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Texan drives $1 million sports car into marshes


CbrGirl

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Talk about a bad day.... :(

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33906595/ns/us_news-weird_news/

091113-bugatti-hmed-430a.hmedium.jpg

Driver blames bird, dropped cellphone; Bugatti Veyron is world's priciest car

LA MARQUE, Texas - A man blamed a low-flying pelican and a dropped cell phone for his veering his million-dollar sports car off a road and into a salt marsh near Galveston.

The accident happened about 3 p.m. Wednesday on the frontage road of Interstate 45 northbound in La Marque, about 35 miles southeast of Houston.

The Lufkin, Texas, man told of driving his luxury, French-built Bugatti Veyron when the bird distracted him, said La Marque police Lt. Greg Gilchrist.

The motorist dropped his cell phone, reached to pick it up and veered off the road and into the salt marsh. The car was half-submerged in the brine about 20 feet from the road when police arrived.

Gilchrist said he doesn't know if the car was salvageable, but in his words, "Salt water isn't good for anything." He says the man, whose identity hasn't been released, was not injured.

Celebrity driver

The police declined to release the driver's name, although the incident has drawn a great deal of attention on his vehicle.

The Houston Chronicle reported the Texan has become something of a celebrity. He reportedly told the Texas City wrecker driver who towed his car that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called him Wednesday, along with several other celebrities.

“He said he was getting so many calls that he finally stopped answering his phone,” said wrecker driver Gilbert Harrison of MCH Truck and Auto, which is storing the car.

But Harrison said the driver seemed to take his very expensive mistake in stride.

“He was calm,” Harrison told the Chronicle. “If it had been me, I'd have been cussing, but he was calm. I imagine inside he was probably pretty upset.”

The Bugatti Veyron is the fastest and most expensive production car in the world.

A 2006 Bugatti Veyron was recently offered for sale in Jonesboro, Ark., for $1.25 million.

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what speed does that spoiler come up at?

I bet he was cookin...

He probably was, but you can also set the spoiler so that it stays up. The car has a few settings including the mode where the car hunkers down as low as possible and the wing is deployed at all times. I think I saw that on Top Gear.

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Here's a couple of facts of the Wikipedia page.

- When the car reaches 220 km/h, hydraulics lower the car until it has a ground clearance of about 9 cm. At the same time, the wing and spoiler deploy.

- It uses special Michelin PAX run-flat tyres, designed specifically for the Veyron to accommodate its top speed, which reportedly cost $25,000 US per set.

What's $25k for tires when you can spend $1.25M on a car. I 'd hate to see what the bill for a standard service is.

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Jalopnik.com covered all of this from the day it happened... here's the latest from them.

INCLUDING VIDEO OF THE INCIDENT ITSELF!!!

500x_bugatti_ferrari_crash.jpg

Here's the post with the video: http://jalopnik.com/5404403/exclusive-video-of-bugatti-veyron-actually-crashing-into-texas-lake

Remember the amazing $1.6 million Bugatti Veyron lake crash blamed on a low-flying pelican? We have the video of it happening and there's not a freaking pelican in sight. UPDATE: The driver responds!

This was the story according to the Galveston Daily News:

The man, who refused to give his name, was looking at real estate in Galveston.

About 3 p.m. a low-flying pelican distracted him as he traveled north

on Interstate 45 just south of the hurricane levee near Omega Bay.

The man jerked the wheel, dropped his cell phone, and the car's front

tire left the frontage road and entered a muddy patch, which foiled his

attempt to maneuver away from the lagoon.

Yeah, that's not what happened at all according to this video.

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

This was recorded by a Facebook user who appears to be taping it with a phone or digital camera just at

the right moment. Warning, they do swear appropriately at the event.

Incredible.

UPDATE: Thanks to some great follow up reporting by the Galveston Daily News

and their sister paper, we now know the man is Andy House of

Performance Auto Sales in Lufkin, Texas. The shop, ironically,

specializes in repairing wrecked exotics. We contacted House for a

comment and here's what he said:

I had dropped my phone, people dont know what happened, the arnold

story was made up to by the wrecker driver. What it appeared to been

was a reflection.

We'll continue to cover this interesting story as it unfolds.

UPDATE 2: Follow up story from the Galveston Daily News

And here's the latest: http://jalopnik.com/5404505/exclusive-bugatti-lake-crash-driver-owns-infamous-eddie-griffin+crashed-ferrari-enzo
Andy House isn't just the man who crashed his Bugatti Veyron into a lake. He's also the man who owns the repaired Ferrari Enzo crashed by actor Eddie Griffin. Holy super car t-shirt meme crash overload!

House himself confirmed to us he owns the Enzo crashed by Griffin.

Ironically, the business House owns is Performance Auto Sales, which

sells repaired exotic cars. According to House he's one of the largest

salvage auto dealers in the world.

Being an expert on the topic, we asked him if he'd consider the car salvageable. House's response:

"Not sure if the car is salvageable yet, have not had a chance to go survey the damage."

According to House, this wasn't a company car he was planning to sell but rather a personal car and, despite the Bugatti lake accident, he's not done with the car yet, telling us

"It is by far the nicest car that I have ever owned, looking to replace it now!"

The Veyron itself was released to the insurance company earlier

today and, despite claims to the contrary, he insists he was not

talking to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the time of the

crash.

Edited by JRMMiii
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Here's a couple of facts of the Wikipedia page.

- When the car reaches 220 km/h, hydraulics lower the car until it has a ground clearance of about 9 cm. At the same time, the wing and spoiler deploy.

- It uses special Michelin PAX run-flat tyres, designed specifically for the Veyron to accommodate its top speed, which reportedly cost $25,000 US per set.

What's $25k for tires when you can spend $1.25M on a car. I 'd hate to see what the bill for a standard service is.

also from wiki: parent company = volkswagen, which means it's probably a piece of shit anyway.

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H It uses special Michelin PAX run-flat tyres, designed specifically for the Veyron to accommodate its top speed, which reportedly cost $25,000 US per set.

What's $25k for tires when you can spend $1.25M on a car. I 'd hate to see what the bill for a standard service is.

There comes a point in vehicle ownership where if you have to ask about the price you're not rich enough to own one.:rolleyes: I'd say if you own one of these cars asking what service costs would put you in the not wealthy enough to own catagory.

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