Kerry Posted 13July, 2012 Report Share Posted 13July, 2012 Comrades. I recently spent a week as a guest at my friend's holiday house down at Portsea as a bit of a quiet, "downtime" opportunity to get some reading and writing done, and possibly some coastal inspired photography for uni. I had decided that a super early start to last Sunday was in order as I wanted to be down on the rocks at Cape Schanck before the sun came up in order to get that pre-dawn light (I know - what was I thinking?!) and as such, I was traveling down Cape Schanck road around 6.15am. Its a straight, well sealed road with no surprises in the form of blind crests or anything of that nature, and as I hadn't practically seen another car on the road for the past 30 minutes, felt that the 80kph speed limit was a little conservative. I was probably doing 81. Or so. Anyhoo, it was a clear morning, and with the road dampness usual to a cold and frosty morning. Suddenly, awakening me from my ponderings of the nearest Mickey D's, and a couple of Bacon and Egg McMuffins, was a 6ft (maybe 7ft) red, male kangaroo sharing my lane and direction about 50 metres ahead, and doing about 79kph slower than I was! IGY, (of pre ABS years), and I soon found ourselves sharing the on-again/off-again brake pumping discussion in order to stop him locking. We also found that we were on the wrong side of the arched road profile and his tail was threatening to come around and obscure my vision of Big Red! Our old friend opposite lock was called in and as I looked out what I'm sure was the side window, Red was oblivious to our slippery passage, and had no intention of pulling over to the left and letting the faster vehicle pass anyway. As we all know, time slows in these instances, and I had a chance to consider how old the rubber was, and whether I should have replaced it years ago! I also remembered the advice offered at a John Bowe defensive driving course for exactly situations like this: one was NOT to say - "I'm gonna hit the tree! I'm gonna hit the tree! I'M GONNA HIT THE TREE!" The impact could be described as a solid kiss, enough to knock Red off kilter and stumble onto his side and then back up again in one fluid movement. Within a split second he was gone, back into the undergrowth from whence he'd sprung. IGY, who had taken the impact directly under the left headlight, was now idling astride the lane and awaiting further instruction. I got out, walked around the front, and with a wincing eye surveyed the destruction. Not so much as a redheads hair was left upon his bumper! Not a ding/dent/or cracked indicator glass was apparent. I got down on my knees and gave it all a good shake, and not a flex, or even a rattle responded. Solid as the day is long. I remembered why those crazy Americans had insisted Porsche introduce the impact bumper, in order to take an impact of up to 5mph without damage. Well, almost 30 years after his birth, IGY had outperformed that requirement without battering a headlight! That, my friends, is why Impact Bumpers ROCK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris-p Posted 13July, 2012 Report Share Posted 13July, 2012 Geez Kez, that a hell of a story. Really glad to hear no damage to you or IGY. My brother in law ended up with a red roo sitting on his lap half way between mildura and Adelaide driving his 911 about 25 years ago. He was lucky to survive. The roo didn't and the car was rather worse for wear too.... But he did say had it been any other car he probably wouldn't of come out of it so well. C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCM911T Posted 13July, 2012 Report Share Posted 13July, 2012 Kez, great little story, maybe you could also take up short story writing among your artistic pursuits. The good thing about our "older" cars is that they are made of real steel not plastic. Take care Cheers Paul M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Man Posted 13July, 2012 Report Share Posted 13July, 2012 Very entertaining read Kerry. We have the occasional roo in our estate and as my parents were leaving one evening they had a roo jump straight across the road in front of them! Lucky it didn't stop. The second one however hit the passenger side bumper. That's a worry with early morning runs. Obviously the roos like the early morning also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesnowdrift Posted 13July, 2012 Report Share Posted 13July, 2012 from this door forth Impact Bumpers shall be called Kangaroo AirBags... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerry Posted 13July, 2012 Author Report Share Posted 13July, 2012 Thanks Gents. Kanga Airbags! LMAO! On his lap Chris?! - Jeez! Glad my incident didn't result in any damage to either/any of us, I remember seeing what a wallaroo once did to a road train in outback Qld - wrote it off! Still, won't be going out to buy a roobar (extended airbag) for IGY, just might take a little more vigilance on early morning runs... speaking of which, I'm heading out on an RS RSR GT3 Register run tomorrow morning with Greg H and crew. I'll get some snaps and make a post. Kerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyberpunky Posted 14July, 2012 Report Share Posted 14July, 2012 They can also lead to confusion. I hit a fox in my 944 turbo, stopped and it looked like no damage aside form front number plate being ripped off. Continued home, all was well until I stopped and while checking again for damage I saw porsche blood(coolant) leaking from under the car. Next day had a good look and could not see any damage still, so filled and bled cooling system. All appeared to be ok, no leaks car running fine. After some more checking I went and got some coolant, as had been using water. After taking off from PCB i heard a police siren and sure enough saw a cop car parked up ahead and another further down. I then stopped at some lights and when I took off I thought my clutch must be slipping and I heard siren sound again. The siren was actually my turbo, and it was gone and the lack of boost made me think clutch was slipping. Anyway turns out hitting fox dislodged some perished rubber into intake, which blew the turbo and I can't claim on insurance because there is no damage to car. All the hoses are now replaced, and a rebuilt turbo is almost back in, but that fox was an expensive bugger. I have since been told that all dogs will do a 180 and go back the way they came, and so if I didn't try and avoid the fox(I swerved behind him) I wouldn't of hit him. I felt bad at first that I killed a critter but now want to kill him again for the bill he has left mne with lol The lack of damage to the bumper also cost me a lot of money as it meant I had no proof I had hit anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerry Posted 14July, 2012 Author Report Share Posted 14July, 2012 OUCH! I can report I've been driving IGY most days this week, and so far no damage has emerged. I have a car stacker at home and I did give a thorough viewing when I got him home from underneath, and it looks like we've escaped any resultant bills or claims. Its one of those situations where another 2 metres, or 10 kph, and it all could have been a totally different story. Lucky this time I guess. Cheers, Kerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-banger Posted 14July, 2012 Report Share Posted 14July, 2012 It all sounds like a good excuse for a louder exhaust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyberpunky Posted 15July, 2012 Report Share Posted 15July, 2012 It all sounds like a good excuse for a louder exhaust. I like your thinking...maybe I should go for that fabspeed exhaust I have had my eyes on for a while, once I pay for the turbo lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randall Posted 17July, 2012 Report Share Posted 17July, 2012 Well told and a great story. As we all know, time slows in these instances, and I had a chance to consider how old the rubber was, and whether I should have replaced it years ago! So true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airhead Posted 17July, 2012 Report Share Posted 17July, 2012 So that Wipe Off 5 Campaign is true? Bugger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted 17July, 2012 Report Share Posted 17July, 2012 Yep ...wipe off 5 ..........kangacarooters. Great campaign, should be more of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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