If you don't value your own life, no respect necessary when you off yourself.

 

I do not have the desire or authority to judge anyone else's actions. What I will throw out there for everyone to think about is this, most of the mistakes I have made behind the wheel directly were attributed to me thinking I was better than I was. These cars can inspire allot of confidence (most of it false) even in a so so driver.


Taking some driving instruction has helped make me a better and safer driver. I fully realize that when things go wrong, behind the wheel. they go wrong fast. That is not the time to figure it out. Your best bet in getting out of those situations is to never get into them to start with. some of this comes from maturity and some comes from being lucky enough to walk away from some previous bad decisions.


I hope many reading this can learn from others mistakes and spare their wallet, or worse yet, their loved ones the pain I have seen the survivors endure.

 

One summer when home from college I talked my father into getting me a used Pontiac GTO with a 4-speed Hurst shifter. This was basically the American Hot Rod of the time. I enjoyed it all summer.


At the end of the summer I was getting ready to head back to school, where I planned to impress my fraternity brothers with my car, when I went out for the evening with my friends.


When I got home the GTO was gone and in its place was an older, kind flat grey, Volkswagon, not a Beatle but some sort of fastback style. It was not a cool car at all.


My Dad was pretty smart.

 

Don't sound so pompus. Someone thinks they're a better driver than they are (I'm sure a lot of us are guilty of this), and slipped up. That automatically means they don't value their life? Now if there was drinking or something involved, that's a different story. We DONT know what exactly happened. We CANT pass judgment on the situation as if were a bunch of pretentious know it all's.

Just the other day I was driving just 5-7 mph above the speed limit (in normal mode still). No harm in that. I hit a large pot hole in a corner and nearly lost control. I'm sure if I hit something and died, police would be saying speed was a major factor, where I'm sure you would be commenting that I didn't value my life and I deserved to die. I just don't find that to be true.

 

Before doing autox events, I too felt Mario Andretti and I were kindred spirits. Then you get on the track and see your "skills" and realize, well...maybe Andretti and I aren't so kindred and I should stick to my day job. As mentioned here, these amazing sportscars make us feel like a F1 driver, when in fact, we don't possess a fraction of their skill.

So, I made it a rule to never drive any vehicle on the streets the way it was intended to be driven on a track. On the track I have plenty of time to react and if I spin out, it's usually in a safe area where I won't run the risk of killing anyone.

As sad as it is for anyone to lose their life in these cars, I do agree that if someone is found to be negligent in their death in these cars, why should they be honored? Where's the honor in leaving behind their tragedy for others to live with and clean up? A few seconds of bliss, for a lifetime of misery. Nothing to be proud of.

 

^^ this. Says it all, with no hate and with good common sense.

BTW: I crashed after hitting an oil spill at 120mph two months ago. It was at a track, wearing a helmet and Hans, in a car equipped with necessary safety gear. The gravel pit slowed me down and, unlike the car, I did not get the tiniest scratch. Had it happened on an open road, the outcome would have been totally different and I might have injured or killed somebody else. I take my kids to the track and the older one started to participate to DE's. When you can have your adrenaline fix in a safe and controlled environment, you are a lot more reasonable on the road... and a much better driver.
I do not remember what make 'offered' it in the past, but when you bought one of their fast cars, you could go to one of their facilities to get a basic training. This can be a good idea too.

 

In my experience I have found just the opposite Suzy. Pro racecar drivers that I have known (and I have known quite a few- ) are usually quite safe drivers on public streets. They get their jollies on the track and there is no need for them to act out on public roads.

 

BMW @S.C. factory/track if your bought, in my case, an M5. One day safety class; one day factory tour & road trip. Instructors were race drivers from different circuits. The safety class (braking, sudden lane change, skid pad, etc.) was eye opening in a personal and learning sense. They also talked about the differences they saw between adults and teenagers that they had on the track. In most cases the teenagers significantly underestimated distances and speed and thus the timing for braking and/or turning. In some of the cases the difference between the adult and the teenager was two to three sedan car lengths. And that was with the braking power of a BMW M or other car that had excellent ABS and braking power.

 

here was a video released following the crash........ the damage on the front doesn't look bad but rear passenger side appears to have went through the guardrail.






http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/2-Kille...235711131.html

 

Being pompous? Being pompous is driving too fast into a guardrail and bouncing across all lanes of traffic to go through another guardrail. That's a lot of arrogance to go that fast. And yes, I am a great driver with great training, and therefore you won't see me driving like this on public streets. I do have a lot of confidence in my driving, but I don't with everyone else's. Therefore, I only drive fast on the track, where the chances are much greater that other drivers have better driving skills.

 

Track is the way to go, used to drive fast in the streets, now I'm mr. Right lane. Once you do 140 lap after lap, public roads are just not that fun.

 

Hugely disappointed to read such unkind words in this otherwise friendly and supportive forum. Nobody condones recklessness on the public roads, for obvious reasons. But do we know for sure that this driver was reckless? We do not. The appropriate response is therefore one of sadness at the loss of life.

 

Thank you! I couldn't agree more.

 

This is the person everyone is having so much fun criticizing for his driving errors that killed him and his friend. He could have been any one of us at one time or another. I doubt seriously there isn't a single one of us forum members who hasn't done something stupid behind the wheel at least once in their life.

 

Just following up on the sad event.

Has any further information been released?
I was also wondering what the procedure is if the cause "may" point to a mechanical fault. Is the initial info made public or only once proven?