r/ThatLookedExpensive • u/misterxx1958 • Aug 04 '25
Yesterday on a German highway - 62-year-old man scraps his McLaren - only slightly injured but damage 250,000 euros
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u/misterxx1958 Aug 04 '25
Yes, he was very lucky, the driver's seat remained completely ok - so he remained completely unharmed - a passenger would not have survived
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u/AdCommercial6714 Aug 04 '25
He was lucky AF!
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u/RandofCarter Aug 04 '25
How the hell was he only 'slightly injured'? Is this like other British English where it means something different to Americans?
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Aug 04 '25
Slightly injured usually means walking wounded in the UK, ie might need a hospital trip but his life isn't at risk. Sounds like the old coot got jammy af.
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u/the_traveller_hk Aug 04 '25
According to the police report, he was not injured at all. Not even slightly.
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u/ThetaDev256 Aug 04 '25
The injury scale describes the amount of treatment required. It is based on the perspective of the first responders and medical workers, not the patients. A lightly injured person may still be in severe pain, have broken bones, lacerations, etc.
- Lightly injured: no hospital stay required
- Medium injury: 1-3 days of hospital stay
- Severely injured: longer hospital stays or surgery required
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u/ipullstuffapart Aug 04 '25
I bet Tavarish is already writing a cheque.
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u/Shurdus Aug 04 '25
I'm sure this man drove it with a reasonable speed and it was totally not his fault.
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u/ph0on Aug 04 '25
I can practically see the accident occur in my head, with that bend behind him and the slightly wet ground lol
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u/madman1969 27d ago
Indeed. Just because you can afford to buy it doesn't mean you magically have the skill required to drive.
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u/twd_2003 Aug 04 '25 edited Aug 04 '25
A testament to modern safety engineering. Was this on the unrestricted (edit: section of the) Autobahn?
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u/davidclaydepalma2019 Aug 04 '25
It was on the overpass from A8 to A995 .
It was rainy and the driver did not reduce speed accordingly.
I don't think that this part is unrestricted, but someone else would need to check out to be sure.
Usually such areas are <120 kmh.
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u/Ingam0us Aug 04 '25
Most probably limited to 80km/h. That‘s the most common limit for such transition roads between two Autobahn.
There was an unrestricted before though, so he probably was speeding hardcore there already and failed to realize how tight the next corner would be with high speed20
u/SwoodyBooty Aug 04 '25
Most people fail to realise that "unrestricted" is more like "to your own judgement" or do have poor judgement. Like this gentleman.
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u/Ingam0us Aug 04 '25 edited Aug 04 '25
Yeah, and many many people, even Germans, don‘t realize, that you can get a percentage of the crash fault as soon as you‘re driving over 130km/h, because that‘s the reccomended speed for the unrestricted areas.
This guy will have a really hard time explaining the insurance that it was not „grob fahrlässig“ because it definitely was…3
u/SwoodyBooty Aug 04 '25
Insurance for his car? Forget that. The Leitplanke will be a pretty penny, for sure. And I doubt he will receive a payout for that either.
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u/thebuttonmonkey Aug 04 '25
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u/NortonBurns 28d ago
My thought exactly - posted another comment to that effect. The barrier was just not designed for that specific crash.
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u/I_like_apostrophes Aug 04 '25
There are a few pic of totalled McLaren's in circulation on Reddit. I presume that confirms my suspicion not to hand overmotorised cars to people who don't have a racing license.
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u/DerEchteDaniel Aug 04 '25
For motorcycles there are different licence classes. A1 license in Germany allows riders from age 16 to drive motorcycles up to 125cc and 11 kW. A2 license, available from age 18, permits motorcycles with up to 35 kW. A license is the full, unrestricted motorcycle license (available from age 24 directly or after two years with A2), allowing riders to operate any motorcycle without limitations. For cars, it's like: You've been trained on a modern VW Golf. You might now drive a 500PS rear-wheel Drive, without driving Assistant on every road now. Good luck.
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u/I_like_apostrophes Aug 04 '25
That's what I mean: For cars like this there should be an advanced driving course/racing car license. Just because you've been trained on a VW Polo doesn't mean you should be allowed to drive this monster on a road you share with innocents.
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u/Plastic_Position4979 Aug 04 '25
I actually agree with you. Driving at those speeds is unlike driving at normal speeds (130 km/h or less). And, truth be told, there is a difference between 30-40 km/h and 120-130 km/h).
A graduated approach would make sense. The road feel, the way you look out for traffic ahead/behind/besides, weather conditions, etc., etc., etc. all have an effect, and change. Topography ahead - and the time it takes to reach it.
At the very least, vehicles that can exceed 130 km/h should require advanced driving skills course. Frankly, based on race course driving, but with road conditions in mind.
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u/Bastyboys 28d ago
This would make sense in Germany. Everywhere else it's illegal to go that fast anyway
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u/Plastic_Position4979 28d ago
Not quite everywhere - there are a handful of exceptions outside Germany - but yes, just about everywhere else
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u/Dru2021 Aug 04 '25
62 is too young for it to be Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson) this time - I believe he crashed his F1 twice whilst he owned it!
(Edited 61 to 62)
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u/Pure_Minimum_277 Aug 04 '25
Yeah, but he's also the man who putted the most miles on it (if I recall correctly)
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u/SomeSortaWeeb Aug 04 '25
how on earth did he wedge the car under the barrier facing the road????? i would presume when someone loses control of a car they veer headfirst into the barriers and ram into them, getting stuck facing away from the road.
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u/Schonke Aug 04 '25
Check the barrier along the way. He hit it way before he became jammed, probably scraping along and then spun around from hitting one of the "legs", ending up stuck like that.
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u/Steelhorse91 Aug 04 '25
They really need to mandate the lower barrier section always being fitted to armco barriers. If you think this is bad, you should see what the vertical Armco posts do to bikers when there’s no lower horizontal section to stop them sliding into them!
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u/NortonBurns 28d ago
Glad he was OK. That was a bit of a Romain Grosjean accident - barrier not designed for just that exact crash type.
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u/Bart2800 Aug 04 '25
How the hell did he get underneath the guiderail?
Where I live they changed how the beginning of these rails are constructed. Before they buried the beginning in the ground, but this launched cars up in the air when they hit.
Now the beginning looks like a crash cushion, absorbing the force of the impact.
But I really have no idea how it was here, but it definitely wasn't safe...
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u/40yrsYoungOG Aug 04 '25
He caught that rail and rode it hard. Wonder how fast he was going when he made contact?
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u/Speedhabit Aug 04 '25
They’re really safe, assuming the dash and headlights spontaneously turning off while driving the car didn’t cause the crash
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u/itsnotaboutyou2020 Aug 04 '25
Why is the driver’s age in the headline? Are we blaming the crash on his age?
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u/DARKSUNDELUXR Aug 04 '25
Didn't saw this in r/rentnerfahrenindinge but I probably will soon... Guy really was lucky
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u/tizadxtr Aug 05 '25
Was this part of the design to crumple and protect the driver in this way? Asking for a McLaren friend - if this is how it was intended to be, then McLaren have done incredible work to protect their drivers.
Glad the driver walked away from this!
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u/Soulpole Aug 05 '25
breaking news, old man crashes his car…. the price of the car does not make it exceptional
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u/Cat_Imreror2209 29d ago
I believe that people over 50 should be monitored in terms of what cars they drive and whether they are even capable of driving safely. because, as a professional driver, I can say that old grandfathers and young girls understand the situation on the road the worst. The girls will learn, but the grandfathers don't care at all that he is driving in the middle of two oncoming lanes.
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u/era_strai 28d ago
I know exactly where this stretch of road is (drive by it weekly). It goes from a 120kmh speed limit to unrestricted in a long left curve. Very tempting to floor it…however, in heavy rain (as was the case when the accident happened) water flows diagonally across the road surface, from right to left.
An overpowered, mid engine car will spin, if you are not careful.
What a goon.
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u/burtgummer45 Aug 04 '25
does his age somehow add to the story?
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u/Youwillknowitsoon Aug 04 '25
Old man crashes McLaren
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u/burtgummer45 Aug 04 '25
62 is still considered middle age, and middle age man crashes car isn't much of a story
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u/Youwillknowitsoon Aug 04 '25
62 has never been middle age.. they write out the age because it’s clearly and old man driving a sportscar. It makes people look and click
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u/burtgummer45 Aug 04 '25
62 has never been middle age
It is in a lot of references and dictionaries, for example
: the period of life from about 45 to about 64
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u/Youwillknowitsoon Aug 04 '25
Nah bro 62 is not middle aged . It’s just old.
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u/SithLordRising Aug 04 '25
These race cars always look like they have no traction at all
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u/Wotuu Aug 04 '25
It's damp/rainy out. I own a 370z which has half the power of this thing and if I push the throttle 50% it breaks out in these conditions. This guy could be cruising, hit the throttle a bit too much to overtake someone and end up like this. Probably would be best to just not drive the thing if it's not dry out, just got too much power to be safe.
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u/Frogbeerr Aug 04 '25
This is exactly the reason why I wouldn't even want to own one of these. I am totally fine with a reasonably motorized car that can still get up mountain roads when fully loaded. Any more power is just a liability.
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u/Wotuu Aug 04 '25
Typically you'd own one of these cars where if you lose them you won't quite feel it in your bank account. Still though I 100% feel you on this one, but people who own these types of cars usually just think differently because they're just that much richer.
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u/Garrettthesnail Aug 04 '25
Lucky there was no passenger there!