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

Paul Walker dead at 40: 'Fast and Furious' star killed in fiery car crash - NY Daily News

He was a good person and a very cool actor. Makes me really sad to hear about this tragedy.

A good reminder to all that when you take your friend for a drive in your super cool & fast sport car, please and always ensure their safety before yours.

Absolutely, please be safe out there guys ESPECIALLY with friends or family in the passenger seat.

And that is not much of a tree. Doesn't take as much as some might think.

A grim reminder to us all. I'm just sick over this...terrible :(

A tragic accident and the lose of a good man. I hope his charitable work can keep moving forward.

Tragic. It looks like they were in a parking lot?

Racing on streets at high speed never pays...obstacles all over...you just never know. RIP.

RIP for sure - but I am just glad their stupidity didn't kill some innocent pedestrians or other motorists

I would not say- their stupidity,responsibility lies solely on the driver on this one.
Also another blackeye to all Porsche owner, owners like this guy,makes the rest of us look bad.

Anybody knows if carbon fiber monocoque and subframes are safe? Is this stuff (resin) so flammable to a point where there is no escape, or does it takes time to lit up. Great technology/material I agree but man it looks a bit nasty. No?

A sobering moment indeed. It looks like they hit a tree sideways at a very high speed and it cut the car in half. Fuel lines were severed and gas just poured out of the lines. No chance.

I'm shattered to see that a car can go fast nnuff to chop the car and kill the occupants "in a parking lot". Any of my cars need a highway long stretch to gain that much speed

When will the authorities be enforcing a "PILOT" license requirement to be allowed to drive those super sport cars exactly? I bet the ministers are already looking at ways to get this policy revised soon. It's sad.... I see plenty of smashed up supercars here in yards or leveled. Some are pretty badly twisted, its often traumatizing :(

Very Sad Indeed. Saw this posted on Rennlist last night, they're already up to 9 pages of posts dissecting the potential cause (pretty simple IMO; 600 plus hp in a 3000 lb. car and lack of driving talent / judgement), couple of guys even got into a heated debate where the mod had to intervene. :barf:

Anyone who's seen the pics of the car can easily tell it was MOVING, what a shame. RIP.

This reminds me of Jay Leno's adventure with a Carrera GT: 5 X CAR spin Jay Leno - YouTube

I'm sure its a great car, but the Carrera GT may be a little too much to handle for good but not great drivers. When you lose control you are dealing with the laws of physics and as someone pointed out there are a lot of objects out on the street that aren't very forgiving.

The maddening part of this is the passer bys videoing and no one attempting to help or put out fire. Some one confirming as they watched there are people in the car.

Driver is described as a professional Porsche race driver.

The driver's resume certainly seems to have quite a bit of legitimacy:

Pirelli World Challenge

Barring a mechanical failure (many on other boards were speculating on old / original OEM tires potentially contributing) it was plain that he was driving too fast for conditions. Supposedly happened less than a quarter mile from the charity event.

Very sad. Obviously going very fast for the car to get chopped up like that. I foresee a lawsuit against the estate of the driver. The whole thing is very ugly and a bit ironic being that the FF franchise is much about street racing.

It was a sad day when that happened. Condolences to them both.

My condolences to both families.

CF tubs are used in race cars and extremely safe, the only difference between street and track is the controlled environment of the track...so sad for this to happen

The first time I saw Leno lose control of that CGT I immediately thought of a Rennlist member who died at a Fontana track day in his CGT. Poor track marshaling put another car ahead of his CGT and while swerving to avoid the car he plowed the wall head on. The wreckage was devastating. That car was not engineered with the street or ovals in mind.

Poor marshaling should have produced a lousy lap time. Terrible but oh well. Over-speed for the surface you're driving on or the traffic you're in, be it track or city streets, is always the driver's decision / fault....both had a choice.

I hope I never face a moment where I realize (besides hitting a deer or such) that I've gone too fast and now can't possibly control my car for a few seconds. Can't even imaging going that fast in town. That's privilege taking over. Total disregard. Like he owned the street. Aerials show the road looks just like a race track.....

http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...pse325gevx.jpg
Shop and crash site are circled.
http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...psoh80bbzg.jpg

Local radio show just interviewed a guy that said he went to the crash site. He said the starter motor from the CGT was found 200 feet away on the second floor of a building where it had gone thru a window. Also said steering fluid had leaked & could have contributed to the loss of control.

Those tire marks look too narrow to be from a CGT. The police tread match will certainly confirm.

You don't have to be reckless to lose that car. Frankly I never thought that car was safe in any open environment. In the streets you're always near some static object and the average sports car driver isn't trained to catch a car like that once it breaks loose. With an improper alignment or any dampness or differing road materials it becomes a hazard at any speed above 40-50.

Apparently there's a witness who saw them still in the car before it blew up. So it's entirely possible they may have survived the crash but could not be extracted before being burned to death/suffocating.

And I'd be willing to wager the cause of the fire.

I don't doubt the tire marks are not from the GT necessarily, but shows a pattern of reckless driving on that city street.

As for speed, it's 35 on that road. I don't think its possible to lose control for any reason at 35. And let's say its industrial and give him some slack. 60 on that road wouldn't have caused all that. This is a very exceptionally extraordinary incident.

It's in a light industrial park, normally deserted on weekends & holidays. Apparently popular area for street racing etc.

My sympathy to the family and friends of the deceased. Rather than speculate on the cause(s), I'm waiting for some facts to come out of the investigation.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were speeding my point is that it's a very easy car to lose once it gets going. Unless you're in a flat wide open area one wrong correction can put you upside down, up a tree or plowed into a wall. There's speculation Walker may have jumped behind the wheel decided to open it up and lost control. If the engine went airborne then it was probably a high speed spin turned high speed rollover and the very flammable steering fluid ignited the explosion.

The local radio here ran a recorded interview Paul made about his new movie a week ago and then played the theme song :/ What Paul interviewed sounded genuine enthusiasm and was unbelievably touching given the circumstances. In fact it was unbearable. Brutal.

They also ran clips of FF and other of his hang-out shots here on the local CATV. Paul is and will be missed worldwide

Sad to see. Fun gone bad. The scale of the corner allows a lot of speed. To me it looks like the driver just lost the rear end. 80 MPH? The front wheels look like they're at full lock- nothing to do but wait and hope- at the point of no-return, lock up the brakes, look out the side window, select neutral. T-bone-- the worst case scenario for the passenger. A few feet either way and it could have been so different. Life is temporary- it really is and dangerous. Another senseless tragedy. Visit your local track regularly and always have something in reserve on the street.

They used 4 extinguishers and ran out of them right off the bat

Yeah, from everything I've heard and read, CGTs tend to be really treacherous when pushed to the limit...not that I'll ever get a chance to test that!

Truly a shame...40's way too young. Wonder exactly what they were doing? I gather there were no eye witnesses? (Other than after-the-fact?)

I believe it is the first Porsche Walter Röhrl highly recommended to have electronic safety measures installed as standard.

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

Saw just now on news as well.

http://t.nbcnews.com/entertainment/paul-walker-was-real-hero-daughter-heart-soul-his-charity-2D11683842

http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...psvmofdjq2.jpg

Red line, car path. Green arrow, 15mph corner.
http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...pse46902b7.jpg

These show two different directions. Took them from news sites.....

Bottom pic is direction. Top pic is section to right of loop. 35 mph is section where they crashed. 45 in other sections.

That's so weird. I've looked at the film footage and the aerial views. It looks to me like the crash occurred roughly in the middle of what is nearly a full 1/4 mile straightaway. How does one lose control of such a car on a straight stretch at 45 MPH??? :confused:

Tire blowout...