2 Ferrari and motorcycle crash.

[rmani]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...er_head-o.html

RIP to the motorcycle rider. As a fellow rider it's sad to see an innocent guy killed.

[Zack]

RIP to the motorcyclist.

Supposedly, the 19 year old driver's "mishap" started this chain of events.
Sad thing is, other driver (the 28 year old driver of the red Ferrari) will have to live with the knowledge that he swerved across the double yellow and fatally struck a motorcyclist.

Tragic.

[rmani]

interesting too that they were rentals for gotham. i know the owner is on these boards or at least used to be quite a bit.

[classic308]

saw this at last night on TV...first the "Death Race" a few weeks ago and now this....sad. Bike looked like a Ducati but it was cut in 2...sad for all involved....

[ETL330]

Gotham has had some bad publicity between this and last year when a group of their renters were caught driving aggressively someplace in Westchester or upstate NY. Gotham backed their customers in public view back then, but these incidents really can't be so great for Gotham's insurance rates. Hopefully this was truly an accident and not caused by recklessness but we have to wonder how long Gotham will be able to hang on as their insurance rates undoubtedly skyrocket.

[Blackbird4life]

Bad events like this hurt the company, I just wondered if companies are responsible for posting their own mistakes? I see companies sweep bad news under the rug.....it's human nature but does it hurt or heal the company over time business wise?

[ETL330]

Originally Posted by Blackbird4life

Bad events like this hurt the company, I just wondered if companies are responsible for posting their own mistakes? I see companies sweep bad news under the rug.....it's human nature but does it hurt or heal the company over time business wise?

I'm a subscriber to the "honesty is the best policy" thought process. It may hurt in the short run, but in the long run it is better for it to have been out there before something catastrophic happens and the floodgates of bad press open. A simple comparison i like to draw is between Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens. Pettitte told the truth about his use of steroids and it hasn't really tarnished his reputation while Clemens' will forever be synonymous with the steroid era of baseball because he lied and got caught. While it may not be best to openly promote your mistakes and shortcomings, it's another to deny them when they're brought to the public light.

[wingfeather]

19 years old, driving a new Ferrari? Recipe for disaster. Heart goes out to the innocent guy just going to work

[AJ]

The latest in a long line of accidents involving rentals from Gotham Dream Cars...

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

RIP

[njcycleguy]

It's truly a shame and a tragedy. But the way Gotham is run, it was bound to happen. I went on their "dream car" tour a few years back. Although I heard lots of good things about these guys, I was far from impressed and truly wondered how people came to these conclusions.

They had (condescending) twenty-somethings running the show and the cars were in rough shape (every car we drove had some sort of problem - the 430 coupe had a SERVICE light on and SLOW DOWN would come on every now again). Their response, when it was brought up at a stop, was "it wouldn't be a Ferrari if it didn't say SERVICE". Seriously? Some of the cars wouldn't go into Reverse, others had seats stuck in the forward position, still others had dead batteries and had to be kept running at each stop. The Gallardo we drove had something like 70k miles on it and had a nasty shimmy at speed.

The Gallardo spyder in the post above appears to be on or near the Palisades Parkway where they take everyone on their tour - near Bear Mountain, NY - where the lead car, in a Subaru or something, actually drives very aggressively in order for you to "keep up". One guy on the tour wasn't willing to drive that quickly and actually became separated from the group.

One thing they excel at is marketing - I saw something on CNN about them only a few weeks ago about their latest gimmick, the "drive a Ferrari for $100" around the Meadowlands parking lot in an autocross course, which is apparently where these guys were headed.

Aggressive driving + youth/inexperience + supercars = disaster. It's just unfortunate that this disaster cost an innocent victim his life.

[ETL330]

Originally Posted by njcycleguy

It's truly a shame and a tragedy. But the way Gotham is run, it was bound to happen. I went on their "dream car" tour a few years back. Although I heard lots of good things about these guys, I was far from impressed and truly wondered how people came to these conclusions.

They had (condescending) twenty-somethings running the show and the cars were in rough shape (every car we drove had some sort of problem - the 430 coupe had a SERVICE light on and SLOW DOWN would come on every now again). Their response, when it was brought up at a stop, was "it wouldn't be a Ferrari if it didn't say SERVICE". Seriously? Some of the cars wouldn't go into Reverse, others had seats stuck in the forward position, still others had dead batteries and had to be kept running at each stop. The Gallardo we drove had something like 70k miles on it and had a nasty shimmy at speed.

Those accidents in the post above appears to be where they take everyone on their tour - up to Bear Mountain, NY - where the lead car, in a Subaru or something, actually drives very aggressively in order for you to "keep up". One guy on the tour wasn't willing to drive that quickly and actually became separated from the group.

One thing they excel at is marketing - I saw something on CNN about them only a few weeks ago about their latest gimmick, the "drive a Ferrari for $100" around the Meadowlands parking lot in an autocross course, which is apparently where these guys were headed.

Aggressive driving + youth/inexperience + supercars = disaster. It's just unfortunate that this disaster cost an innocent victim his life.

It's also worth mentioning that the guy behind the Superspeeders dvds and youtube videos is CEO or COO of Gotham. I guess we couldn't expect much leadership who makes a living putting lives in danger on public roadways.

[amenasce]

Originally Posted by AJ

The latest in a long line of accidents involving rentals from Gotham Dream Cars...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZLbjyl20ko

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKp51x4ARc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oKj5KAIizc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHcKoYNR_-E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55okojHB7Rg

RIP

Although i dont know Gotham Dream Cars, these accidents are caused by their clients so it's not really relevant here.

[ETL330]

Originally Posted by amenasce

Although i dont know Gotham Dream Cars, these accidents are caused by their clients so it's not really relevant here.

I'm going to have to disagree with you. The behavior of the clients, especially on the dream car tours which are guided by Gotham, is a direct result of the leadership at Gotham. These new closed course events were a step in the right direction for Gotham. After this many crashes in such a short period of time they really needed to start taking steps towards controlling their clients behaviors. By putting drivers behind such powerful machines they have at least some responsibility to the general public to ensure that these machines won't be operated recklessly.

[lor2435]

Originally Posted by ETL330

It's also worth mentioning that the guy behind the Superspeeders dvds and youtube videos is CEO or COO of Gotham. I guess we couldn't expect much leadership who makes a living putting lives in danger on public roadways.

From the bio of Rob at superspeeders and the brother of one of the men arrested:
http://www.superspeeders.com/bios/rob_ferretti

As Super Speeders creator, what is your response to the people who brand you as a danger to the public?
I didn't invent speeding, i just document it. People are always looking for someone to blame to address their fears in the world. They feel that personifying and identifying the problem is the first step to making it go away so they can sleep better at night. Sorry to say speeding has and will continue to happen whether or not I make DVDs about it. Speeding isn't an underground movement of back alley renegades adjusting cars to travel 120mph...Virtually every car produced today is designed to operate at 100mph+, as long as they do people will continue to drive at the cars capable speeds. Unfortunately you have to hold each INDIVIDUAL driver accountable for his or her actions.

Speeding aside do you believe the driving you feature in your DVDs is dangerous?
I believe there is an inherent risk to living on this planet. You could get struck by lightening if you walk outside your house in a storm. You could get struck by a stray bullet walking down the street. You could be a victim of a violent crime. You could get killed playing baseball, football, golf, soccer, etc. You can get hit by a train crossing the railroad tracks. You could die in a plane crash. All of these are possibilities. You can live your life in fear of what may happen or you can enjoy life and accept that something bad can happen at any moment, however unlikely those options are. Super Speeders represents trained drivers in super performance cars navigating through the world of everybody else. Where as there is always a possibility of something bad happening on the road, fears would be much better directed at more prevalent dangers. Drunk driving, tired driving, distracted driving, poorly maintained vehicles, under-qualified drivers, vehicles being pushed beyond their limits (excessive speed of trucks, vans, buses, etc.) Mostly what you have to fear is poor judgment, most accidents are not the fault of the vehicle, they are a result of the driver who is not aware of their vehicles limitations or how to handle their vehicle in a specific situation. Where its easy to fear sports cars wizzing down the highways because they are exceeding the ridiculously low speed limits 99.99% of accidents are not a result of a driver who is focused on their surrounds and enjoying their car. Google it.

[Zack]

You can couch anything in reasonable sounding statements. They do not reflect the reality...and I am sure he would change his tune if some "innocent speeder" took his child's life "without meaning to" or whatever the convenient excuse of the day happens to be. A moron with a silver tongue is still a moron.

[lotustt]

This morning on the news I heard about this terrible incident. It was reported that the 2 drivers were employee's of Gotham and I remember the reporter saying one driver had the last name of Ferretti

[staatsof]

They speed in a pack regularly on the Palisades Parkway? Really?

That sounds hard to do and pretty stupid.

If these guys are this bad why are they still in operation?

[Blackbird4life]

I'm sure the positives outweigh the negatives regarding GDC, my business instincts just tells me keeping a clean image with these type of events will hurt in the long run. A hint of vulnerability regarding exotics during their quest of making customers happy goes a long way.

[smooth]

Originally Posted by staatsof

They speed in a pack regularly on the Palisades Parkway? Really?

That sounds hard to do and pretty stupid.

If these guys are this bad why are they still in operation?

How hard/how stupid ? ..... So "stupid", that they even post their dumb videos on YouTube !! Einsteins, they are not !!
That company will be toast once the lawsuits rake it over the coals. Plus, now the drivers (involved in the accident) have now been criminally charged with "death by auto".
So ..... It looks like they are 'bad' !!
Condolences to the Lenge family.

[captglen]

I just heard about this, and it is SAD SAD SAD