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

[Perfectlap]

Yep death trap for streets

Porsche That Killed Paul Walker 'Dangerous,' 'Needs Respect'

[Topless]

Originally Posted by Timco

Just read on another site 45mph estimated crash speed.....in a 15mph corner. Correction. 45mph corner...

Saw just now on news as well.

Paul Walker's car wasn't racing, source says; speed in curve may have been a factor - NBC News.com

Some newscaster is making stuff up about their speed. I'll wait for the final analysis but to cut the car in half on impact and hurl the starter motor 200 ft onto the roof of a building down range? They were moving fast. Very very fast. A CGT goes from 60-100mph in 3 seconds.

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by Topless

Some newscaster is making stuff up about their speed. I'll wait for the final analysis but to cut the car in half on impact and hurl the starter motor 200 ft onto the roof of a building down range? They were moving fast. Very very fast. A CGT goes from 60-100mph in 3 seconds.

Agreed.

1. The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters. (Only add this because my original message....well, you know ) Not to change the subject, but WHY does anyone CARE if a message is too short???????? What's wrong with a one word reply?

[Timco]

Mechanical failure??

Mechanical failure behind Paul Walker crash: report | New York Post

Of course this is coming from the buddies of the deceased........but interesting.

Stalling car? Trouble proned??? Figure out what was wrong with it??

I won't be buying from these guys......I'll go to the dealership first!!

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by Topless

I'll wait for the final analysis...

Which I hope includes examination of those notorious center locking wheels that have been known to come clean off the car. If the rears were hurled from the car before impact then they were presumably not consumed by the fire.

[Timco]

[woodsman]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

Which I hope includes examination of those notorious center locking wheels that have been known to come clean off the car. If the rears were hurled from the car before impact then they were presumably not consumed by the fire.

The tires are still on the car- all 4

Thanks for all these pics Timco- I now see that the rear section is bolted onto the passenger section. The bolts must have sheared off due to high lateral loads.

Frodo- the car stopped on the straight but the skid probably started mid way through the curve- a long lurid drift that wasn't caught in time. The inertia of the rear mass took control with the car spinning slowly about it's center axis while scrubbing very little speed off in the process.

[Timco]

Letter sent to dealerships re allowing anyone to drive this car....

[Timco]

[fusionist]

Unfortunately this car's name has forever changed to "Porsche Carrera GT, the car that Paul Walker died in"

...just as the 550 Spyder is always followed by "the car James Dean died in".

[KevinH1990]

Originally Posted by fusionist

Unfortunately this car's name has forever changed to "Porsche Carrera GT, the car that Paul Walker died in"

...just as the 550 Spyder is always followed by "the car James Dean died in".

I was wondering when someone was going to point that out.

[RawleyD]

Top Gear - Porsche Carrera GT VS Mercedes McLaren SLR - YouTube

Jeremy Clarkson has some very interesting (and frightening) things to say about the CGT on an older Top Gear.

Skip to 5:20~

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by RawleyD

Top Gear - Porsche Carrera GT VS Mercedes McLaren SLR - YouTube

Jeremy Clarkson has some very interesting (and frightening) things to say about the CGT on an older Top Gear.

Skip to 5:20~

Prophetic.

I guess there are some allusions to some sort of mechanical malfunction contributing to the disaster. But assuming they prove unfounded, I wonder what position Jerermy C's "Button of Death" (5:46) was at the time. Traction control disengaged I'd wager..

[Timco]

No fluid leak......
Porsche in Paul Walker crash didn't suffer massive fluid leak - latimes.com

[coreseller]

Originally Posted by Timco

Wow, that car is even more beautiful without the body imo.

Quick Question...Have you guys ever been in a RWD car with 600 plus hp, not to mention one weighing only 3,000 lbs ? The closest I've been is low to mid 500's at the rear wheels, those experiences were incredible and the cars imo were insane at anything approaching full throttle.

Like anything else I guess you could get use to it but the feeling of breaking traction at 80 plus mph is something I will never forget, the pucker factor was otherworldly. Granted these guys were "semipros or pros" if there is such a thing but simply losing control of such a beast would be my bet as to cause. Except for potential future litigation the cause is irrelevant to the two poor guys in it, RIP.

[Timco]

A friend of the men, Jim Torp, said the tragedy began to unfold when Walker and Rodas slowly pulled out of the driveway as a charity event was winding down.

After they came back around for another pass and went out of sight, he and another car enthusiast listened to the sounds of the Porsche's exhaust to gauge its speed.

"You could hear the exhaust -- they got on it a little bit -- and I heard two booms," Torp said.

That would be 45-100 in what, 3-5 seconds?

[TeamOxford]

Originally Posted by Frodo

Traction control disengaged I'd wager..

I thought the Carrera GT wasn't equipped with traction control.

Perhaps Nine8Six has a valid point when he states "...authorities be enforcing a "PILOT" license requirement to be allowed to drive those super sport cars exactly."

I have read several stories about drivers, some with good credentials, loosing control of the CGT. I've also read that when the Ferrari Enzo was first released, there was a plaque on the dash that read "You are not Michael Schumacher".

TO

[Topless]

Originally Posted by coreseller

Quick Question...Have you guys ever been in a RWD car with 600 plus hp, not to mention one weighing only 3,000 lbs ? The closest I've been is low to mid 500's at the rear wheels, those experiences were incredible and the cars imo were insane at anything approaching full throttle.

Yes. A 997 GT2RS at Pomona Fairplex race track. 3000lbs @620hp It had rained the night before so there was a lot of standing water on the track This wealthy driver had just bought the car and had never been on a track before. We were very cautious in the morning and as the track dried out gradually added throttle. The car was just stupid fast.

I really don't want to own one of these because I am certain that one moment of reckless abandon and it will end badly.

[Timco]

Autopsies have determined the official causes of death for Paul Walker and Roger Rodas. Rodas, the driver of the vehicle, died of multiple traumatic injuries; Walker, the passenger, died of the combined effects of traumatic and thermal injuries, the Los Angeles county coroner's office said Wednesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/04/us/walker-death-questions/

[Perfectlap]

I really hope they release that autopsy for independet review. The fact that the wheels were still attached, (I thought the rear half of the car had broken off) and "the tub" kept the occupants in the car, both were wearing belts and still strapped in, sounds like the impact was severe but not really like a 150+mph top speed collision at race track. Something really doesn't add up in this whole tragedy. An experienced driver, presumably familiar with the location, on a street that wasn't exactly straight, that led into a sharp turn? Something was wrong with that car beyond its inherent nervousness.

Short of either of the decesased sitting exactly where the light pole/tree ripped through the front of the car, this seems like an accident where injuries would be severe but not necessarily fatal. Seeing as how the corpses are at the point of needing dental record recognition I'm curious to hear an independent expert say how the they can claim that the impact itself would have been fatal. There's no debating a fire is always lethal however.

This all makes me think of the Roger Williamson F1 fatality in the early 70's. Those racing cars were not designed to distribute energy sustained by a driver at impact like this CGT and so many modern carbon fiber racing cars today. Williamson crashed heavily at Zandvoort on the high speed esses, was tossed around and around but was conscious and begging for help according to another driver David Purley who ran over, but the fuel tank exploded and engulfed the car in a huge fireball.

p.s.
I can't believe the level of hate in some of thoe article comments. They are swearing up and down with total certainty that this was nothing but 100% driver error. Before release of any of the facts for independent review.
I guess these are the times we live in.