A First Time For Everything



My 16-valve, Japanese steed on the fateful night looked a lot like this beauty.

My first 'crash' involved my first car, a 1998 Nissan Micra 1.0 16v (the 16-valve bit is important), a cold night in October, a field full of wheat and standing water. I was late for meeting friends so was hammering along a road I know pretty well, the B5248 that links Leyland to the A59. Approaching a cambered left-hander you can take in third gear in the dry, I pitched the Micra in and right smack bang in the middle of the bend was a huge stream of water... Even before I hit it, I knew it was going to spit me out big time - luckily nobody was on the other side of the road. I stamped on the brakes (no ABS), slid a little then careered through the water still with the anchors on and still trying to turn left. I had no chance. I understeered right off the road, down an embankment and into a wheat field. The corner complete with camber, which helped very little... Such is the Micra's impressive ride height, I managed to carry my momentum round in a big arc and attempt to get straight back up the embankment. At this point two things happened. One, I hadn't got quite enough speed up and so the car slithered back into the field (with me shouting profanities at the Jap-mobile). And two, another car came into view on the road. Saving myself embarrassment, I rolled backwards to a stop, turned my lights off and waited for the car to pass, praying its driver didn't spot my little red Noddy car in the Weetabix. He/she didn't, fortunately, and after they’d disappeared down the road, oblivious to my misfortune, I banged my old biatch into first gear, eased off the clutch then toed the throttle. Somehow, the Micra crawled out of the field, up the grass verge and back onto the road. The only sign of anything untoward when I checked the car over later was a clump of mud and grass in the tow hoop. I was a very lucky boy...