OT: I got zapped by lightning last night!, Anyone else ever had this happen? Options

[Jake Raby]

So....
It's 0315 this morning and I'm working on the EFI install on the 912E..

We had a huge rash of bad thunderstorms roll through the area and I'm just waiting to see the lightning start popping to the ground since the radio had warned of serious cloud to ground lightning... But being the hard head I am and since I wanted to finish the FI install to get the 912 back on the road I kept splicing wires..

So... I am at the back of the 912 semi bent over hooking up the fast idle solenoid when out of the blue I hear a sharp pop, then a crack, then another pop and louder crack followed by a flash of bright white light and a numb feeling.... The first thing that crossed my mind was to jump into the engine bay of the car and get off the concrete floor and thats exactly what I did! Immediately following this I looked through the vents in the decklid toward the front of the car which was facing toward the back of the shop where the bay door was open and I saw a flash that appeared to come from under the car and go straight out the back door, but I never saw it hit anything..

So I just sat there in the engine bay for a while and then I sat down inside the car to gather my thoughts a bit then I went back to work thinking that I barely missed a big jolt.... Worked for about another hour and then crashed, but I felt fine.

Fastforward to this morning..

I wake up and I fell like I have had my ass beat by Schwarznegger or Mike Tyson...

As soon as I get out of the bed I know something is not right because it even took effort to open my eyes all the way, and then every muscle and joint in my body feels like it needs some serious lubrication or something.

So has anyone else ever had this happen to them before or anything close? I know I definately did not receive even one millionth of the juice that went out the back door of the shop but I don't understand why I didn't feel a literal shock, not even something like getting zapped by a plug wire..

I probably should go to the Dr. but I'm a hard headed SOB and don't want to go wait in line and smell the Dr's office. I doubt there is anything they could do anyway??? Right??

Weird thing is that we get zapped by lightning on top of this granite hill all the time, I normally lose computers ever summer and TVs as well but it doesn't seemed to have killed anything in the shop this time. I definaltely need to have the balancer recalibrated though, because it sounded like it bounced off the base of it the loudest since its 7,000 pounds of steel filled with concrete..

Its not fun for damn sure!

Heck I can't even think straight now, typing this took serious concentration!

[RAR]

QUOTE (Headrage @ May 20 2005, 06:50 PM)

QUOTE (RAR @ May 20 2005, 06:48 PM) You were fortunate it sought ground through something other than you. The engine bay of a 912 with tires on it is actually a pretty good insulator. Tires + road - Good insulator

Well... not really. The tires are of little value as an insulator. Air is a good insulator too, and lightning passes through it with ease. He was in the engine bay of the car which means he was in all likelihood touching metal referenced to the outside of the vehicle. If he could have gotten to the inside of the car's cabin without touching door handles or the outside of the car he would probably be okay. The electricity would (probably) stay on the outside of the vehicle, tires or no tires. He also said he felt numb before he jumped into the bay. Anyway, I'm glad he's okay.