Fellow owner killed in crash on A5
- Thread starter Gixerboy
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zagatoes30
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Like Dave, I knew Nigel reasonabley well, he was a member of our local Alfa club and was a really great guy. He bought the Maser last year after a number of V6 powered Alfas including a really beautiful Alfa GTV Cup. He loved driving and was very happy with the move to a Maserati.
My condolences go to his family at this sad time.
Andy
My condolences go to his family at this sad time.
Andy
Unfortunately I was a witness to this incident.
It was rather unusual and unfortunately I had my whole family in the car with me (wife and two kids). It was very drizzly and the individual in question was overtaking us under power.
I was thinking how fine the engine sounded, growling rather than roaring as it came past until the rear end stepped out and it was all over in seconds.
I was told that these cars don't have much by way of safety features, traction control, airbags (no airbags were visible afterwards) roll cage, ABS, etc and that they were just a raw sports car.
It did seem like a terrible shame that someone could go from enjoying their Maserati to losing it all so quickly.
It was rather unusual and unfortunately I had my whole family in the car with me (wife and two kids). It was very drizzly and the individual in question was overtaking us under power.
I was thinking how fine the engine sounded, growling rather than roaring as it came past until the rear end stepped out and it was all over in seconds.
I was told that these cars don't have much by way of safety features, traction control, airbags (no airbags were visible afterwards) roll cage, ABS, etc and that they were just a raw sports car.
It did seem like a terrible shame that someone could go from enjoying their Maserati to losing it all so quickly.
2b1ask1
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A very sobering experience and I'm sure I speak for many in saying how sorry we all are for this tragic incident and for you and your family having to witness it. These are super cars and they demand respect from the driver, never more so than in the wet or other difficult conditions. Others who knew the driver have commented how experienced he was and how much he loved the car. They actually have many and sophisticated safety features and suspension, balance and tyres set up for road use first and track on occasions, unlike many other performance cars. In addition they have a limited slip differential, ABS, traction and stability control. It has not been confirmed if the driver had the car in sports mode as this reduces the interference of the driver aids, neither has it been confirmed if the stability control system had been turned off (the driver would have had to have held the button for a period of time after starting the engine).
It is possible but speculative that any of these actions were taken by the driver on this particular drive but in damp/wet conditions few of us would choose sport mode and I don't think any would disable the MSP. What is apparent is that it went wrong very quickly and in an unrecoverable way with tragic consequences. We all hope he rests in peace.
Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum.
It is possible but speculative that any of these actions were taken by the driver on this particular drive but in damp/wet conditions few of us would choose sport mode and I don't think any would disable the MSP. What is apparent is that it went wrong very quickly and in an unrecoverable way with tragic consequences. We all hope he rests in peace.
Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum.
BennyD
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Wrangler, I'm afraid you were misinformed; modern Maseratis have all the above except the roll cage. However, the MSP (stability programme) does have the occasional glitch and it looks like the chap in question may have found it. Ferraris are very much the same in the wet, treat them with respect or they will tear your face off. I'm so sorry that you and your family were unfortunate enough to have witnessed such a harrowing event but Maseratis can be, and regularly are, enjoyed to the full. Thanks for sharing.
conaero
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Wrangler, thanks for taking the time to register and let us know what happened.
The driver was unfortunate to lose his life. From what I understand taking a tree in the drivers door was not survivable and a few feet one way or impact of the tree in a different part of the car would have resulted in him potentially walking away from this one.
The only justice here is that he did not involve your car, family and children in this tragic accident.
The driver was unfortunate to lose his life. From what I understand taking a tree in the drivers door was not survivable and a few feet one way or impact of the tree in a different part of the car would have resulted in him potentially walking away from this one.
The only justice here is that he did not involve your car, family and children in this tragic accident.
Parisien
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Over the last decade there have been a number of Maserati related deaths, mostly involving people who just weren't skilled enough or sufficiently experienced in the ways of driving same, all very sad. And of course the 458 incident posted just last week, wet road, putting foot down and failing to drive car correctly when it looses traction resulted in a billed for 10s of thousands
P
P
That's not quite how I recall it. Although the drivers door was deformed and I was unable to open it at the scene, the tree stopped the vehicle at a time when it was traveling backwards first down the grass verge on the opposite side of the road upside down.
The vehicle came to rest on it's roof and unfortunately the lack of roll cage looked to my admittedly amateur opinion, like the thing that if it were different may have allowed this poor chap to walk away or at least have survived long enough for the emergency services to arrive 15 minutes later. The vehicle's top had caved in with the forces involved in the incident, more-so on the drivers side which to me looked like the reason I was unable to open the door.
The whole thing was totally unexpected. Prior to the overtaking manoeuvre he wasn't driving aggressively, particularly fast, or erratically. He'd been behind me for a little while with several prior overtaking opportunities on what was a relatively quiet morning on the A5 prior to this.
conaero
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Ok thanks for that. I knew he had impacted a tree at some point and upon seeing the pics of the car and more so the impact to the drivers door area put 2 and 2 together.
Can you explain how the car came to be on its roof?
I have a fair idea of how this would happen but don't want to make any more assumptions.
What speed was he travelling at when he lost control?
Can you explain how the car came to be on its roof?
I have a fair idea of how this would happen but don't want to make any more assumptions.
What speed was he travelling at when he lost control?
At the time I was settling back on cruise control at 60 after overtaking a vehicle ourselves. The Maserati was in my blind spot in the overtaking lane when I heard the engine give that almighty growl and it accelerated past at what looked to me like a rate of acceleration mere mortal cars could only dream of. It wasn't a discernible single speed per-se because the vehicle was accelerating hard at the time
The road was wet although there didn't appear to be any standing water pools or debris in the road. Significant spray was thrown up into my windscreen as the car went past, which given how distant the incident is from us now in time, always reminds me just how damp it was that morning.
Through the spray we saw the rear end of the Maserati stepping out to the right of the vehicle, it span broadside in the road, moving into my lane although it was a few car lengths ahead by this point with that powerful acceleration. The spin continued bringing the vehicle back around facing towards the opposite side of the road now which it traveled towards. It must have span completely round a couple of times.
As it left the road onto the grass verge on the opposite side it was traveling backwards right side up, but due to the inertia it had from it's acceleration it was still traveling in the direction it had originally accelerated in sliding along the grass verge with it's rear end sort of diagonally in it for a moment like this symbol /
Something must have contacted a wheel or something and tried to stop the vehicle sliding because it still had all that inertia and when it couldn't slide sideways and backwards down the verge anymore it rolled over a couple of times before striking the tree still in a / attitude and suddenly came to rest.
At that side of the road there is a lay-by and the vehicle was half in the lay-by, half in the lane, the contents of the boot seemed to have been ejected over the span of about 10m before the vehicle when it was rolling over.
The road was wet although there didn't appear to be any standing water pools or debris in the road. Significant spray was thrown up into my windscreen as the car went past, which given how distant the incident is from us now in time, always reminds me just how damp it was that morning.
Through the spray we saw the rear end of the Maserati stepping out to the right of the vehicle, it span broadside in the road, moving into my lane although it was a few car lengths ahead by this point with that powerful acceleration. The spin continued bringing the vehicle back around facing towards the opposite side of the road now which it traveled towards. It must have span completely round a couple of times.
As it left the road onto the grass verge on the opposite side it was traveling backwards right side up, but due to the inertia it had from it's acceleration it was still traveling in the direction it had originally accelerated in sliding along the grass verge with it's rear end sort of diagonally in it for a moment like this symbol /
Something must have contacted a wheel or something and tried to stop the vehicle sliding because it still had all that inertia and when it couldn't slide sideways and backwards down the verge anymore it rolled over a couple of times before striking the tree still in a / attitude and suddenly came to rest.
At that side of the road there is a lay-by and the vehicle was half in the lay-by, half in the lane, the contents of the boot seemed to have been ejected over the span of about 10m before the vehicle when it was rolling over.