[DeTomaso] NPC: Paul Walker Death

[Larry - Ohio Time Corp]

Michael I also read that the Porsche Carrera GT was a new car for him. The
story then said that they can be a handful to drive.

 

If you all remember about 10 years ago we had a rash of accidents in
Panteras by new owners not learning the car.. 

 

As you said (all of it very well said) none of us are as good as we think we
are.

 

Larry (stay safe) - Cleveland

 

 

 

 

 

From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at poca.com] On Behalf Of
michael at michaelshortt.com
Sent: Monday, December 02, 2013 1:44 PM
To: detomaso at poca.com
Subject: [DeTomaso] NPC: Paul Walker Death

 

As you all know, our hobby, avocation and in many cases vocation got a black
eye this weekend by the death of an actor, Paul Walker and a a Racer/Car
Customizer.

Paul Walker was his willing passenger.

They were in a Porsche Carrera GT, a 612 hp, approx $450,000, 2 seat, mid
engine, GT with substantial carbon fiber construction, that weighs about
2,700 lbs.

 

I was not there, nor have I talked to any official sources, but I have read
most of the reports.

It appears they were at a Charity event to raise money for relief in the
Philippines, Paul was known in all circles as a caring and community minded
person.

 

The street area near the car was covered in burnout marks, donuts and figure
eights.

The posted speed limit was either 15 or 45 mph (coflicting reports).

They were 100 yards from a crowd on a two lane, public street with high
concrete curbs and trees on both sides of the road, at 3:00 p.m. in the
afternoon.

Clearly the car was moving at high speed.

 

They were not wearing helmets, hans devices, driver suits, nor were they I
suspect wearing a 5 point harness.

 

>From what I can see from the photos, the car appeared to have jumped the
curb ( cracked left front wheel ) and pivoted sideways ( passenger side
first into a tree trunk ( bent and leaning over) and then erupted into
flames.  I say this because the hood is intact, the driver's side is
relatively intact and the rear is destroyed from the fire. The passenger
side is obstructed in all the photos I have seen

 

Paul was an amateur racer and certainly exposed to working with professional
stunt drivers and safety coordinators on at least 6 films, collectively,
that's about 2 years of daily safety exposure.

 

The other gentleman was a racer and owned a shop that worked on and
customized high end sports cars.

 

Both of these guys knew better, it's sad, but forseeable.

 

All of us, and you're lying if you deny it, have done stupid things on the
road in our cars, me, tenfold most of you.  I wrongly justify it as having
superior skills based on years of racing, hundreds of thousands of miles of
driving and working as a stunt driver and coordinator.

and I'm still wrong.

 

What I have never done, is do it anywhere in this kind of situation, not
because I'm that careful, but unless you're wealthy, you know that the
possibility of hitting a curb means buying new wheels/tires at the best
scenario, you know that getting caught by the cops means a heavy citation in
addition to having your car towed away by some meathead on a hook, if not
having your license being revoked. You know that trees always win, you know
that two lane roads with oncoming traffic means that innocent people can be
hurt or killed by your actions.

 

I want to feel bad because he was a nice guy by all accounts, he did good
deeds and everybody in the business always had nothing but great things to
say about him.

 

 

I was asked on an email chain if I think they suffered and while not an MD,
I'm of the opinion that the sudden G forces of the crash probably killed
them both instantly, esp the passenger side hitting the tree, from a
combination of arteries being torn from the heart, brains being slammed
against the inside of the skull and untethered heads hyperextending and
breaking their necks.  I do not think they suffered a horrible burning
death, at least I hope not.

 

If you're going to do silly things in your car, do it on roads with run off
areas, no curbs, no trees, no oncoming traffic and away from other people.
They were lucky that others were not involved.

 

Perhaps this will serve to remind all the fans of F & F movies, a generation
of tuner driver's with really bad habits and no driving skills, to rethink
their actions and improve their abilities.

It won't of course.

 

It's up to us, to constantly monitor our sport, hobby and use peer pressure
and encourage training, to encourage track days.

 

Things like this affect us all, either through insurance rates, public
perception and how we are treated by the police when doing nothing wrong.

 

Be careful my friends,  it only takes a few seconds of bad decision making
to become a headline.  

We all know how much our cars stand out, esp in bright colors and the
questions that everybody always ask us.  How fast, etc.

 

Let's all work on giving answers that are responsible and can influence
younger people towards learning the right place, time and having right
training and equipment in place to play with their cars.

 

Michael Shortt.




 

-- 







Michael L. Shortt
Savannah, Georgia
www.michaelshortt.com
michael at michaelshortt.com
912-232-9390

 
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