RIP Paul Walker - killed in a CGT's passenger seat

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by AKnowles

+ 1

As tragic as it is, same goes for personal accountability for getting in any car as a passenger. trust is great, but doesn't absolve you of the responsibility for your own actions. Meaning, Paul Walker would be alive today if he just said "No thanks".

I remember the controversy and limits when motorcycles were required to not exceed a specific horsepower per CC. Or even the requirement to were a helmet if you ride a motorcycle (I always did and felt anyone that didn't wear a helmet had no right to complain about the injury they received when their head hit the pavement). I don't see ANY difference in this than a high performance car without traction control.

Legislation and limits are not the answer. Personal responsibility is. Most people will not assume responsibility for their own actions. It's somethings else that is the cause, someone else is he cause, etc. For my view, it's simple, from the day you are born it's about choice. You make your choices and accept the responsibility for them.

It is not the manufacture's responsibility as they did not force you to buy it. You made a choice to buy it (whatever it is) and use it. Similar to the the old adage ... "It's not guns that kill people. It's people that kill people."

That's all true, those guys exercised free will in getting into a inherently dangerous car.

But this isn't an analog issue. You're certainly welcomed to put all of the blame on one party but I think that's a little too convenient for Porsche's sake. Everyone knows that high powered sports cars are dangerous, but does everyone know when they are in a yet higher level of danger because of safety compromises made for the sake of profit?

They exercised extremely poor judgment in selling this car as a production road car without taking some life-saving precautions. For starters they knew well ahead of the release that this car was not for novices yet no qualification was needed. They had every reason to believe that this car behaves like so many illegal for the street racing cars, and that sooner or later someone would turn the car into a heap. They recently acknowledged with the GT3 launch in press interviews that safety was prime motivation for moving to electric steering of high performance car, the old school steering fluid is highly flamable in the event of crash a simple spark could turn it into fireball. Yet they still chose to have the CGT fuel tank that close to the drivers, and still chose not to add some flavor of stability management or recalibration of the engine/throttle to make it more docile in green hands. This is a recipe for an accident that is survivable but the occupant(s) still get burned to death.

Did Paul Walker know he could be burned alive because of the peculiar crash-worthiness of this car? We'll never know.

[papasmurf]

people purchase these cars for attention and to some level, the inherent danger in driving them. They want them to feel as raw and visceral as possible. They will continue to do so whether or not they have the driving skills to pilot such a vehicle or not and I do not think it is up to the government or the car companies to decide if you have the "right stuff" to own an exotic of this level. Truth be told, lots of kit cars built by amateurs are probably just as dangerous and even more poorly engineered and I do not believe anyone is complaining about them. The car could probably use some form of traction/stability control but then it would be another computer guided missle like the GTR. The fact is the CGT is one of a dying breed of true super cars. How many times have people trash talked the F-40 because it is so primal...they do not because that is what makes it so unique.

[jdlmodelt]

So, what about Ferrari, Lamborgini, etc...they all fall into this high HP low car weight category and require an extremely experienced driver to stay out of trouble. Do we need to stop making all exotics? What about the guys hopping up the Nissans and Hondas, etc....It was an unfortunate accident.

I've responded to accidents at much slower speeds with fatalities. **************** happens sometimes. I don't understand why a whole bunch of Porsche owners think Porsche was irresponsible to make and sell this car? I'm quite sure motorcycle accidents are far more prevalent than exotic car accidents. I think people just start to think they are invincible and consequently, take risks that they can't control.

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

That's all true, those guys exercised free will in getting into a inherently dangerous car.

But this isn't an analog issue. You're certainly welcomed to put all of the blame on one party but I think that's a little too convenient for Porsche's sake. Everyone knows that high powered sports cars are dangerous, but does everyone know when they are in a yet higher level of danger because of safety compromises made for the sake of profit?

They exercised extremely poor judgment in selling this car as a production road car without taking some life-saving precautions. For starters they knew well ahead of the release that this car was not for novices yet no qualification was needed. They had every reason to believe that this car behaves like so many illegal for the street racing cars, and that sooner or later someone would turn the car into a heap. They recently acknowledged with the GT3 launch in press interviews that safety was prime motivation for moving to electric steering of high performance car, the old school steering fluid is highly flamable in the event of crash a simple spark could turn it into fireball. Yet they still chose to have the CGT fuel tank that close to the drivers, and still chose not to add some flavor of stability management or recalibration of the engine/throttle to make it more docile in green hands. This is a recipe for an accident that is survivable but the occupant(s) still get burned to death.

Did Paul Walker know he could be burned alive because of the peculiar crash-worthiness of this car? We'll never know.

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by jdlmodelt

So, what about Ferrari, Lamborgini, etc...they all fall into this high HP low car weight category and require an extremely experienced driver to stay out of trouble. Do we need to stop making all exotics? What about the guys hopping up the Nissans and Hondas, etc....It was an unfortunate accident.

I've responded to accidents at much slower speeds with fatalities. **************** happens sometimes. I don't understand why a whole bunch of Porsche owners think Porsche was irresponsible to make and sell this car? I'm quite sure motorcycle accidents are far more prevalent than exotic car accidents. I think people just start to think they are invincible and consequently, take risks that they can't control.

I tend to agree. Whatever happened to the fundamental concept of: If you do dumb, highly risky stuff, be prepared to pay dearly for the pretty predictable consequences. And I hate to say it (he seemed like he was a genuinely good guy), but this can even be applied to Walker. You know if he had said, "SLOW DOWN, this is dangerous!" the driver would have done so.