Paul Walker from Fast and Furious died in a wreck...

Rip. Prayers for all involved.

Yet more proof that resonates in my mind whenever I drive on the street to take it easy. No matter how prepared or professional you are it takes mere seconds to alter your lie forever. Save it for the track.

I also thought the same thing about the high incidence rate of the CGT. Call me superstitious buy I wouldn't drive one above the speed limit on or off the track.

 

This is reported to be the last image of Walker just before the crash. It's from a video taken at AE.
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The silver thread was merged with an earlier thread.

 

I know the Porsche GT is considered a mid engine car, but are they swapping ends & getting wrecked like the 911 series is so bad to do? Remember reading a article in Autoweek some years back, that said nearly 70 percent of all 911 series Porsches that got wrecked, were in the back end, not from people running into them, but because they can swap ends so easily.

 

Sad the 8 year old saw it but I hope you didnt mean the son of Roger?

 

+1 A professional driver should know better than to take risks in the public domain.

 

+2

 

In pilot speak, "Knock It Off" i.e. cease maneuvering.

However, anyone can call Knock It Off - Safety Lessons from Jeff "Odie" Espenship

 

I'm sure there are security cameras around those warehouses that caught the event on video, it will surface soon enough.

 

Heres a pic of Roger the driver and the CGT
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RIP, sad news.

 

RIP

 

Lots of figure eight skid marks were already there. See Google maps street view at the junction of Hercules St and Constellation Rd.

 

guys, can we stop with the speculating?

Whether it happens on the road or on track, people make mistakes.

 

Incredibly sad. Great guy. RIP.

 

If anything good can come from this tragedy it might be that street racers think twice next time, recalling the end that met their role model.

Prayers to his family.

 

Before and after.
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I'd say this is not a mistake. Two people don't die from "mistakes." Driving recklessly and crashing is not a mistake. I don't know how you can think they were only doing the speed limit after looking at the wreckage. It is a tragedy though.

 

So, when Paul Walker's estate makes a wrongful death claim against the estate of the driver (and his insurance company): too bad "assumption of risk" will not be a viable defense.

A mega-payday awaits Paul's heirs.

That's just wrong.

 

With FF6 having earned the most of the entire series, and with 7 set to be released in the next year, I would imagine that his 15 year old daughter isn't much concerned with money, would give every penny, past and future, just to have her dad back...

 

Interesting...all the donut and burnout marks in the road at the right hand turn where the road name changes. I scrolled down the street view. Anyway...I drove my CGT today...with ultimate respect...

 

Just Jared - Paul Walker Died Alongside Former Racer Roger Rodas
Look at the pic not the comments...
People saying there will be lawsuits should get a clue... they were very close friends

 

What lamp post?

So many armchair speculators, quarterbacks and others concerned about threads being merged with the holy Silver posts. Pathetic.

RIP

 

This thread should be merged, and while I am reluctant to repost a long post in another section, this incredibly sad news may become a larger story that as exotic car owners we should reflect on:


When Heard Paul Walker died in a "high performance Porsche," I immediately thought "I bet it was a, Carrera GT.". Yes it was simply another driver driving over the limit on the street . And maybe this was a unique accident. But we seem to hear about more crashes with the CGT than any other. We need to seriously examine why?

It was bound to happen that a Supercar accident would involve the death of someone high profile person, and a huge spotlight gets turned on the liability of super cars. This may or may not be the story that has legs but its bound to happen. I think it is not simple enough to dismiss this as just another time when a driver ran out of talent. The driver in this accident was a very accomplished racing driver. So, we should ask why people seem to crash this car more than others. I think that as car enthusiasts we better to be able to explain this accident better than just dismissing it.

There are many manufacturers producing super cars, some with 700hp in the case of Ferrari and Lamborghini, and even 1,200 in the case of the Bugatti Veryon, (the CGT had 600), why is it the Carrera GT seems to be involved in more deadly crashes? The answer is that it is the only "modern Supercar" that was mass produced and marketed without significant traction control and without stability control or electronic aids. All modern supercars built today have traction control, stability control and drivers aids. Even some race cars, built for professional drivers, now have these aids. Supercar makers realize you are giving the keys of a very potent weapon to someone who may have very little training. For the purity of the driving experiments, Porsche left these type of safety systems off of the CGT. And as a result we see more crashes.

It's not enough for us to say that super cars have existed for a long time, and this is the same. It is true that the CGT descends from a long history of sports car manufacturers such as Ferrari, Porsche, Ford, and others that produce a limited production of thinly disguised race cars for the street. In the past sports car races mandated that cars had to be street legal. So manufactures would produce a limited number of disguised prototype race cars for the street. Legendary race cars were built this way like the Ferrari P3, the Ford GT40, in the 1990s the Ferrari F40. They had tremendous power, were capable of over 200 mph, and were designed to be maneuverable, and thus quickly change direction. (Read no safe under steer) They were cars that could obviously kill all but an extremely experienced racing driver when driven at the limit. With these cars it was obvious this was a potent machine. They were extremely load and difficult to drive. Going 40 mph felt like 100 mph. Driving one of these cars was intimidating, even down right scary. They were also sold to select customers who were known by the factory and in small batches.

By the time the CGT came out in 2005 things changed. Technology had progressed so much that Supercars were now easy to drive, even docile at low speeds. Yet they were now even faster. Modern Super cars like the CGT and the Ferrari Enzo could be driven like everyday cars, at 40 mph they drive like a Toyota Camry. You would not hesitate to give the keys to your grandmother to go to the grocery to buy milk. Literally anyone could drive these cars and use them like normal cars. The experience of driving a modern super car versus a vintage is in some ways opposite. Now instead of 40 mph feeling like 100, now 100 felt like 40. The danger that lurks beneath this extreme ability is that now they are designed and marketed not only to professional drivers, but to anyone who likes Sportscars. And the ease of driving the car at low speeds gives the illusion that you have total control over the cars abilities. Everything feels easy and in control, until you loose it. And it's very easy to fall into this trap of illusion of control. (Even for an experienced driver this illusion is apparent and can trap you). And when you loose it, you are now traveling at speeds that were unheard of years ago. These speeds are the domain of professional drivers who have the benefit of a roll cage, a helmet, a fire suit and a gas tank that was deposited for impact at high speeds.

Modern cars today have unprecedented amounts of power, but most have stability control systems. The CGT is not just fast sportscar. It is one of the fastest most extreme sportscars every built, it is faster than formula one cars not too long ago, and Porsche sold 1,270 for public roads. To do so without stability control and electronic safety aids is dangerous.

Is Porsche exposed to legal liability for Paul Walkers Death?

Not in my opinion. Does the fact that the Carrera GT did not have electronic stability control create legal liability for Paul Walkers Death? Probably not.
Yes they will be included in any lawsuit, but they will pay very little and it will be uneconomical and too risky to pursue Porsche. (Porsche is reported to have paid only 8% of a settlement in the well publicized CGT accident at the Ferrari Owners club event. ). Even though I believe the Porsche CGT is an unusually dangerous car in all but the most experienced hands, I doubt Porsche will have liability. A family of a person who died as a passenger of Carrera GT sued Porsche with this theory and rightfully settled with the, for a very small amount of fault. The car was being driven at high speeds on a racetrack and the consensus was that the driver was at fault. The passenger knew that they were getting into a car and driving to the limit. Doing this is called a voluntary Assumption of the Risk. In this case, the police have stated it was a one car accident and high speed was a factor in the crash. It appears that the driver lost control at high speed, and hit a pole or tree. There are rumors that there was burnouts and donuts in the area of the crash. If these turn out to be facts it will be a driver that will bel held solely at fault. The driver Roger Rodas was an experiemced race driver and involved with exotics, and thus likely knew about the had lack of stability control on the CGT. He had enough experience with cars to know he was taking a dangerous risk. It's an awful accident. I've been there and do that and gotten away with it, but its a sad, sad accident.

As an exotic car racer and as a product liability lawyer I wear different hats. I do hope that if there is anything that comes good of Paul Walker's death, its that driving extreme machines at death defying speeds on the street is OK in the movies, but we must not forget that the movies are not real. In real life this fast and furious conduct on the street has deadly consequences. And it's ironic that I think its terrible to glorify street racing.

And this said, I adore the CGT. It's an amazon machine. It just that for the reasons above it is very dangerous in the hands of anyone outside of someone extremely carful and with a lot of training. And even for a pro it is a car that can trick you. Ive produced and hosted over 30 Ferrari events over the last 15 years,and through all of it Ive learned a lot, and gotten away with worse conduct than this. Nowadays, if I promote driving a Supercar at the limit, I suggest buying a challenge car with a roll cage, and do it safely.

 

"Close friends" mean nothing to the heirs. I have seen close brothers and sisters torn apart by lawsuits when parents die.

You could be my brothers best friend in the world but if I thought your driving like a moron on city streets got him killed your family would be visited by my lawyers too. I knew and liked Roger via here as well, no way he was obeying any laws on that street. (IMHO)