F430, it's what's for dinner
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Originally Posted by Vicious
It's nothing new for F-cars to burn up. A friend of mine had his go up in flames on the 241 toll road in SoCal... granted it was after a small colission that resulted in taking down a steel light pole, but w/e. The pics of it are up on wrecked exotics. Not much left to even tell what type of car it was.
He was also burned pretty bad, had to kick out the windshield to get out, etc.
He was also burned pretty bad, had to kick out the windshield to get out, etc.
Pity the fool that owned that puppy.
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Hi guys. First post from new member here. I've been lurking for quite some now, as I wasn't able to register because I only had a yahoo email account. I finally utilized my ISP provided account to register.
Anyway, I thought you might all be interested in more info on the burned up F430 at the start of this thread, as I was there when it happened.
I participated in a World Class Driving event (wcdriving.com) last August in Santa Barbara, CA, along with my brother. For those unfamiliar, WCD is an event where you can drive 5 or 6 exotic cars over a 200 mile or so route. We were part of the afternoon session. I drove the 430 for about 30 minutes through a canyon, and then switched with my brother. He jumped into the 430, and I into the 997 TT. We pulled out onto the road with the 430 directly in front of me, and after only about 3 minutes of driving on a somewhat crowded road with speeds of only about 45 mph, I saw fire coming from the area by the right exhaust tips. I started to freak out as the fire was growing, and my brother just kept driving as he hadn't seen it yet. He finally saw it once the flames were rising out of the engine compartment. He quickly pulled over, but had trouble getting out of the car, as he didn't know where the door handle was since it was his first time in this car. He did get out unharmed, and the car was completely engulfed in flame within 2 minutes. The fire department arived about five minutes later and extinguished the fire. The fireman had to ask us what type of car it was, as it was burned beyond recognition. He didn't believe us at first when we told him it as a Ferrari. Any way it was quite a spectacle, and it gathered quite a crowd, especially since the police did not close the road and people were allowed to drive right by the flaming car. Fireman said they knew it was started by an blown oil line, as there was oil on the road for about a mile before the car. My brother was unharmed, but was pretty shaken.
After it was all over, the rest of the group continued on and finished the session. My brother and I had to ride back to the hotel in a minivan. The employees for WCD were pretty apologetic, and refunded our money. I will say that before our session started, there was no safety briefing of any type, and no instruction given to any of us on how any of the 6 cars worked or were shifted or anything like that. We were just given keys and we followed one another out onto the public roads.
Last I heard, the insurance company was going after Ferrari of NA, saying it was a design flaw, and Ferrari was saying it was lack of maintenance. The insurance adjuster said he had been researching other F430s that have caugh on fire, and said there were several that suffered the same fate, and said it was a bad design as the oil line runs right over the exhaust manifold in this car, and can melt after prolonged aggressive driving.
Anyway, I thought you might all be interested in more info on the burned up F430 at the start of this thread, as I was there when it happened.
I participated in a World Class Driving event (wcdriving.com) last August in Santa Barbara, CA, along with my brother. For those unfamiliar, WCD is an event where you can drive 5 or 6 exotic cars over a 200 mile or so route. We were part of the afternoon session. I drove the 430 for about 30 minutes through a canyon, and then switched with my brother. He jumped into the 430, and I into the 997 TT. We pulled out onto the road with the 430 directly in front of me, and after only about 3 minutes of driving on a somewhat crowded road with speeds of only about 45 mph, I saw fire coming from the area by the right exhaust tips. I started to freak out as the fire was growing, and my brother just kept driving as he hadn't seen it yet. He finally saw it once the flames were rising out of the engine compartment. He quickly pulled over, but had trouble getting out of the car, as he didn't know where the door handle was since it was his first time in this car. He did get out unharmed, and the car was completely engulfed in flame within 2 minutes. The fire department arived about five minutes later and extinguished the fire. The fireman had to ask us what type of car it was, as it was burned beyond recognition. He didn't believe us at first when we told him it as a Ferrari. Any way it was quite a spectacle, and it gathered quite a crowd, especially since the police did not close the road and people were allowed to drive right by the flaming car. Fireman said they knew it was started by an blown oil line, as there was oil on the road for about a mile before the car. My brother was unharmed, but was pretty shaken.
After it was all over, the rest of the group continued on and finished the session. My brother and I had to ride back to the hotel in a minivan. The employees for WCD were pretty apologetic, and refunded our money. I will say that before our session started, there was no safety briefing of any type, and no instruction given to any of us on how any of the 6 cars worked or were shifted or anything like that. We were just given keys and we followed one another out onto the public roads.
Last I heard, the insurance company was going after Ferrari of NA, saying it was a design flaw, and Ferrari was saying it was lack of maintenance. The insurance adjuster said he had been researching other F430s that have caugh on fire, and said there were several that suffered the same fate, and said it was a bad design as the oil line runs right over the exhaust manifold in this car, and can melt after prolonged aggressive driving.
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Sigh... all those composites really do go up in smoke.
Really makes me VERY thankful my friend was able to kick the windshield out of his 360 and crawl out, only sustaining 40ish% of burns to his body.
Really makes me VERY thankful my friend was able to kick the windshield out of his 360 and crawl out, only sustaining 40ish% of burns to his body.
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**UPDATE**
I was subpoenaed as a material witness in the lawsuit that has been going on between the insurance company that insured the F430, and paid out $250K as a result of the fire, and Ferrari. It is scheduled to go to trial next month. Ugh.
The fire happened 2.5 years ago. I am surprised this is still going on. I believe the insurance company claims that there is a design flaw in this model as to how and where the oil lines are routed through engine compartment. They maintain that it is too close to the exhaust manifold and is susceptible to failure due to heat exposure when the car is driven hard for extended periods. Ferrari maintains that there is no design flaw in this car, and that the fire was a result of poor/neglected maintenance.
Now I have to spend time dealing with this and going to court to testify etc... I wonder if I need my own legal advice on this.
I was subpoenaed as a material witness in the lawsuit that has been going on between the insurance company that insured the F430, and paid out $250K as a result of the fire, and Ferrari. It is scheduled to go to trial next month. Ugh.
The fire happened 2.5 years ago. I am surprised this is still going on. I believe the insurance company claims that there is a design flaw in this model as to how and where the oil lines are routed through engine compartment. They maintain that it is too close to the exhaust manifold and is susceptible to failure due to heat exposure when the car is driven hard for extended periods. Ferrari maintains that there is no design flaw in this car, and that the fire was a result of poor/neglected maintenance.
Now I have to spend time dealing with this and going to court to testify etc... I wonder if I need my own legal advice on this.
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If the insurance company realizes that they won`t be successful with blaming Ferrari for the fire,I guess the next logical step would be to turn against you and accuse you of recklessly driving and overstressing crucial parts of the car...
just a guess..
just a guess..