CarCare101: Burnout Radio Episode 68 – Spyker Aileron And The L.A. Auto ShowProject Miata: Goes Up In Blaze of Glory

[Bruce Nunnally]

So I had planned to release the rest of the articles relating to the brake upgrade we did on Project Miata a couple of weeks back, but instead I get to write an article about how Project Miata caught fire and burnt to the ground. Nope I’m not kidding.

When I was driving home from work last Thursday the check engine light came on. My immediate response was, “Oh crap another sensor went out.” As the car was running fine I made the executive decision that, that sensor what ever it may be, could wait until I got home.

As I turns out that was the wrong answer. Not 3 seconds later smoke started pouring out from behind the dash. My first though was that there was a massive oil leak hitting the headers or something like that, however that theory was shortly debunked by headlights dimming out and the engine started to sputter.

“Oh *smurf* it’s an electrical short!” I dove hard the wonderfully grabby Hawk HP+  brakes I was going to tell you about today, and hauled the Miata down to screeching halt in no time flat. Once stopped I killed the engine as fast as I could. Since the car was stopped, there was no air flow in the cockpit so I got a face full of acrid smoke and immediately went all light headed and nauseous, so I grabbed my backpack full of camera gear and my cell phone and rolled out of the car. I spent the next few minutes vomiting my guts up on the side of the road.

Once I could get back on my feet, I ran to the trunk of the car to disconnect the battery. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Mazda Miata, the battery is located in the trunk from the manufacture.) Alas it was too late to save Project Miata, the underside of the dash had caught fire and there was no was to put it out. I tried calling 911 to get the fire department out there ASAP, but when the dash shorted out my phone was hooked up and charging so it went all stupid and wouldn’t let me dial out.

I finally got someone to stop, but by then the entire car was engulfed in flames. The driver let me borrow his cell phone while his wife called 911 on her phone. I was trying to dial my wife when all of a sudden this guy shoves the hell out of me and knocks me *smurf* over teakettle off the guardrail. I landed flat on my back and I see him jumping over the guard rail after me. Apparently just in time to dive out of the way as a red Mustang comes barreling down the shoulder of the road. Turns out the guy had seen the damned rubber necking Mustang driver run off the road as he was watching my car burn. He managed to shove me out of the way just in time. I don’t know this dude’s name but I defiantly owe the man more than a few beers.

The cops finally showed up and the first thing they do is run my driver’s license to see if a I have a warrant. Got to have our priorities straight you know. Then they got the road shut down in both directions, and the fire department proceeded to start putting out the bone fire that had been Project Miata. But not before the gas tank blew up though. Right as they were getting the hoses hooked up there was a loud basso BA BOOOOM. Followed by a big *smurf* mushroom cloud. If you look close in the photo you can see two fire fighters standing next to the car as the gas tank catches fire. I’ve never seen grown men run so fast. Granted I’d have been running just as fast. That was a HUGE ball of fire.

It took about 30 or 40 minutes for the fire department to get the fire put out. During this time the Police officer asked me what towing company I wanted to use. I didn’t want to hire a towing company. I wanted to load my car up on the 32ft flat bed we’ve got at the shop and tow it home that way. Turns out, in the state of Texas, if your fuel tank ruptures you have to call a wrecker. Supposedly they are responsible for cleaning up the fuel spill. I contested that there wasn’t any spilled fuel it all went up in a giant cloud of smoke. Of course the police officer didn’t see it my way. So $250 later my car is on a flat bed belong to Wyatt’s Towing in Sulphur Springs, Texas. I highly recommend you avoid these people at all costs. They towed my car 3.5 miles and charged me $250.  That’s $71.43 per mile!!!!!!! Highway robbery. And they didn’t even tie my car down when they put it on the flat bed.

During this time I posted the above photos to twitter. The next thing I know our followers had started the Save Project Miata Foundation, and by 11:30 am they had already raised several hundred dollars for the cause. As well as many more who have pledged to help out with parts, time and tools. Our followers rock. I didn’t realize how invested they are with our show until now. Completely awesome. If you’d like you can read the on going conversation about Project Miata and the SPMF here: http://twitter.com/#!/search/projectmiata or here: http://twitter.com/#!/search/saveprojectmiata. (For those of you who may not be familar with twitter, you start at the bottom and read up. Little bit weird but that’s the way it works.)

Many thanks to the folks over at Motorama Live! for putting the Save Project Miata Foundation together. We’ll have a sponsors page up shortly with more info on all those who have helped out. We really do appreciate the support.

Our current status has us waiting in a holding pattern. I have yet to see Project Miata in the daylight as it’s sitting over an hour away. We’ll see how extensive the damage is when I get to work on Monday.

 

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[rockfangd]

wow really curious as to what the cause was that started the fire. That was one hot fire.