Topic: Porsche test driver killed

[Turbo Bob]

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=19373

 

An amazing job, with it's own risks...

[duck]

sucks   

[barrie1]

Seems very early in the morning at high speeds to be out testing any vehicle. I know there should be less traffic at that time of day but he must have been really flying to lose it so bad. Shame to see he was killed in it as well. 

[dr_spock]

Risks that come with the job.  R.I.P. 

[Turbo Bob]

That's why they use those roads Barrie, 200mph+.  They have to exceed what their customers are going to do.

[barrie1]

Yes I know Bob as my eldest daughter went to school there and rode in a very fast Porsche to school every day down the autoban. She's a speed freak like us as well. 

[Wolverine]

By the time it happened, 2:45am, the driver must have fall asleep at the wheel. Also, Porsche stated he wasn't doing a high speed test as these tests are done on closed circuits, it was an endurance test.

[Squishy]

This seems to make a case for either bumper regulations or crash barrier regulations.  The damage to the car looks minimal and may very well have been survivable had the car not gone backwards under the guardrail.

[Turbo Bob]

Yeah bumper regulations to stop all damage at 200mph, don't be ridiculous. And the reason it would have been at that time in the morning is simply less traffic.

[Squishy]

Yeah bumper regulations to stop all damage at 200mph, don't be ridiculous. And the reason it would have been at that time in the morning is simply less traffic.

Stop all damage at 200 mph?  You're the one being ridiculous here.  Bumpers haven't been used to "stop all damage" for decades now.  Are you saying that there is no way to prevent a supercar from wedging itself underneath a crash barrier?

[Turbo Bob]

Supercars aren't the norm, you can't legislate for everything. Crash barriers have to be able to cope with 90% of traffic including heavy goods vehicles, no point wrapping everything in cotton wool. It's tragic yes, but a risk of the job, going 100mph+ will always carry some risk.

[Squishy]

A simple Ontario tall-wall barrier would have caught the vehicle and likely bounced it onto the left-hand shoulder.  Those Autobahn barriers look like they were designed to catch large trucks.

[Turbo Bob]

The highway barriers I've seen so far are woeful compared to those in Europe, sometimes there are none at all, especially on on/off ramps.

[Squishy]

I'm not talking about the presence of barriers - I'm talking about their efficacy.  If bumpers are allowed to be so low, then barriers should extend to that height plus an estimate of how low a vehicle will dip under braking.  Otherwise, bumpers should be raised to always contact the barrier.

Keep in mind that having higher bumpers does not mean supercars will look upside down.  The low-speed plastic bumper can stay where it is, but the structural bumper behind it can be raised.

[dr_spock]

Cars can also jump barriers.  If there is a build up of snow against the barrier or if they hit it hard enough like this case:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4d9_1234661284&p=1

It is really up to the driver to keep him/herself alive.  There is always a chance you don't make it home from your daily drive. 

[random006]

The highway barriers I've seen so far are woeful compared to those in Europe, sometimes there are none at all, especially on on/off ramps.

As a reinforcement to that sentiment, I remind you all of a tragedy that occurred here in Montreal some years back.  A vehicle was traveling on the Metropolitan expressway (a raised expressway that is the Trans Canada on the island).  It hit a snow back that acted as a ramp allowing the car to be launched over the barrier wall and down to the ground quite a distance below.  A family was killed in that incident.

Yes, the problem there was inadequate snow removal but a higher wall would have helped.