Paging Higgins : Porsche accident

[Ayles]

This has been happening since the dawn of the automobile.

My father in law built and raced this car in the early 80s. 72 (oil door) with a turbo engine swap. Within a day or two of selling the new owner wrapped it around a tree.

[Dantilla]

We are all human, and even the brightest humans occasionally make mistakes.

It is unfortunate that a momentary lapse of judgment will have long lasting consequences.

[GH85Carrera]

On a trip to Eureka Springs we went the long way just to go up "The Pig Trail" from I-40. A 3 wheel Harley was in front of us, and I was muttering under my breath about how slow he was going and ruining the fun of the 50 MPH legal limit very curvy road. After just a few turns he went across the road, and off the road, and the trike rolled over onto him. Several of us stopped, and ran over to him. We shut off the engine and lifted it up enough to help him get out from under it. We did not want to pull on him and his back was hurt. We called 911 and the cops arrived quickly to help block the road and direct traffic. The ambulance got there and carefully loaded him up and took him to the hospital. We helped the tow truck driver roll in forward to be on the wheels. Then we left.

I did tell the cop he was not going fast, but evidently to fast for his skills.

[1990C4S]

I will admit that the stability control saved me on my brother's 2015 911. It was too quiet, too composed, and too easy to get into trouble.

He got out and said, 'You're a better driver than me, I never drive it that hard', and I thought 'I will never drive it that hard again either'. He never knew the stability control saved me.

[fastfredracing]

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/2ad30077-b4fb-4b59-8f3e-bef6afff7f8c
Glad everybody was o.k.

[aschen]

Man that sucks, glad the driver is OK, spectacular end to the life of a beautiful car.

GT3RS has huge and active downforce, user adjustable diffs and dampers and at least cup 2 tires I assume.

There is no reasonably safe way to approach its limits on public roads. I think Id rather be drive a 150hp miata on those tight rural roads.

[Superman]

wrecking a low-performance car is survivable considerably more often than wrecking a car like this one. This driver was lucky to survive and I am glad he did, but he fully deserves the clown label. Public roads are not ideal places for horseplay (trees, curbs, poles, animals, people, rivers, oncoming traffic....) and as mentioned here, he musta been traveling at a mighty irresponsible speed. "What was he thinking" is an easy question to answer here. He was not.

[Rusty Heap]

Geez, Jeff, can't I be an honorary R-Gruppe member serving the Knights at the Round Table food and drink as they swirl their Grog and eat raw meat wiping their mouth on their rippled with muscle forearms?

Invite me next time and I'll run the Gauntlet of Paddles like Kevin Bacon, "Thank you Sir may I have another"........

[pmax]

Originally Posted by Superman

...


"What was he thinking"


...

[Jeff Higgins]

Nope. He was going the other way, southbound down a long hill on 396th and over cooked this right hand turn, heading towards the bridge, not away from the bridge.

[Jeff Higgins]

He was trying to make the right from 396th to westbound SE Reinig Road.

[jhynesrockmtn]

I saw a new GT3RS at the last dealership cars and coffee in Spokane. Drove my 356 there. Complete opposites I suppose. Looking at it I remember thinking the only place I would use something like that is the track.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by jhynesrockmtn

thinking the only place I would use something like that is the track.

My thoughts too.

I'm an old man and my SC and I are about the right speed for eachother.

[MMARSH]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

We are all human, and even the brightest humans occasionally make mistakes.

It is unfortunate that a momentary lapse of judgment will have long lasting consequences.

Not here. Everyone here always exercises the very best judgment and all are excellent drivers......oh where is that green font....

[pwd72s]

"A man's got to know his limitations."- Dirty Harry

[Jeff Higgins]

"But for the grace of God..."

Anyone driving these kinds of cars has had their "moments", yours truly included. I've not always exercised my best judgement, and have gotten away with some pretty bone headed stunts over the years. My guardian angel has worked overtime, and probably needs a raise.

Age, and all of those past close calls have certainly served to temper my behavior and improve my judgement. While I thank God that I have never had to "pay the price" as this poor guy did, I'm hoping that past lessons learned might just see me through from this point forward, until I'm simply too old for this kind of nonsense anyway.

There is a saying in aviation that goes something like "you will never survive making every conceivable mistake yourself. It's best you learn from the mistakes of others". I hope I've learned something from this poor guy's misfortune. I hope others have as well. That way at least some good can come from it. He kinda "took one for the team", so let's not squander that...

[Zeke]

The pavement looks damp.

[pmax]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

He was trying to make the right from 396th to westbound SE Reinig Road.

[DonDavis]

That really stinks. Such a bummer.

One of the reasons I sold my '72 was on one of my last track days I misjudged a corner and went off track doing two 360s. It was Phx Firebird East track. Huge area, very flat and lots and lots of runoff. All dirt and gravel.

My interior was still out, only sport seats and new regular seat belts. I was wearing a helmet.
Brakes were stock, but refreshed and running street pads.

On the drive home I knew I was playing with fire on the track.

It was decision time...make it exponentially safer on the track by investing $$ and install all the right equipment as well as real dedicated track time.

Or keep it more street-ish and dial it way, way down on the track.

After much hand wringing, I decided to sell and play racecar driver later. That was 14 years ago. Miss the car, but I don't regret the sale.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by pmax

Yup. The sharp corner you drew where he careens left into the water is where he hit the tree. It's hard to say if he spun or simply understeered, or if he was going backwards when he hit that tree, and it flipped the car around to where it went nose first.

He took a lot of bark off a second, smaller tree as well, to the left of the big one. There was a third, much smaller tree tipped over into the river, even further to the left of the big tree. As damaged as the rear of the car is, it looks like he might have backed it into those trees. Hard to say.

There is enough room to have done at least one full 360, if not two. The lane he should have been in has a pretty good bank, or positive camber to it (visible in the third picture I posted), but there is one hell of a crown, with the oncoming lane being steeply off-camber. Going over that centerline would have abruptly unweighted the car. That might be what started the whole thing.

It was raining when we went up there, and it was raining, or at least wet, when this happened. No skid marks to help decipher how it all happened.