Veloce Raptor

Hands-down, the dumbest post of the month, so far.

If my brother caused this carnage, I would mourn his passing & curse his incredibly selfish carelessness & recklessness.

Oh, and I have raced plenty, Kiko. None of it, however, was on the STREET. How about you?

Bull, I concur.

Alexander, I live in Austin, Texas, where this happened. The road is 2 lanes each way, no divider, rolling terrain with many sweeping curves.

Have I driven 112 on public roads? Twice.

Was there any traffic visible for miles in either direction? NOPE. And the road was straight & long, with incredible visibility.

It is sad to see some folks defend the indefensible here.

eclou

I discovered Hamilton Pond Rd (12) because of this accident. I could not get across 620/Lakeside nor could I get through 71 to Marble Falls. Ended up taking 290 to 12. Exhilarating road.

F350Lawman

He was going way more than 112mph if the speedo is stuck on 112mph, after the impact. I bet he was more likely @ 130 -140mph and did some braking. Also the first impact probably didn't stop the speeed, more likely it was the second impact, so he may have slowed even more than what the speedo says. It seems that 112mph sounds like a very conservative estimate of his speed.

We all no speeding is a no-no..BUT if your going to bend the rules ,a busy roadway on Friday afternoon is not the place to be.

deep_uv

Shhhhhhh!!! Dang it, don't tell anybody!!! One of my favorites. You missed the name a bit, but we'll just leave it that way.

The guy was stupid. I'm very familiar with that road as I live in Austin. 112 mph would be insane at any time, especially on a Friday afternoon when it's literally packed with traffic. As my 6 year old daughter would say: Too bad, so sad.

Regards,

Steve

Nordschleife

er, people, 112 mph isn't fast, in fact 150 mph isn't fast. You have a wonderful Interstate system in the US, design specs envisioned cars travelling at over 100 mph on it..... go figure.

Poor driving habits, poor car maintenance and poor education are the very real causes of accidents, however not all these are easy to measure, speed is. The logical conclusion to the speed kills argument would be to put cars on railroad flatbeds and have them hauled round the country by train engines, in fact don't even start the engine.

R+C

Doug H

Speculation. The Elise is very hard to get above 120. Maybe going downhill on a very long straight. The speedo also has about a 4 to 8 percent error rate and is very slow to react to quick braking at high speeds. The indicated speed usually does not correct until after a threshold brake and the car settles. No need for speculation to try to make things look worse than they are. An enthusiast died. Sad day. Learn from the experience and pray for the family.

LVDell

Actually you couldn't be more wrong. While we have a pretty convenient system to get from various point A's to point B's around the country the roads here are horrible, especially for driving fast (triple digit speeds). I have spent a considerable amount of time in Europe (mainly Autobahn and Autopista driving) and it amazes me the level upkeep we lack compared to y'alls higway systems. The "wonderful" you refer to is few and far between. I'd sure like for you to show it to us.

Nordschleife

I guess you just have to look after it! What strikes me as a visitor is the sheer number of tyre carcasses at the side of the road.

I drive from DC to Folly Beach quite often, my major complaint is boredom as we drive through these endless green tunnels. In general I try and avoid doing any driving myself on the East Coast. I was fortunate to spend part of my mispent youth in Nevada, Northern California and the NW in general. The driving was great.

However, if somebody told me there is a pothole in NY that nodody has ever seen the bottom of, I'd believe them.

Incidentally, normal coutry roads in NH seem good late at night, if you feel like a burn. And NC has some nice roads, as I learned when I visited friends in Asheville

R+C

LVDell

R+C, that is the point. You hit the nail right on the head. They just aren't taken very good care off. Contractors are always cutting corners. For example, a large stretch out here in NC of I40 that was recently finished is being redone because chunks of the highway are coming up. It's the American dream! Take the government funds, come in well over budget, make that extra gravy, do just enough to get by with crappy work, and then move on and let someobdy else clean up after you. Very irritating.

Veloce Raptor

Guys, this particular road is NOT an autobahn. It has 2 lanes each direction, no divider, lots of traffic, and lots of fast, sweeping curves over blind brows.

Anyone who thinks 112 is not "fast" there is disturbed.

Bull

Gets my vote! And what is with the "and you are probably one of those Instructors that never raced"????? Of course, that assumption couldn't be more wrong, but what does that have to do with the discussion????

Veloce Raptor

Maybe something was lost in translation from his native Portuguese?

LVDell

I never said it was. I actually grew up in that area. Spent the better bart of 25 years in San Antonio/Austin. My comment was more blanket of the crappy roads in this country.

I do agree that is NOT a streetch where 112 is safe (nor is just about any public road for that matter) and to pull crap like that warrants the lambasting that irresponsible ***** is getting. That kind of crap is not something to defend. His moronic actions cost him his life and seriously injured others. Period.

I admit that when I am out cruising the GT3 around town (which is very infrequent) I hear that flat-6 sing and just want to squeeze off a nice hard run through the gears and then I stop and remind myself that I can do that in "x" weeks at the next DE event. Just not worth it to me.

Veloce Raptor

Dell, I was more addressing Nordschleife's post, not yours.

TD in DC

Yes, in Portuguese the term "D#$%" means "very cool steve mcqueenesque type guy" or "time attacker wannabe" depending upon intonation. So much gets lost in translation over the Internet.

There is a difference between being compassionate and thinking the guy did something that was very stupid. We can all agree that it was incredibly stupid in light of the laws, and expectations in this country. We should be able to agree that it is, nonetheless, a tragedy for all of the individuals and families involved, including the driver whose judgment was apparently lacking.

Just my two cents.