Porsche Factory Test Driver Killed

[Pete000]

Very sad, even the best are not impervious to accident.

That is an odd looking battery for a Porsche...

[DRACO A5OG]

At least he went out doing what he loves, Driving Porsches for a living. RIP

[pwd72s]

Damn...

[Geronimo '74]

Originally Posted by mmn710

Is this that older guy whose in the videos where he drives the GT2 and the new 2010 GT3??

No, that's Walter Rohrl, he's almost 62.

A sad day nonetheless.
RIP sir, thanks for all your effort to make Porsche a better car.

[Reaper930]

My heart sank when I saw the title...my car is def. getting a cage now.

RIP brother - our thoughts and prayers go with the family and friends.

[450knotOffice]

Good grief, that's so sad and unnecessary. I'm shocked that Germany would allow a guardrail like that anywhere. I was born in Germany, lived there off and on and have half of my family tree still there, so I'm familiar with the normal German way of doing things - which is to say, the best way. Normally.

[Hesse James]

I just went by the crash site, and the guard rail is really unsafe - if you imagine a motorbike going under - will be the same effect - there should be a second guard rail underside. The test driver was on track for porsche doing a long term test on the Autobahn. I live in that area and the A5 has 4 lanes and no speed limit - you can imagine why they run tests there at 2:45 in the morning. Sad scene - people at the scene reported that the speedo needle stuck at 200 km/h after the accident but there will be an official investigation. The car was a prototype cabrio followed by a Panamera to perform 8 hour tests for new parts build in that car. Until today, nobody knows exactly what happed, except for the tragic loss of life.

[JohnJL]

Heiko,
How cold was it there last night? Ochtrup had snow and -3C.

[stevemfr]

I really have to disagree with the guardrail critics. Although I didn't drive that stretch yesterday or today and, unlike Heiko, do not know exactly where the accident was, I drive that stretch of the A5 very often and the guardrails are generally in very good shape. The safety standards for any sort of machine or other technical product are quite high in Germany (the TüV tests all sorts of stuff - not just cars or auto accessories) and implemented with formidable bureaucracy. I'd be willing to bet quite a bit that the guardrail did what it was supposed to - just in this case that turned out to be the wrong thing. Make 'em too high, cars and sliding bikes go under - make 'em too low and SUV's and trucks go over. Yeah, there are other solutions - but most are neither pretty nor economically feasible.

Whatever caused the accident (it was snowing on and off the past couple of nights up and down the Rhine valley and below freezing - maybe a less than optimal road surface?) if it really was a one-vehicle accident and discounting the poss of technical failure, it's a pretty safe bet to say that the accident was driver error.

Sorry for the rant, but I get a bit riled when witch-hunts ensue after accidents (and I'm a lawyer!). Does anyone remember the case in the 80's where a drunk chick spun a 930 at 90mph in a corner marked max 25mph and killed her co-driver? And then sued Porsche for building such a fast, spinnable car?

[Jim Garfield]

stevemfr, I respectfully disagree. I am all for people taking responsibility for their actions and suffering the consequences. I think that this is a different and dangerous situation. The fact that the car could go completely under the guardrail, as seen in this photo,

means to me that the design or placement of the rail dangerous and needs to be changed.

Of course we don't know what the situation was that lead to this accident, but normally a guardrail would have deflected the car back onto the road. Whether it would have struck something else and caused a fatality is speculation. What we do know is this guardrail didn't work because it is too high and that led an unnecessary fatality.

[Hesse James]

Originally Posted by JohnJL

Heiko,
How cold was it there last night? Ochtrup had snow and -3C.

Hi John,

yes we had snow last night, but the accident was 24 hours ago - it was freezy but it was dry conditions. I don't think the Autobahn was frozen.
Bernd Rosemeyer died near that place on the same Autobahn 71 years ago, trying to break the speed record held by Rudolf Caracciola.

Also a McLaren F1 was crashed here at the speed of 270 km/h.

[stevemfr]

Jim,
We'll see. I am very much for people accepting the responsibility for their actions - even if their lot in life is guardrail-installer. This pic is different than all other angles I have seen - maybe we will hear that the guardrail was not unproblematic... I'll apologize if I ranted too soon.

What I would like to know is what caused the 'moment'. There are very few curves on the 'bahn in that stretch that could cause serious probs - even at 250+kph.

Maybe Heiko can explain more.

[URY914]

On another forum discussing this accident someone brought up how guard rails are build to stop cars from crossing the median and coming into traffic head first. They are set at a height for all vehicles- cars, semi-trucks, SUVs. etc. One rail fits all, but fits some cars better than others.

Also this car may have been bouncing off the outside rail and the angle of the car is unknown when it impacted the center rail. It could very well have had the tail in the air and it was "stuffed" under the rail.

So many unknowns yet people want to jump to conclusions.

[VinceQN]

No matter what the situation it still ended in tragedy. I pray for the family of the driver and hope the driver in the Panamera doesn't suffer psychologically after witnessing what happened.

[rsrmike]

RIP
Truly a sad day...
Looking forward to an explanation.

[SP2]

Originally Posted by naparsei

There are many types of cars that would not have ended up under the guardrail. But that car is:
1) lower to the ground than average
2) rear engined
3) front slopes up

And it is a convertible.

[Grady Clay]

Originally Posted by Jim Garfield

Whoever is responsible for the guardrail should be held accountable. There should be no scenario imaginable that would allow a car to go under the guardrail like that.

I agree with Jim.

It appears that the bottom of the guardrail is about the height of the door handle. My Toyota daily would go under this rail and it end up in my lap - even at 60 km/hr.

It looks like this guardrail will only function with a large truck.

What a tragedy design took a life. Had the rail deflected the 991(?), the driver might have survived after scrubbing off speed with the road and multiple energy-absorbing impacts. That is what current automotive design is all about.

The guardrail designer (and bureaucrats who approved it) have never been to a race track with modern barriers. I would hope that guardrail would never pass the ‘engineering laugh test’ in the States.

Best,
Grady

[450knotOffice]

Thank you Grady. +1,000,000.

[JMatta]

This is very sad and scary, at the same time. Think of the number of vehicles that could easily put their nose underneath the barrier.

[3.2 CAB]

I don't think that a roll cage of almost any design would have really helped that much. Being it was a test vehicle, there is probably something similar to a "black box" that should have all the data or telemetry stored. Maybe they can find out what was happening up to the time of the crash?? Sad... very sad.