Another accident for Rafael de Mestre's Roadster

[bonnie]

You may remember Rafael - drove his Roadster around the world. Some of us met him as he came through our local areas.

In 2012: His Roadster was in an accident during that race, but with 5 techs on the scene, he was back on the road again:

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Today (Feb 3, 2015): Looks like there was another accident early this morning PST (or this afternoon, depending on your time zone) ... hope KIT is repairable. But the good news is he's 100% okay.

From his twitter account:

 

[dpeilow]

Shocking. Glad he's ok. Would like to know exactly what happened.

 

[spaceballs]

Yikes! Glad he's not hurt.
I'm guessing that's a first for someone strapped into a a roadster while flipped over.

 

[ecarfan]

(UPDATE: my apologies, now I see the the video is from 2012. It is showing an old accident. The two tweeted photos are current and show the same Roadster upside down from the rear and the front. Ouch! I hope that is repairable. Very impressive that the Roadster driver is okay after a rollover).

I am confused as to what that video and those two photos are supposed to tell us. In the the video it appears that the black Roadster hit the rear end of another vehicle and then came to a stop, right side up. Severe front end damage for the Roadster.

In the first tweeted photo a Roadster appears to be upside down on a road, rear end towards the camera. Correct?

So what happened here? Are those the same accident, or two different accidents to two different Roadsters?

Very painful to look at. Glad that Rafael is okay.

 

[stevezzzz]

Two separate accidents.

 

[dpeilow]

It's two different accidents, as it says in Bonnie's post.

 

[bonnie]

I've clarified that it is two different accidents in the original post.

 

[jbadger]

It's quite sad to see the number of Roadsters on the road dropping like flies these days. Glad the driver is alright though.

 

[Vger]

From his brief description and the photos, I am going to guess he was punted into the snowbank by a distracted or aggressive Audi hitting him broadside. The huge snowbank resulted in flipping the car (like a snowboard half-pipe). If I am right, it is possible that the car was not that badly damaged.

I must say, I drive my Roadster a bit less these days, and did not even put the snow tires on this year, for just this reason. I hope to keep Saffron alive for my own lifetime!

 

[hcsharp]

It's hard to flip a Roadster. This is probably the first one. Just glad he's OK. Does anybody know how many miles are on his car? Has to be a lot!

 

[marco2228]

It's hard to flip a Roadster. This is probably the first one. Just glad he's OK. Does anybody know how many miles are on his car? Has to be a lot!

a bit more then 119.000 km.

 

[[email protected]]

Glad he's OK, and I hope KIT will be back on the road soon! IIRC, it used to have German plates on it, I wonder why he changed to Romanian?

Update: Just checked the old photos, plates used to be German - DE - K IT 5002 (hence the name of the car is KIT).

 

[rsquared99]

I also am glad that no one was hurt in this accident. As a former Roadster owner, these kind of pictures are painful to see. My Roadster was like a member of my family. It hurt to sell her, like I was betraying a trust. The Model S is a grand car, but it's a car, not a family member to me. Anyone else share that feeling?

 

[Jaff]

I think most Roadster owners would agree with you on this...:smile:

I also am glad that no one was hurt in this accident. As a former Roadster owner, these kind of pictures are painful to see. My Roadster was like a member of my family. It hurt to sell her, like I was betraying a trust. The Model S is a grand car, but it's a car, not a family member to me. Anyone else share that feeling?

 

[Jackyche]

On a regular interval, I get temptations to just bite the bullet and sell the Roadster and get a Model S. Its just so much more practical for my family. Then September rolls around and I'm due for my annual service. The service center will then give me a Model S for the day, and usually for the weekend. After that, all temptations to sell the Roadster melts away. Don't get me wrong, Model S is a fine car. But it lacks character. Roadster, just on a league of its own.

Super glad he was able to walk away from that, looks scary.

 

[wiztecy]

Latest status below. Looks like the towing company did an excellent job rolling the Roadster over without causing unnecessary damage:

Chargelocator Team on Twitter:

"The best news of the year for me! Got a call from Tesla, it's 95% sure that KIT can be repaired! I'm so happy!!!!!"

 

[spaceballs]

... "The best news of the year for me! Got a call from Tesla, it's 95% sure that KIT can be repaired! I'm so happy!!!!!"

If it does get repaired, then this car will only have 7 lives left!

 

[wiztecy]

If it does get repaired, then this car will only have 7 lives left!

and also to get re-named to KAT

 

[ibcs]

Excellent news. Please keep us posted as you get it back on the road.

 

[Timothy]

Where was the accident? I hear the car is near Bath in England--is that where it is getting repaired?
I met Rafael for an hour while he was charging in Santa Barbara when he was on his around the world trip. Glad he is OK!