He is a simple way to stop your kids going fast in a fast car, or any car for that matter. Take the car to your local fab shop. Get them to weld a longer bolt to behind the accelerator stop, get them to paint it black, put the carpet back. Do this BEFORE they drive the car on their own. The accelerator can't reach the floor as it was designed to do. The car will not be able to be floored to its full power, but the kids will think it can be. This will slow them down, slow the car down and potentially save lives.

My father did this to my first car, I did it to my son's. I didn't know until I was ready to sell it and he told me, so I could get it removed. My son doesn't know, yet.

 

This is all well and good until you have a legitimate reason to floor it - like when a truck is seconds from ramming you, etc. Teaching limits and responsibility at a young age may help more...


Andreas

 

That and understanding that giving a new 500HP BMW to a child is a bad idea.

 

So, what if your son is at a function, talking with some girl, and her thug boyfriend confronts your son. Your son, being the smart responsible person he is, avoids the confrontation and just leaves. Well, the thug boyfriend and five of his buddies hop in their truck and decide to catch your kid and teach him a lesson. Unfortunately, your son's car can't outrun the old pick up............

I know it sounds far fetched, but these things happen. One night, at a restaurant with my wife, some guy that I didn't know was starring at us a lot. Kind of freaky. Well, when we left he got in his car and started following us. When I hit the freeway, I gunned it and got the hell out of there. Sometimes it's good to be able to have full acceleration.

 

If something that far fetched happened, he would need to dip into the far fetched car chase knowledgebase and find a creek to jump or an alley just wide enough for his car to drive down. Or he could hit the brakes and they'd fly right by!

Alternatively, he'll need something fast. An Audi S8 ... with a nitrous system; but he'll need custom injectors, the Bosch won't cut it.

I'm not sure preparing my son for car chase getaways is such a good idea.

 

I'm just gonna let my kid watch the Dukes of Hazzard.........he'll figure it out!
YeeeHaw!

 

Man, I feel horrible for the families! Unfortunatly, I think the driver's parents just learned one lesson too, too late and at the cost of innocent lives.
As far as parenting, I'm a relatively new dad (2.5 year old and another on the way) but I'm going to go with the formula my parents used. Be brutally honest about life and the consequences of your actions....oh, and how much money you have won't help you when you make the really bad mistakes. As far as the physics... I think he was near the 155 top end, if you read the threads on the bimmer board, he was experimenting with disengaging the DSC (traction control on the beemer) which would explain the YAW skid marks on the runway...sideways probably shaved about 40mph off the top speed ..then hits the dirt at the end of the runway, instant 20 mph and more considering dirt resistance or the energy needed to get the car to flip if it hit a burm...I agree with the 70mph airborne speed....
It just boggles my mind how this kid disregarded the warning by the other guys on the board about shutting off the DSC on a 500hp car...

 

I don't think these boys died in vain. This story has impacted me in a very strong way and perhaps has done the same for many others out there. I am facing my second license suspension on the 20th of this month after being arrested, finishing a prior 1 year suspension, and numerous speeding tickets. Thank god I have never been in any kind of accident but none of those things affected my driving like this story. I also sold my motorcycle. Maybe there are more like me out there...

 

Good point, but they were probably slightly loaded and really didn't have the maturity to either not go or stop the guy during his run ups. The same weird dynamic happens all the time with dual piloted military aircraft. "Hey, watch this...Oooops..." And the guy not at the controls says nothing - and dies for it. I've investigated several aviation mishaps that had 'lack of crew coordination', etc. as a contributing or leading cause. Kind of a tragedy.

 

Holy smokes.


Andreas

 

I owned an M car when i was 18, it was a Mavrick.

 

I had a 2 liter P-car when I was 16 -- Pinto --

 

Wow...a 2 liter car Chris?...that would have been a "muscle" car for me.

My first car at 16 was a used, 12 year old, 1967 VW Notchback like the one on this picture. This was how my love for air cooled and German cars started.

It wouldn't go fast enough to lift the wheels off anything, not even hitting a curb, so I never got in trouble. But what a great fun little car it was.

 

You mean like "Hey watch this Split S" . . . then, KAPOW!!

 

Cheap cars can go fast too. My high school high-performance driving machine was a 2.2L Dodge Omni (faster than a GTI, you know ). Not sure that 150 mph in an M5 is much less safe than 100mph on 165/80-13 tires.