cjf_moraga

That is a terrible thing to say.... no one here has any clear idea concerning the circumstances of how/why the other 4 people were on board or whether they even knew if the driver had been drinking.. or how fast he was going to go... And as for the parents - do you not think they have already been punished for the rest of their life by this awful tragedy?

TonyJ89117

Your comments make me sick.

There were four innocent passengers that were killed by the driver's absolutely stupid and fatal mistake. Also, there were dozens of family members and friends that were terribly hurt by this senseless tragedy.

People like you should live on a deserted island by yourselves, since you have no compassion for others and don't offer anything positive to society. Have a little sympathy you JERK!

RJC

I know of a certain BMW Rep that should read this thread...

How foolish and how sad

BoBcanada

Do you guys think that m5board airstrip videos and other videos might play bad influence on youngsters?

MidniteBluBenz

Idiots are going to be idiots. We're powerless to stop it. A kid with his head on straight wouldn't do something so dumb.

WSH

Darwinian selection is ultimately unavoidable...and beneficial for society....

Suspect an irresponsible driver can easily manage to kill/maim himself/others in any <200hp car/SUV.....plenty of >30yo guys driving while intoxicated manage to accomplish this while driving elderly, underpowered pickups/SUVs/econoboxes....

Conversely, know several smart, mature guys who graduated from college at 19-20yo; leased various high-powered cars w/their first Wall Street bonuses as <21yo guys; have never had an accid (and have amazingly cheap insurance premiums)....and are now >30yo codgers driving 500hp+ cars....they tend to know where/when it makes sense to drive in a spirited manner....

Generally, guys who are responsible high-achievers display maturity in their decision-making skills in many aspects of life, incl driving....

Would argue real responsibility of any competent parents is to instill sound risk/reward judgment and solid driving skills in kids as they hand them a car...

And, whether kids are responsible/not, would suspect any competent parents would want them driving safest car possible (a new S-Class or at least a new C-Class w/well-mtd tires/safety systems; any SUV is arguably less safe than any new MB sedan)....after all, any responsible driver can face a serious, unavoidable collision caused by others....and cost of any new car is far cheaper than enormous costs (to family and, ultimately, society) of surviving any accident w/life-altering disabilities....

tjav8b

The M5board could be apart of the investigation that is underway on the accident. An article suggested that there could be another vehicle involved. Someone reported hearing another car. Maybe, Gustav was told to take it off? Don't know.

ItalianStallion

This is a horrible tradgedy...its also a grim reminder to us not to ever drink and drive and that when we are going at speeds over 100mph, if something goes wrong you and your passengers are dead. This is so sad...I feel for everyone involved in this...

mbenzman

What a sobering story! What a complete waste, can you imagine what the other kids families are thinking, probably blaming the father for allowing the kid to drive that car and causing their children's deaths in the process? The news reports claimed a resident had heard engines racing, I wonder if other people/vehicles were there and had left the scene? Maybe they thought they were being safe by not doing this on a public roadway.
Ironic that they crashed and burned on an airstrip, and cnn's next story is that of a aircraft crashing and burning on the highway.

rahulanand1130

It is a tradgedy what happened. There has been alot of accidents in my town too recently involving kids i went to school with. But just because you
re young doesnt make you a dangerous or irresponsible driver. Im 20 and i have a w211 e55, and yes i do drive fast sometimes like everyone on these boards, but i do it safely and i would consider myself a pretty good driver. I have 0 fault accidents, 0 tickets since ive been driving. Also couldnt they have been in any vehicle and had the same result? They were driving drunk at 3 oclock in the morning, even if they werent on the airstrip, the samething could have happened on the streets.

Yacht Master

Not quite true, and actuarial science will prove your statement wrong every time. Not looking for a debate here. It is a fact that drivers 16-25 are the highest risk group. Why? They have the best vision, reaction time, their brain works faster and they have spent 15 years in a ride along school, They should be the best drivers of all, they are not and the statistics prove it out overwhelmingly. It has everything to do with age.
And you may want to reconsider "it does not matter what car you are driving" it dose, I don't think anyone would want to leave a party to ride in a 1984 Oldsmobile ceria. or even a Geo metro.

Again no dis intended, please understand the reality. This driver was getting ready to go to an airport event in South Florida. He posted hours before his death that he would attend, latter that night he and his buddies make some practice runs and over shoot the end of the runway. Was that stupid? He could have lost the brakes Some may say better on the runway than highway. We only know a few facts, 19 year old, 500 hp car. Now the father that made this possible is in a place that must be the worst. The families of the victims will take everything he has in wrongful death suits.

I can't imagine.

cte430

DING DING DING we have a winner. You beat me to it. I was just going to post that statistically, the younger drivers are more likely to be involved in serious crashes.

Parents, send your kids to some driving school. You young guys, instead of buying some new mods take that money and go do Skip Barber or Bondurant or something like that. Everyone thinks they're a great driver - trust me, you suck. Don't mean to be an a$$ about it but unless you've already done some serious instruction you have no idea about vehicle dynamics - not blaming you it's just not possible unless you've experienced it firsthand.

A couple of weeks ago I dropped off my daughter at a friends house. It started to rain so I slowed it way down. I think most would agree that my car is somewhat capable (especially in the rain) and having done at least 6 different racing schools over the years, consider myself an adequate driver, I still slowed way down. I see this kid in a piece of crap 1982 or something Ford Taurus and he is absolutely flying - weaving in and out of traffic like you coulnd't believe. I'd be shocked if that kid didn't get his wheels on the grass at some point during that trip.

I Like Soup

This is the problem, in my opinion. Why the rush to get our kids in the bloodbath of public driving?

Like I said earlier, don't put restrictions on the cars people can buy, put restrictions on the age people can drive and give them the proper training.

Improviz

Dunno....but imo his butt is already covered by the following disclaimer, excerpted from a paragraph which appears at the bottom of every page:
Engaging in an imprompteu high speed run on a presumably unlit runway, with a heavy, heavily loaded vehicle, at 3AM, with alcohol in one's system, was about as far from following that advice as one could get. Truly a tragic waste of life....the irony is that they probably thought the airfield would be "safer", which in a way it was--for other drivers, but not for them.

BlackHammer

I am with you all on a lot of comments. The only thing I will add is that cars can be lethal - especially in the hands of underdeveloped minds -like what just happened in FL. But, to put things in perspective, they are equally dangerous in the hands of those who have little experience driving fast cars. The experience is intoxicating. Don't let anyone drive your cars; especially after they have had a few "bumps".

My prayers go out to the families...

Archi

Very sad. RIP and be careful out there.

Yacht Master

[QUOTE=Improviz;2620616]Dunno....but imo his butt is already covered by the following disclaimer, excerpted from a paragraph which appears at the bottom of every page:
QUOTE]

I would not want to be in Gustav's shoes right now.

I am not a Lawyer but I know one thing....

OJ is guilty

And in a US court of law anything can happen.

Any good lawyer can undermine that disclaimer in minutes.

cte430

Quotes from M5board members already in the papers:

http://www.ocala.com/article/2008012.../BREAKING_NEWS

T Bone

[quote=Yacht Master;2620658]

??? What would Gustav have to fear? His board and members trying to talk sense into the adult who trepassed and kill himself + 4 friends by driving an unfamilar car in a wreckless manner (maybe drunk)?

There is the court of public opinion in which case the M5board seems to be winning as a result of the members giving the adult driver in this case some solid advice.

In a court of law, internet posts tend to mean nothing except in extreme rare cases. Besides, last time I checked M5board is over in Sweden. This goes for this case and the Bluemax incident....thankfully the admins here and at M5board are responsible and have little to fear.

We are a litigious society but someone wise wrote over the past few days that it might be time for some of the people directly involved in this case to take some responsibility....

skooby

I really feel that experience is a great teacher, along with professional training. Even if you go to the best driving school, you still need time to implement what you have learned and use it in daily driving situations. These kids went out to run high speeds in a area of limited space, with alcohol involved and a 500HP car, all of that combined is a huge problem.

I'm 36 & have been driving for ~20 years. I grew up in Buffalo and we had some of the nastiest driving conditions known to man, so I seen it all. I've went sideways on ice and spun around on major highways and seen alot. The key to my personal experiences is the seen alot part, at 20 respectfully you've seen enough to get by and need to know that with 500 HP there is always a problem around the corner.

If your mature enough to realize that you car is a safety wrapper for your body to travel fast, your ahead of the game.

skooby

I heard some other very graphic details that I left out but as a whole it was just a nightmare. The families are crushed and so many people get killed emotionally when things like this happen, so yeah it's going to be hard to forget that Z06.

I raced him as well in my M6 Convertible and lost. I had that Silver / Black M6 before this car and it wasn't as fast as my E55. It had some better handling qualities but for straightline speed, it's night and day. The M6 was a whiny btich and needed alot of babying and my kids complained about being cooked eggs in the back, so I got rid of it. I was all ready to buy a E63 but found out that the Dynamic seats we're a thing of past and the E63 is actually a slower car. I was then going to get a S63 and figured out that it was about a second slower to 60 and was a way to heavy pig. I stopped by a Galeana chrysler store and picked up a freshly traded $97K sticker E55 for $50K cash plus tax.

skooby

[QUOTE=T Bone;2620677]I was on gustav's board and he lives in fear there, paranoid.

cte430

Was just thinking of something else that maybe some of you young guys can answer. Is there anything called a curfew anymore? I don't really remember but i'm pretty sure I would have gotten my head handed to me if I was 18 and out at 3:00-4:00AM. Do most parents let their teen age kids stay out till all hours?

I'm not sure but i'm pretty sure I'd have a problem if my 18 yr. old was out at that time. As my Dad used to say: "nothing good happens at 3:00 in the morning".

Carl Lassiter

Very sad news. I know in England one cannot get behind the wheel of even a 340bhp M3 unless they are at least 25 or willing to spend $20k insurance each year. Also, the age to drive there is 17.

Whe I buy my kids cars their first cars they'll get the IS250 not IS350, C240 not 63, Audi 2.0...etc. Kids can kill themselves in all cars but 500bhp is sheer madness. Regardless, the parents did not deserve this.

Yacht Master

Did I say fear? think not. I said "I would not want to be in his shoes". So take it for what it's worth. And if you think the mastermind of M5 airport racing videos and DVDs has nothing to fear, then fine, that is OK with me. My point and I hope to spell it out clearly, our civil courts yield rulings that have surprised many. I am sure the families of the 4 victims are going to love Gustav's work. I see he has been busy editing all the posts at M5 Board, no fear, right. (22 members 324 guests)






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