did not leave it in 1st. And the first 3 inches of the handbrake did not really worked!! Stepped out of the car, walked outside to collect the mail, my back to the garage. Then the Audi hit me from behind knocked me over. Jumped up tried to open the door and get the handbrake. It dragged me for a while, hanging onto the door, then rolled over to the neighbor driveway where I finally could jump in. Had a nice 3 inch cut on my left leg from the door. Have the scar ever since.

 

I was at Reno Fernley Raceway in my highly modified Subaru STI with Yoko 032R's. Not warm enough into a hard double apex only going around 60, completely lost it, off track sideways into the gravel, up on two wheels and down again. Literally felt like I was on glazed ice. No injuries or damage - just looked like a fool. It was a great way to start the day, black flagged and all.

Worst thing, was a buddy of mine was right behind me. In the pits..."um what happened there?"

 

Lucky Jesus was the co-driver in that one!

Is that your car or something off the found off the Internet?

At least it won't cost as much to repair as Mr Bean's McLaren F1. Which was about $1.42MM...

Also in L.A. County, if you are noticed to have started driving off without taking out the Gas Nozzle the Police want the plates and will look for you - and do a Sobriety check if they can find you nearby!

P.S.

Guess you're not Prince Marcus

 

Three episodes come to mind:
1. 1990 in my 1979 1.3 Ford Escort coupe. This was back in Norway. My buddy and I invited to girls to take a trip to a nearby town to go and have a good time. Try different clubs etc. No I was not drinking and driving. The rest of the group was though. On the way home, I was going to see how fast my Escort could go with big encouragement from my drunken buddy. I managed 132km/hr before the engine blew up. All lights in the dash lit up and steam came up from under the hood. As we stood in the wood in the middle of nowhere, one of the girls started to cry and stated "we are going to die"
2. Same car. My girlfriend invited me to her parent’s cabin up in the mountains for a weekend in October. It was only going to be the two u us. :-) We headed off for the cabin on a Friday late afternoon, i.e. dark arrives around 630pm . We exited the paved road and entered a dirt/ gravel road, as we climbed higher and higher, the rain turned to snow. I was on summer tires. She asked me to slow down. I was 20, and did not listen. Came over a small bridge, with a left turn following. The car did not follow the road and we ended up in the ditch leaning against a tree. It was no way I was going to get it out myself. Very lucky, a car came by 10min later and helped us out. Getting the fire place going and opening a bottle of wine later saved the weekend.
3. 4 years ago (now in Houston) I was racing a girlfriend back from a restaurant in my Acura TL. She was ahead (Infinity G35S) I as I had elected not to go over the speed limit by more than 10mph making a U-turn under the freeway. Coming out of the U-turn, I had better exit, overtook her, and was planning on taking a right into a street leading to my house. I got over to the right way early, with early apex and high speed. Locked up the front tires, understeered right over a median. Front suspension in mangles, engine mounts ripped off etc etc. 16k in damage.
Not only was I embarrassed then. But my friend Stephen (Rovman) keeps reminding me and any of our colleagues when going to lunch together on why that particular median has a chunk of concrete missing.

Reflecting on this, there was always a girl involved, so it is not my fault, they are at fault.

 

Guess you're not Prince Marcus[/QUOTE]

Correct! I am not! HAHHAHHA... Good guess! But I would like that car.

 

Mine is a bit longish, but it's something that several people I know including my wife, remind me of quite often.

It happened when I just moved to Nashville, TN, knew nothing about the country and had no driver's license or insurance - literally first days in the country. My future wife Anna (whom I just met there) invited me to her friend's place for a home-cooked European meal. She was staying at her friends place among farms near Nashville at the time. So I drive there after dark, and one of my headlights stops working.

Then I realize I am lost and need to turn around, in the middle of a small road crossing some field. So I turn around, and do not see the edge of the road because of the missing headlight, and the right side of my car goes off the edge of the road. The road was elevated by about 12 ft, so my car ends up hanging by two left wheels on the edge of the elevated road and two right wheels practically in the air. I made it out of the car very carefully not to roll it, and realized I was in the middle of nowhere - freaking endless field, without cell phone (lost earlier that day!) in pitch dark.

So I start walking, and in an hour I see some houses. Only the 3rd house let me use their phone, through a freaking cat door - they were not used to strangers there... I called Anna and realized I had no idea where I was, and people who gave me the phone would not tell me their address. I almost lost it. Luckily, Anna's friend talked to them on the phone and they told her. So I walked back to the car, and Anna with her friend came by to help me figure out what to do. They got a bunch of contractors working nearby to help, and we were able to get the car down to the field without it rolling.

All in all, I got there 3.5 hours late, the dinner was gone, and Anna was pissed. Her friend told her to give me another change - she was impressed by how I got back into the car to get it down, despite the risk, and by my shoes (LOL). Anna and I got married less than two years after that. But when someone asks how we met, she always says she found me in a ditch...

 

Good story, Max!

Oh, another embarrassing one: I was driving from NY to CA in the '70 Cuda. Stopped overnight in some crap little town in Ohio. Next day, car won't start. Get it towed to some little podunk shop... where the owner promptly noticed that there is a kill switch. I had totally forgotten that the previous owner had installed it. Still can't figure out how I accidentally set it.