Texas man drives Bugatti (million-dollar sports car) into pond

[Botany]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ieISv...

Texas man drives Bugatti into pond; blames bird
(AP) – 2 days ago
LA MARQUE, Texas — Police say a low-flying pelican distracted a driver in Texas, causing him to veer off a road and drive his million-dollar sports car into a salt marsh.

La Marque police Lt. Greg Gilchrist says the man claimed he lost concentration while driving his French-built Bugatti Veyron on Wednesday because the bird swooped into
sight. Gilchrist says the driver dropped his phone, reached down to pick it up and strayed into the brackish water in La Marque, about 35 miles southeast of Houston.

Gilchrist does not know if the car can be salvaged but conceded that "salt water isn't good for anything."

He says the man, whose identity has not been released, was not injured in the accident.



****************

I really feel bad for this guy, honest.

[Bonobo]

1. A Veyron! OMG!!!

I watch "Top Gear" and that is one hell of a car. WHat a schmuck!

[Toucano]

2. He dropped his phone.

The bird had nothing to do with it.

[slackmaster]

3. YouTube video of the crash taken by passers by

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32yyvmlGOdo

I really feel bad for this guy, honest.

My dad once told me "Never drive any car that you are not willing to destroy."

[Orrex]

5. I don't see a pelican in that video.

[ingac70]

32. Gone are the days...

were you can commit insurance fraud in private.

[Orrex]

36. Yes indeed!

The great part is that the guy with the camera was admiring the car because it's such a rare piece of expensive luxury machinery. Which might be exactly why the driver ditched it, not expecting to be filmed!

[LisaL]

41. Neither did I. Where is the biride?

LOL.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. "Oh shit! Oh shit!"

Hahahahaha

No one was hurt. All that's left is the humor of it.

[Botany]

15. Thank You!

Oh Shit Oh Shit OH SHIT

BTW no bird too.

[Electric Monk]

22. "I'm pretty sure that's a Lambo, dude."

For some reason I found that part to be the funniest :/

[slackmaster]

24. They sound a bit like Beavis and Butthead

[Botany]

31. I liked this quote:

"salt water isn't good for anything."

[ingac70]

28. His insurance co. will be real interested in seeing this.

No bird. Looks like he cruised on in there on purpose.

[Botany]

35. more video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIKD8iTFxVQ&feature=rela...

[salguine]

37. I don't feel bad for him. A million dollars for a car? Somebody has too goddamn much money. On the

other hand, the only thing that was missing from the video was someone saying "Oh no he di'in't!"

[Xithras]

49. Hmmm...the spoiler is down....

The Veyrons design doesn't give it the greatest traction in the world, so it included a hydraulic spoiler that increases downforce, pushes the car into the ground, and makes it much easier to control. If you're RACING the Veyron, however, there is a special ignition key in the doorpost that you turn to lower the spoiler. At speeds above 150, the pressure of the air alone provides more than enough downforce to keep the car stable, and the wing has to be lowered to reduce drag. At normal roadway speeds, the wing is all but required to be up.

His wing is down.

[mainer]

52. When you drive that flashy a car, the whole world's got you on video

no way it wouldn't be recorded by someone!

Love the guy-talk video commentary. "I'm gonna have one of those someday..."

[Fumesucker]

4. It wasn't the fucking pelican..

It was reaching for the cellphone that did it..

When I lived in N'awlins we had a welder at our shop who drove his rig into a canal one day because the street running by the canal was flooded and you couldn't tell where the road was.

All you could see of his truck was the little row of lights on top of the cab, it looked a bit like four eyed alligator.

[jpak]

6. Dumbass

[MercutioATC]

7. Not that it makes a difference....

...but the driver owns a company that repairs and sells salvage title exotic cars.


Looks like he has a new car to fix and sell.

[slackmaster]

11. Put a small-block Chevy engine in it, have the upholstery re-done in Mexico

It will run just fine.

[Kansas Wyatt]

18. Insurance pay out...

He buys the 'totaled' car from the insurance company, and fixes it back up, while making a very large profit.

[MercutioATC]

20. That depends on four things...

...the nature of the damage, how much the insurance company pays him, how much it costs to fix, and how much he can sell a salvage-titled Veyron for.

[slackmaster]

25. The insurance policy on a car that valuable probably has a very high deductible

Very, very high.

[Kansas Wyatt]

34. I'd still look for recent changes to the policy.

Sorry, just looks suspicious to me. Sometimes shit just happens, but often, shit happens for a reason.

[Xithras]

51. Possibly, but many rich people don't carry accident insurance.

Most of the super-rich insure their cars against theft and fire as riders on a more general insurance policy, but don't purchase accident insurance the way you and I do. Most states have provisions that let you opt out of mandatory insurance coverage if you register a bond with the state. If you have the money, a registered bond is a statistically better idea. Not only are you NOT handing money to a for profit insurance company every month, but you get the original bond money back when you stop driving the car and cancel the coverage.

Most people who drive million dollar cars have the money to deal with repairing a minor fender bender.

[Kansas Wyatt]

57. Unless you needed to unload your expensive property for the right price.

I still think it smells like insurance fraud and would check the policy carefully, with regards to dates, coverage changes, etc.

[MorningGlow]

8. O the humanity!!

I respected the Bugatti when I saw it on Top Gear, but I fell in love with it when I saw one at the Petersen Car Museum in L.A. over the summer. It is one beautiful piece of machinery. And I don't say that about cars every day. More like never.

Petersen Bugatti with MG Jr., also pleased as punch to see one up close:

[Myrina]

9. ROFL

poor baby

[johnnie]

12. Idiot can afford a million dollar car...

...but not a Bluetooth?

[HipChick]

13. good point..maybe a case of simple insurance fraud?

[sarge43]

17. Never do or say anything you wouldn't want winding up on YouTube n/t

[dugaresa]

58. you would think Bluetooth would be standard in a car that expensive

hell it should massage your back and butt while you drive, but then again that might be distracting

[Kansas Wyatt]

14. Hmm... Wonder what the Insurance pay out is.

Who wants to bet someone needs to liquidate an asset for a better price?

[gmoney]

26. "Liquidate" LOL... yes, I guess the car is now a "liquid asset"

at least until the water drains out of it.

"I don't remember giving permission for a PARTY, Joel."

[slackmaster]

33. Any high-value vehicle like that is guaranteed to be a total loss after being flooded

There is no way to make it like new.

[NoPasaran]

16. The pond was begging for it

[Canuckistanian]

19. That's the problem with expensive cars

They only seem to be bought by rich idiots.

[LiberalFighter]

21. For that much money it should be able to sail.

[jimshoes]

23. How incredible is it that the whole thing gets caught on

video? I'm sure the insurance company is going to be asking at what point did this bird swoop into your line of sight... and would you please point it out on this here video of you crashing into the water?

[HipChick]

39. Cellphones with camera are everywhere

[madrchsod]

27. there will never be a car built like the bugatti

Volkswagen spent around 5 million to build the bugatti. yes it is worth every penny. it`s a masterpiece in automotive design and function.

it`s going to cost the dumb ass some bucks to rebuild it.

[Orrex]

38. I'm not being petty, but what makes it worth 1.5 million?

Does it get 1,000 mpg or something? I honestly can't imagine what a car would have to do before I could think that a price like that is justified.

[Xithras]

45. It's the worlds fastest production car.

And, to boot, it was also built to be one of the most comfortable cars in the world, so you're not cramming yourself in like a Lambo or wearing earplugs to drown out the engine noise like a Ferrari. It's an incredibly impressive bit of design and engineering.

It's also not being built anymore. Volkswagen ordered it's design and construction more as a showcase for their engineering capabilities than anything else, and there was a fixed number planned for production before they ever started building them. That number has been reached, and they built the last one last year. There are plans in the works for a limited run second cabrio model, but it's not clear whether it will be as fast.

[gristy]

29. This guy Gilchrist is so busted.

"Oh, shit" is right.

[appleannie1]

30. Drop your cell phone, reach for it but blame the bird. Bet he is Repug

[StarfarerBill]

44. He's a rich guy in Houston; count on it.

[Hepburn]

40. I am betting insurance fraud....

...the story sounds like bullshit to me.

[-..__...]

42. The problem is too many people with too much $$$$...

and no experience or training handling that sort of horsepower.

http://www.wreckedexotics.com

[tech9413]

54. When I was in NJ I was doing the HS graduation at a high dollar

HS. This kid drove in with his graduation present (Lotus Esprit with a big red ribbon). I made a bet with one of the guys working with me that the car would be scrap in two weeks. Sure enough a week later I saw the car wrapped around a telephone pole. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.

If I were this kids father, I would have rather spent the money at Skip Barber, Jim Russell, or any other driving schools and just given him a Corvette.

[lonestarnot]

43. Looks like a bunch of brazillion dollar cars and homes are either getting real wet or burned to the

ground.

[tech9413]

46. You drive a car like that you best pay attention to the job at hand

They should have a requirement that any potential buyer has to complete a performance driving course.
I've been a speed demon forever but never had the money to buy into that class. It scares me that people can buy a high performance vehicle like that and not be qualified to drive it.

I don't feel bad for him either. It's the more money than sense adage. I'm sure that he'll soon replace it with something equally above his skill level.

[8 track mind]

47. I'll buy the motor and gearbox!

Show up to cruise night with something like that under the hood!

[ddeclue]

48. Who's da U-boat commanda?

[rug]

50. I always liked pelicans.

[ddeclue]

53. When I first heard about it, I figured it would be Bush...

I mean after how he drove our economy over a cliff...

[NYC_SKP]

55. At Top Speed (253.5 mph), the Tires will only last 15 Minutes.... But that's OK,

Because the fuel will only last 12 minutes...

"As the Bugatti Veyron approached the top speed during the test, May said that "the tyres will only last for about fifteen minutes, but it's okay because the fuel runs out in twelve minutes"."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Veyron

[gmoney]

56. running out of gas as 250 mph would be interesting... (n/t)

[nadinbrzezinski]

59. Oh wait that reminds me of the Ferrari that a kid sent down the canyon

bad part it was a suicide, so we got to a body recovery.

Anybody care to know how difficult is to cut through a fiberglass hull?

Oh and I did feel for the parents. Nothing worst than telling a parent, your son is dead. I don't care how much or how little money they have.

[TexasObserver]

60. It's the feel good story of the month.

Lamarque is such a pathetic town, too. It's flat. It's right by the Houston Ship Channel, between Houston and Galveston. It's a company town for several refinery/chemical companies, and smells like it. Flat, insignificant, and visually offensive, one wonders why anyone would drive such a car through there.

But seeing that toad sit there on his car, and knowing it got there because he was tooling down the road, speeding, talking on the phone, not paying attention. I'm not buying that pelican story. The guy was probably looking at his phone.