slngsht Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 18 year old + 500 hp car... Bmw link http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=111454 Accident post http://www.ocala.com/article/20080126/BREAKING_NEWS/30775910/1368/googlesitemapnews Just yesterday my 8 year old was asking me if he can have the vette when he gets old enough :nonod: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Wow, I read all the posts on the M5 forum leading up to the accident. Kid was definately cocky. I was thinking the same thing about the new ZR Corvette, WAY too much power for the normal joe. Ever notice the number of Enzo's that are crashed. It's just too tempting for anyone, let alone an 18 yr old, not to try it out. I use to think I could drive until I started Autoxing. Now I know I can't. Autoxing has cured me of hard driving on the road. "A man's gotta know his limitations" Harry Callahan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted February 3, 2008 Author Share Posted February 3, 2008 Wow, I read all the posts on the M5 forum leading up to the accident. Kid was definately cocky. I was thinking the same thing about the new ZR Corvette, WAY too much power for the normal joe. Ever notice the number of Enzo's that are crashed. It's just too tempting for anyone, let alone an 18 yr old, not to try it out. I use to think I could drive until I started Autoxing. Now I know I can't. Autoxing has cured me of hard driving on the road. "A man's gotta know his limitations" Harry Callahan. Agree with all of the above. I know I got lucky a few times in my earlier days, and that was with cars that barely made over 100 hp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHKflyer52 Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 I use to think I could drive until I started Autoxing. Now I know I can't. Autoxing has cured me of hard driving on the road. "A man's gotta know his limitations" Harry Callahan. So ture. One of the best things that a parent can do for their kids when they get to the age of driving is to have them attend a professional driving school or an auto-x driving school or even a karting school. It teaches them a lot more than just how to drive a car. It shows them just how little they realy know about the mechanics of driving. Skip Barber has a great school and so dose Pro-Drive among others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxologist Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 this incident was feasted on in the subaru community, where the introduction of the WRX in 2001 and STi in 2003 at such a price point put too many in the hands of people who were not ready to handle them. Oh the stories! :_deadhorse: now tossing an M3/5/6 into juniors hands, with 4 other friends in tow, stacks the deck in darwin's favor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandurath Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 After the street racing and other stupid stuff I did as a kid, losing my lic was one of the better things to happen to me, even if I didnt know it at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7evin Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 My first car was a Porsche 914/4.... I still have it..... I don't how it survived me or me it.... I'm sure I would not be here to talk about it if it would have had 500 hp...... It amazes me how many people on the forum were all amazed that someone would allow an 18 yr old to have an M5, but some mommy or daddy thought it was ok...... Its like giving a 2 yr old a 44 mag. I'm sure that 200 feet was a hell of ride. My 23 yr old has asked to drive Mojo a couple of times.... I told him when he is 40 I'll think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solder_guy Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I'm reminded of a similar incident that happened in East Tenn about 10 years ago. A bunch of 18 yo tooling in Daddy's Mitsubishi supercar .. and wrapped it around a tree. All died of course. I was checking out the junkyard for parts when the junkyard owner took delight in showing me the two parts of the fractured car. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Such an avoidable tragedy. What were his parents thinking? Its bad enough that he died but his 4 friends too. So many needlessly broken hearts! I will bet that this ends up in court with lots of finger pointing. It sounds like it was well known that kids had multiple ways of sneaking onto the airport runway and seeing "what'll she do". So I am also betting that, out of the various culpable parties, the airport ends up being the biggest loser, money-wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted February 4, 2008 Author Share Posted February 4, 2008 Such an avoidable tragedy. What were his parents thinking? Its bad enough that he died but his 4 friends too. So many needlessly broken hearts! I will bet that this ends up in court with lots of finger pointing. It sounds like it was well known that kids had multiple ways of sneaking onto the airport runway and seeing "what'll she do". So I am also betting that, out of the various culpable parties, the airport ends up being the biggest loser, money-wise. Sounds like this "airport" was just a community runway. I do have to tell you that if I had access to a private air field, I'd have the top speed of both of my toys documented Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southwind25 Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 what were his parents thinking? they were NOT thinking... I had my share of stupid stunts, but they were all in the 100$-50 hp cars i could afford and had to work for...i learned respect pretty quick. I luckily put myself in an SCCA drivers school when i was younger..but it took several years and witnessing a few nasty crashes to to understand how this all works. Do i drive fast??..heck yes!!...but thats what track days are for,,,with safety equipment, sand pits, tire walls and run off room and paramedics and track workers. This kid was playing golf in a china shop...not a driving range. Now my oldest (18years old) desperatly wants to try out our new "7"... sure.. he can drive it to the end of the driveway...beyond that without me in the car and I will have his _____ on a platter. :smash: we hope a se7en "blat" never turns into a "Splat" for anyone here. Matter of fact...if any of us see some 18 year old kid asking this forum about driving a Se7en here. Lets get involved so we dont see a it all bent up on some news story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I disagree. I believe it's the kid, not the car. Unfortunately, I suspect this kid may just as well have killed himself and his friends with a 100 hp car, although having 500 hp undoubtedly made it easier for him to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted February 4, 2008 Author Share Posted February 4, 2008 All 18 year olds are not the same. There are those who are serving our country right now, and those who can't get out of bed or pull their pants up in the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian7 Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 " I use to think I could drive until I started Autoxing. Now I know I can't. Autoxing has cured me of hard driving on the road. " agreed, strenuously... :iagree: I make my living in auto racing, drive an (underpowered Kent ) 7 for fun, and a Hyundai Accent for winter/rainy... there's no justification in owning /driving these ridiculously over-powered street cars in todays environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xflow7 Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I disagree. I believe it's the kid, not the car. Unfortunately, I suspect this kid may just as well have killed himself and his friends with a 100 hp car, although having 500 hp undoubtedly made it easier for him to do so. I'm kind of inclined to agree. While no one can deny that such a car in the hands of an inexperienced driver is prone to end badly, my read of this incident is that the same could have happened in just about any mundane grocery-getter you'd like to mention. At the risk of being overly-speculative, to me it's fairly clear the kid and his friends went over to the airstrip to "see what she'll do" and got surprised by the end of the tarmac during a top speed run. Forget an M5; I'd wager a Camry would get up to a pretty good clip given a 1.5 mile run, certainly fast enough that stopping distance would be well greater than visible horizon. And I'd say that going off the end of an 85 foot elevated berm, the outcome wouldn't have depended too much on whether they left the road at 100mph or 50mph. The kid chose an unlit runway in the middle of the night to showboat, possibly after drinking. IMO, the car itself is a detail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomove Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Forget an M5; I'd wager a Camry would get up to a pretty good clip given a 1.5 mile run, certainly fast enough that stopping distance would be well greater than visible horizon. Well, maybe....but I bet few teens would take a Camry to the airstrip. No real point with such an "un-cool" car. I think it is the combination of the lure of trying out a high powered car, bragging to the peers and teenage immortality assumption. But while not on an airstrip, similar accidents happen all the time on regular roads with teens crammed in the before mentioned grocery-getter and the driver trying to show off, especially if a few drinks are involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderbrake Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I knew a guy whose kid was injured one night by driving off the end of the runway on a local airport. The guy tried to sue the city, because the runway at night was an "attractive nuisance" He never taught his kids anything remotely close to responsibility. A few years later, he died of a heart attack while trying to keep this same kid from stealing his car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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