I Like Soup

Not to mention, one of the posters told him to be careful or he would end up in the news in a big way...that day. Just sad.

zoink

This is the most chilling statement.... if it was indeed him, he did put the pics like he promised....

RIP

j_belll

damn, so sad. R.I.P.

Andy0331

Damn... right in my backyard.

It didn't make Saturdays paper, I suppose it will be front page in the morning. I suppose I know now where my buddies girlfriend was when he said "at a memorial for the kids who died at Jumbolair".. I had no idea what he was talking about.

I'm sure I'll hear more about it in the coming days, but it's a damn shame that 5 died for nothing.

Jon2007E63P30

I am reading through this and it reminds me of a few things that have gone through my mind since I got my E63 about how I make decisions now, at 46, vs when I was 30. There is a difference.

As for restricting people who are younger from buying a car like the M5, E55, or E63 I would have to say that a law restricting this is certainly NOT un-Constitutional. We do it on cigarretes, alcohol, and other things. And certainly the there is no constitutional right to a drivers license. I think that besides driving these high power German cars, maybe having the person driving be able to pass a German drivers test would keep more people alive.

My sympathy to the families.

OXOJE55

So Sad...

champo

We have a system here in Australia which restricts young drivers who've just acquired their license from driving especially powerful vehicles based on a power to weight ratio (see link). Obviously it isn't fool-proof but it at least attempts to make it harder for young drivers to get themselves in trouble.

http://www.arrivealive.vic.gov.au/c_youngGLS_9b.html

This is such an incredibly chilling story, RIP.

skooby

$1,100??? Wow, that will at least get people thinking. It would also give the cops a reason to take these racers off the street.

Sunny55

Omg..........

FASN8N

I edited your statement above.

STUPID people should not be allowed to drive high hp cars.

I have been driving high hp cars since I was 15. Fortunately, I was one of the few that had my head on straight and didn't have to show off for friends when I was in high school. Before I had the chance to get behind the wheel of a fast car, my dad enrolled me in Panoz high performance driving school at Road Atlanta. This school taught me what the car was doing underneath me and how to control the car in an emergency situation. He didn't want me finding out what a car did in emergency situations by surprise (how most young kids learn).

The last thing we need in this country is more rules, regulations, and government intervention telling you what you can and can't do.

If you give your kid (or anyone) a 500hp car, gun, or ability to trade on behalf of a company (French bank Societe Generale racking up a $7 billion loss) make sure they are trained to handle what you are giving them.

intellilogic

Sadly I bet they thought it was safe, a good idea because they had the airstrip and such =[

speedpeddler

Horrible story.

As a father/son project I helped my then 16 yr old son build a 400 HP Camaro. It was a great experiance for both of us. Before I allowed him to drive it I made him go to three different driving schools. Bondurant twice and Skip Barber once. It made all the difference in the world. He learned respect and car control skills that I attribute to his yet being envolved in an accident and he's now 23.

Everyone should be REQUIRED to go to some form of driving school before getting a license.

Rock

Latest update: http://www.ocala.com/article/2008012...55/1001/NEWS01

Boy, those kids look young. What a foolish and stupid way to exit this world. I already gave this article to my wife so she understands why my boys drive a 125hp four banger.

cte430

Wow, this is unreal. I just posted in another thread recently about all the cops i'm seeing on roads around here. Roads that i've never seen them before.

There is an epidemic around here of young people killing themselves or others for incredibly wreckless driving. It seems you can't go a week without a frontpage story in the paper about another one killing themselves.

Just this week there was a 16 yr. old who killed his friend trying to see "how fast the car could go". Last week two teens died while street racing on an incredibly busy road.

The problem is that just because they're young with good reaction time doesn' mean they have any skills. Think about it, must teens/young drivers are driving back and forth to schoo/work whatever. Usually short trips. That doesn't mean they have any skills AT ALL.

I'd bet most wouldn't know the difference of understeer/oversteer if it bit them in the *** (no pun intended).

The other thing I don't get is this obsession that parents have w/ giving their kids cars that they should just not be driving. Go ahead, call me a hater. Trust me, my kids won't have these types of cars when they get their license, even though I can afford to get them anything they want. They'll also be going to some high perf. driving school. I'd rather them experience vehicle dymamics on a race track instead of on the street. Most people's first reaction to a bad situation is usually wrong and only makes things worse.

halo

We had just been messing with each other on Bonita Beach Rd 2 days before that happened. Too much traffic for us to realy get into it, but he was passin the the double yellow just to get up to me out by where he lived. It's hard to forget a Yellow Zo6 in your rear view.

That was a shame.....

JamE55

This is very tragic indeed and condolences to their family.

19yr old kid + 500hp car + booze = not a good combination.

Doesn't matter how much money the parents has but again you don't put your 19yr old kid on a 500hp. It was only a matter of time.

BoBcanada

Very sad R.I.P

T Bone

You are not a hater....

To blame a 500 hp car evil is like blaming a knife or gun, they are just hunks of inert metal and only when combined with people can the combination become dangerous.

My condolences go with the passengers and the family's of the people affected and not the driver. The driver was an adult....why would we hold the driver to a different standard to other adults?

I think when I have kids, they go right to driving school at the track at 10-12 years old. Learn about cars and the dangers early so that they may gain an appreciation for the dangers when they hit the road at 16.

cte430

Don't mean to go OT, but just looked at the thread at M5board. Did you see Gustav's comment. "I am determined to find out what caused this". WTF does that mean? What, he can't believe his precious BMW was involved in a crash? What a tool.

KiwiRobbie

I take a harsh line with this type of situation, as far as I am concerned it is good riddance to get an idiot like this off the road, the only good that came out of this is that he did it on a private road and no innocent third parties were killed or injured. The people who were in the car with him made the decision to get into a high performance car with a young guy who may or may not have been drunk so they deserve no sympathy either. If the car was a gift or borrowed from a parent then they also share the blame and should suffer the consequences for this stupidity, a couple of years behind bars and a nice fine are whats required.

Improviz

He's also engaging in his favorite *other* pasttime besides portraying BMWs as the veritable Jesus Christ of cars: censorship. He deleted several of the young man's posts, locked one of the last threads in which he was participating, and deleted the other thread (along with his posts) entirely.

This was a post of his yesterday, but now it, along with the thread containing it and a number of the young man's posts, have mysteriously disappeared:
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/sho...21#post1236121

I read the thread myself. It was a thread about some guys getting together and renting an airstrip in Fla, and he said he'd participate. I personally think it's ridiculous to delete this, as renting an airstrip is not the same as sneaking onto one at 3AM, but Gustav has always been weird about deleting posts.

T Bone

I am not sure of the history between Gustav and this board but this story is getting incredible amounts of coverage and like the admins here after the Bluemax incident, Gustav is just protecting the image of his board.

Improviz

I think that this is unbelievably harsh, cruel, and uncalled for. While admittedly a car like this should never have been given to an 18 year old (and there is some uncertainty about this: he was claiming it was his car, while press reports have said it was his fathers' car, i.e. he could have been fibbing and snuck the car out for a joyride), this was NOT done on a public road but a deserted airstrip.

It was certainly a collossal error in judgement on his part (and his parents if they did give an 18 year old such an automobile), but I don't think that it deserved death, nor do I think that cheering for the death of this young man and his friends is called for or in anything remotely approaching good taste, to put it charitably.

It is a tragedy, and if any good comes of it, it will be that others will learn from it, exercise prudence and good judgement, and that perhaps tragedies which might have otherwise taken place can be avoided as a result.

Hopefully...

Improviz

The image of his board? Covering his posterior is more like it: see this article.

As I said, the deleted thead/posts was/were about board members renting an airstrip, in broad daylight, and doing some runs, which is neither illegal nor particularly dangerous if done right--as opposed to sneaking onto a likely-unlit private airstrip at 3AM and running at top speed, which is both illegal *and* particularly dangerous.

aleksandar1099

I have also had an AMG since i was 16 and it has nothing to do with age....it has to do with stupidity entirely.....IF you drive stupid it does not matter what car you are driving.....