Paul Walker Died in 'Most Dangerous Car on the Road'

Newser ^ | 12/03/2013 | By Evann Gastaldo

[Responsibility2nd]

Even professional drivers are wary of Porsche Carrera GT

(Newser) – Paul Walker died in a Porsche Carrera GT, a car that a former manager at the car company has called "crazy" and "the most dangerous car on the road," Jalopnik reports. And that's not the only eerie quote the site rounded up: A well-known Porsche test driver said the car was the first to actually scare him, and a Top Gear presenter noted, "You need to be awake to drive this car fast." It's been involved in a number of other headline-making incidents, including a fatal crash at the California Speedway. More on the car and Walker's crash:
 

• The car is so sensitive to road conditions, Porsche sent a memo to dealers before it went on sale in 2004 warning that the Carrera GT is "as close to a racecar as we will ever get," and thus "has all the disadvantages of a racecar"—so dealers shouldn't let just anybody drive it. The memo specifically notes that the car can't even drive over a Foster's beer can on its side without being damaged, and TMZ notes that the road where the crash occurred is covered in reflective dots.
• Meanwhile, some fans aren't exactly mourning Walker safely: Police have been sent to the crash site so they can ask fans to stop burning rubber, spinning their tires, and doing something called a "drifting maneuver" that involves purposely losing traction in the back tires so they slide all over the place, Fox News reports.
• The neighborhood where Walker died is a popular place for street racing, but authorities are now saying that though speed was likely a factor in the crash, eyewitnesses say Rodas and Walker were "traveling alone" at the time, Fox adds.
• A curve may also be a factor: A source tells NBC News the car was only traveling around 45mph when it crashed, but it was at a curve where the speed limit drops to 15mph.
• One thing is clear: The sports car community considered Walker one of its own, the Los Angeles Times reports, and he liked to go fast: In a three-year period, he'd gotten five speeding tickets, Radar reports.

 

[BenLurkin]

Oh, it happens. I know of several cases where the occupants were trapped in the wreckage — but fully conscious (and talking) up to the point the fire killed them.

[TruthWillWin]

James Dean died crashing his 1955 Porsche Speedster.

[bluetick]

Especially when experiencing the physics of trailing throttle oversteer.

[CivilWarBrewing]

The raised 'road dots' might prove a factor in the loss of control. This Carrera has hardly any road clearance and really shouldn't be anyplace other than a clean race track.

It's clear that the car hit the tree at a high rate of speed. A stuck throttle can be overcome by bearing down on the clutch but this car has so much power the driver might not have reacted quick enough to avoid a spin-out, thus striking a pole and tree.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

Drifting, as defined today, is VERY different from a four-wheel drift. A four-wheel drift involves a lot less slip angle than today’s drifting, and back in the days of hard bias-ply tires and no wings you had to do it to turn fast laps.

[Responsibility2nd]

New thread just posted....

 

Mechanical failure behind Paul Walker crash: report
NY POST ^ | December 2, 2013 | 10:30am | By Bob Fredericks
 

Posted on Tuesday, December 03, 2013 12:21:13 PM by Red Badger

The trouble-prone Porsche that “Fast & Furious” star Paul Walker was riding in when he died in a crash suffered a mechanical failure that was likely caused by a power steering fluid leak, a new report said Monday.

 

more...

emphasis mine.

[nascarnation]

there’s no reason anyone should die at those speeds.

It looks to me like they impacted a relatively small diameter well rooted tree. It cut through the chassis like a knife.

[Vendome]

Sweet Ride!

[Kartographer]

"Just cause a man is a carpenter it don't make him Jesus."

[Secret Agent Man]

fishtailing is something that occurs when the back end starts weaving as you’re driving on the road.

drifting is when you have the brakes applied, you aren’t driving forward, and the back end loses traction and the tires spin, and you go in an arc pivoting around the front of the car that is stationary/pivot point.

[BerryDingle]

Mechanical failure.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3097767/posts

[cripplecreek]

Jeremy Clarkson Top Gear review.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE_WqdKbTvY

[nascarnation]

Drifting is power-on oversteer (assuming rwd).
Think post checkered flag donuts.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

According to the Wiki article on the Carrera GT, it was initially designed as a sports-racing prototype. Performance-wise, it is probably the least compromised car they have ever produced for public consumption.

[dfwgator]

[rlmorel]

"...The fact that the car burst into flames is bizarre. That usually only happens in the movies..."

Happens in wartime, too...

[rlmorel]

Damn you dfwgator! I was 65 seconds too late!!!!!!!

[Secret Agent Man]

yeah i got messed up. neither one is fishtailing though.

[cripplecreek]

The Stig on Top Gear spun it around and Clarkson said if you make a mistake it bites your head off.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

They could have made that even more preposterous by rear-ending a Pinto wagon (which was not affected by the recall).