RED BMW A Reg, did you get home ok?

[crazycruzer]

While on my way home from RRG yesterday about 6.30ish i think i was stuck in a massive que on the A 303 (supprising that!!!) and saw an A reg Red BMW (i think may be a 5 or 6 series but not too sure) was at RRG. I did try and grab your attention but geussed that the AA man would be more help than me!! did you guys get home ok? and was it a major breakdown?
hope all is ok! cheers Rich

[bstardchild]

Aug 17, 2009 6:36:24 GMT crazycruzer said:

While on my way home from RRG yesterday about 6.30ish I think I was stuck in a massive que on the A 303 (supprising that!!!) and saw an A reg Red BMW (i think may be a 5 or 6 series but not too sure) was at RRG. I did try and grab your attention but geussed that the AA man would be more help than me!! did you guys get home ok? and was it a major breakdown?
hope all is ok! cheers Rich

That was Rob - he had overheating problems in the traffic and damaged his exhaust getting over the kerb - AA man helped repair and he was waiting for the traffic on the 303 to ease

[datman]

I stopped to see if there was anything I could do but he was just waiting for it to cool down. lots of steam. And he said he had plenty of water. I then took the opportunity to shortcut through the hedge onto the other carriageway and made my break for freedom, and had no traffic at all on my other route home, yay.

[rob0r]

Yup, that was me

I was stuck on the awful A303 in heavy traffic merging into a single lane and the car was getting hot, I couldn't do anything as I couldn't pull off the dual carriageway and the traffic was at a stand still. In the end it touched the red and I rammed it over onto the side of the road ripping the exhaust off. I only was going to wait until it cooled and set off again but the exhaust was the last straw, since the car was on a hill I didn't fancy jacking it up. I phoned the AA for the second time. The exhaust bolted back on and initial tests showed the engine to be normal and no headgasket failure. But the cooling system was so turbulent and the amount of steam coming out of the exhaust meant it was FUBAR'd. In the end the AA man came to the conclusion the cylinder head has cracked. I was low loadered 180miles home and got back at 3am...

Fortunately I got a lot of support from the passing RR's. Thanks for stopping Datman, I didn't catch your name so its nice to know who you were. The old skool club (Bodieandoyle, Bruisercapri, Spacekadett) and Bstardchild stopped by later on too. But the car was done for so nothing could be done! I got lots of attention at the side of the road. Especially when I was informed I have a wheelbarrow on my roof, yup - I know!

Pictures to follow

[crazycruzer]

glad u got home ok in the end, and sorry to hear about the troubles you had!!! god damned A303

[Siert]

I passed you by at around 20:00, but I was in a new rental Passat so I didn't try to attract your attention and I couldn't have done anything to help you either.

Good to hear you made it home.

[Mark]

Jesus man - gutted for you. Hurrah for the AA!

[Colonelk]

sorry to hear about that man, I still love that car to bits!

I took a different route out of town so didnt see you.

[R3TR0_R0B]

I was wondering when that 303 was going to make a fellow RRr his victim, shame to hear it did!

[mk14dr]

Bad luck dude, after it looked so hopefull on the showfield aswell.
Damned traffic

At least you made it home safe, and the bimmer still looks mega cool

[surprisingskoda]

agh thats not so cool. feel fairly gutted for you, and its the wrong engine to get particularly hot as well seeing how much it doesn't like it.

hope its a good excuse for some more japery

[HoTWire]

Sorry to hear about the break down,.. after all the work you put in to getting it running over the weekend! ...

We'll be posting up some alternative routes for next year. A303 is such a pain and some of the more local people know better/easier routes. We also have another potential idea for improving the traffic situation, but we're still looking into it.

[rob0r]

Thanks guys. Sitting on the side of the road I swore the car would be crushed since it's put me through so much, my girlfriend was worried it was going to explode because of the fuel leak... my friend kindly reminded her she was practically sitting on it... Luckily the leak stopped a few miles out of Haynes.

This photo was taken in a rare moment that it wasn't broken, but I was trying to burn the fuel off so I could go on track:



In doing so I nuked the brake pads, no where had any so the AA man filed a set of vauxhall pads off Madmods. The car was fixed but I wasn't going to track it!:



My day got envitably worse, overheated on the A303 due to rubbish traffic and I couldn't stop. Ripped the exhaust off trying to get off the road, second AA van of the day. Exhaust back on but cylinder head cracked:


Old Skool and Bstardchild in support:


Working out how to get it on the flat bed since the front valance was too low:




Service station stop, comfort food was purchased!:


Due to the first driver starting off from Somerset he had to drop us off outside Harlow. Second low loader...:


Got home at 3am.

[lewist123]

Ah mate what a shame.

I followed you for a while on the A303. I was in the black civic, and almost got taken out by the grill coming from your barrow-b-q! ;D No harm no foul though!

Lewis

[dollywobbler]

This won't be much comfort I suspect, but this shot is just awesome! I think the AA should use it.

[rob0r]

Aug 18, 2009 19:42:10 GMT lewist123 said:

Ah mate what a shame.

I followed you for a while on the A303. I was in the black civic, and almost got taken out by the grill coming from your barrow-b-q! ;D No harm no foul though!

Lewis

Yes, another low point. We pulled off the nearest layby and phoned the county police, a drop in the ocean in a long list of disasters!

[Mr Vincent]

Dude, It never rains but it pi$$es down! - Passat at the Nats??

[BenzBoy]

Argh sounds like you had a right mare, Rob. Didn't get to catch up with you at the show, but it looks like you had your hands full of troublesome Bimmer for most of it anyway!

Here's hoping for better luck at RRG 10!

[bruisercapri]

glad you got back ok, if a bit late though rob

[jonmsm]

What engine is she - I have a spare cylinder head for an M535i in my out house. Its done some mileage and could do with stem seals but its not cracked!!

Hope she's not knackered - love the e28's and that one looks very good slammed! :-D