<div dir="ltr">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.<div>Paul Walker was his willing passenger.</div>
<div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>I was not there, nor have I talked to any official sources, but I have read most of the reports.</div>
<div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>The street area near the car was covered in burnout marks, donuts and figure eights.</div>
<div>The posted speed limit was either 15 or 45 mph (coflicting reports).</div><div>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.</div>
<div>Clearly the car was moving at high speed.</div><div><br></div><div>They were not wearing helmets, hans devices, driver suits, nor were they I suspect wearing a 5 point harness.</div><div><br></div><div>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</div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div><br></div><div>The other gentleman was a racer and owned a shop that worked on and customized high end sports cars.</div><div><br></div><div>Both of these guys knew better, it's sad, but forseeable.</div><div><br>
</div><div>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.</div>
<div>and I'm still wrong.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>
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.</div>
<div><br></div><div>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.<br>
</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div>It won't of course.</div><div><br></div><div>It's up to us, to constantly monitor our sport, hobby and use peer pressure and encourage training, to encourage track days.</div><div><br></div><div>Things like this affect us all, either through insurance rates, public perception and how we are treated by the police when doing nothing wrong.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Be careful my friends, it only takes a few seconds of bad decision making to become a headline. </div><div>We all know how much our cars stand out, esp in bright colors and the questions that everybody always ask us. How fast, etc.</div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Michael Shortt.</div><div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Michael L. Shortt<br>Savannah, Georgia<br><a href="http://www.michaelshortt.com">www.michaelshortt.com</a><br>
<a href="mailto:michael@michaelshortt.com">michael@michaelshortt.com</a><br>912-232-9390<br><br> <br>This email is protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy<br>Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2510-2521, is confidential and may be legally<br>
privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified<br>that any retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this<br>communication is strictly prohibited. Please reply to the sender that you<br>
have received this message in error, then delete it. Thank you
</div></div>