It would be fair to say that in general, cars with soft-tops are regarded as being somewhat unsafe should they be involved in an accident which results in the car rolling onto it's roof. Some manufactures combat this problem by building in additional protection on the form of a roll-over hoop or, on more prestigious cars such as some Mercedes, a hoop that flips into position in a fraction of a second, should a potential roll be detected. These additional hoops are all very well and of course sensible, but such hoops do have a downside - they tend to ruin the lines of the car. For this reason some manufacturers choose to rely purely on the strength of the windscreen surround, and of course the driver's common sense. The MGF sportscar is and example of the later.

As a MGF owner myself I was therefore interested to learn of another owner (Gareth Hughes) who had not only rolled his F, but had done so at high speed resulting in the car rolling some four times into a field. It should not come as too much of a surprise that the car was subsequently written off by his insurance company. However, I'm very happy to say that the driver was able to walk away from the car with little more than being shaken up and knowing his car was wrecked.

As you will see from the pictures of Gareth's car (below) shortly after the accident, the MGF's reinforced windscreen surround is obviously well designed and capable of offering driver/passenger protection in the event of a roll...

Gareth's Account:

'The crash happened travelling from Dolgellau to Welshpool. Not really awake, early morning. I had just overtaken some wally who was driving in good visibility with his foglamps on. I flashed my fogs at him to get him to turn them off, looked back up, shit, into the bend too late. I turned into it too late with the power still on, the back shot round. I couldn't get enough opposite lock to recover and went thru the fence backwards. The rear left dug into the soft ground and the car rolled four times, landing the right way up. The guy behind me stopped, looked pretty surprised when I got out. He asked what happened, when I told him he apologised and said, "Wow, that was spectacular!" I had a small bump on my head and minor whiplash. Hence the smile when I got out.'

'The moral of this is "Once you're past the wallies, ignore 'em." The real cause was , travelling early in the morning, not really awake after the late night before.'

25th May 1999, Copyright © 1999 - P.S. Lathwell