Carerra GT Driver & pass killed at Ca. Speedway

[emcon5]

Originally posted by Brad Roberts
the parade lap

Parade Lap? This guy killed himself and his passenger on a PARADE LAP?

[addictionMS]

this follows on the heals of two getting killed during "parade" laps at Buttonwillows last year,

jim

[TerryH]

Parade laps can be much more than meets the eye. My car hit 114 mph during the "lead and follow" at Fontana last year. I did not lay back and try to get a run either. I was doing all I could just to keep up with the torrid pace set by a pace TRUCK.

The flyer/waiver we signed said that 65-70mph was maximum.

[tshih]

Yes, it's a tragedy and condolenses to the families.

Nick Cage must need more lessons. At least he can afford his fubars.

The trouble with track events with inexperience drivers armed with supercars is dangerous outcomes. PCA DE events in our region NNJR are quite forcefully regulated with good results. Wackos out of control are sent packing before incidents happen. Beware the Black flag it is not used sparingly. There should always be a track out person at such places in the track and professional flaggers to control traffic and merging at the beginning and end of each run groups. The FOC must be pretty loosely organised.

[motion]

I hit 125 on the parade lap at Fontana last year. Everyone was haulin.

[Craig 930 RS]

We had a PCA parade lap at Pacific Raceways during a break in a Vintage Racing event in '99 or '00 where everyone would stop out of sight at the exit of turn 2 and take turns haulin' ass through the rest of the course on cold tires - with a passenger, usually a kid or Mom/Dad.

Surprised the heck outta me -

[Carrera3.5L]

Originally posted by motion
I hit 125 on the parade lap at Fontana last year. Everyone was haulin.

Yah, no kidding, this could have been me not too long ago. Scary thing is I could've gone faster but figured this was fast enough considering no helmet and safety equipment.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?threadid=215511&highlight=exAlex+Job

Ralph

[Joe Bob]

125 on a parade lap and the directive was to keep it at 70ish....hmmm, don't make it right.

[Brad Roberts]

The person driving the vehicle who was behind him (Ferrari Stradale) just called us and told us what happened from his view. He was first on the scene. He said the GT past him at over 150mph as they eased onto the straigh a way and was traveling close to 165mph when he saw the car swerve. He got his car stopped and was first on the scene. One person was DOA and the other (driver) passed away in the helicopter enroute to the hospital.

What happened with the pit marshall:

Marshall saw the GT coming and gave the Ferrari owner the "GO" Ferrari guy hesitated.. looked back at the track.. passenger was shouting "GO".. then marshall says "STOP" and the Ferrari guy takes off.

Now: If the GT was moving at 165+ and the pit marshall wasnt familiar with cars generating that kind of speed (I'm doubting he was a CA Speedway employee) I could easily see how a split second hesitation on behalf of the driver could really mess things up.

This sucks. The passenger had just jumped into the GT. He was thinking about buying one and wanted a hot lap in it. Several of the FOC members are on their way to his house to "inform" his wife.

B

[bigrubberjeep]

This story get's worst by the minute.

[vizail]

Adios

God Speed

Vic

[911]

This is terrible news. My condolences to both families. I agree w/ the licensing, or qualifications, needed to drive cars like these. Wasn't there some type of requirement for owners buying a 959?

[kg911]

Is this the same guy that had his CGT on display at Crystal Cove a couple weeks ago? What a terrible shame.

[twobone]

First of all let me say that I feel awful for the the driver and passenger and their family and friends.

For those of us P-Car owners that are left behind


It may be wrong to say it.....

But, does it really make sense to be driving 165+MPH on a track.

I realize that the CGT is capable of those speeds and also capable of scrubbing of that kind of speed.

I just wonder if the "fun-factor" would have been almost as good at 125+MPH?

At that speed the distance travelled each 1/10 of a second is crazy.

I'm just not sure that any track in the world has enough run-off to help you get out of trouble if you make a mistake at that speed.

Now if you have access to a runway and you have 2km of run-off, thats another thing.

[air-cool-me]

"CA Speedway"


I got a ride around that place IN a GT this springbreak.....

it was a porsche NA demo car and it had a pro driver in it... forget his name right now...

makes me sweat just thinking about it..

[sprbxr]

Every driving event I have been to doesn't alow passengers unless they are instructors. If this was a parade lap, the guy had no business doing 165mph. The whole story will be out eventually, then we can figure out what went wrong.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families.

[adscab]

WTF?!?! Why reprimand, berate, chastise the driver now? What good will that do? None! Have some compassion for the driver because we all make mistakes. But have ALOT of compassion for the passenger.

[Hugh R]

About 180 feet per second. Not much time to correct mistakes. Very sad.

[addictionMS]

why berate the driver...becasue it is things like this that will destroy the sport for the rest of us, there is NO excuse for drving that fast during a parade lap, CGT or not, if enough people do stupid things the goverment will step in and say it is too dangerous and either make it illegal or put so may restrictions on it it might as well be.

I feel very sad for the families and friends of the driver, and especially the passenger, family and friends, but I do belive it is valuable to desmonstrate distaste for the behaviour, so others realize it is not accepted. I would be just as critical if there were no deaths, it was plain stupid and disrespectful of others.

Jim

[sprbxr]

WTF?!?! Why reprimand, berate, chastise the driver now?

I wasn't doing any of those things.

All i am saying is we need to find out the whole story. This really sucks for everyone. I can't imagine how the families feel. Everytime I go to the track I think about the unthinkable.