Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
02-14-2009, 10:01 AM
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Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
A 51-year-old died in Germany this morning following an accident involving a Porsche 911 cabrio prototype. The victim, a Porsche engineer, was driving the car on the A5 Autobahn when he lost control and slammed into a guard rail.
The one-car accident happened at 2:45am just past the Weiterstadt exit on the motorway. Photos of the scene show the sports car wedged under the barrier, with the rail making contact near where the driver's head and torso would have been.
A spokesman for Porsche said the engineer "was one of the most experienced test drivers." The company representative confirmed that the car was a camouflaged cabrio covered with foil to mask parts of the vehicle's appearance. He also noted that, although it did not rollover, the convertible does not have the same resilience as a coupe.
Police and fire department personnel responded to the scene from nearby Darmstadt. The public prosecutor there has taken charge of the ongoing investigation. The location of the accident was midway between Frankfurt and Heidelberg, in the German province of Hessen.
It is not yet known what caused the accident. Witnesses say the driver, who has worked for the German company for 25 years, was driving a prototype of a new Porsche 991 model at a high rate of speed. That stretch of road does not have a speed limit. He was being followed by a second Porsche testdriver in a camouflaged four-door Porsche Panamera prototype.
That driver successfully evaded the crash, and escaped unharmed. Although the accident did take place at an unusual hour, both drivers were working on a 10pm to 6am shift. An initial damage estimate is said to be several thousands of Euro.
Porsche said he was part of a road endurance test in which three drivers drove the car non-stop in shifts around-the-clock.
The one-car accident happened at 2:45am just past the Weiterstadt exit on the motorway. Photos of the scene show the sports car wedged under the barrier, with the rail making contact near where the driver's head and torso would have been.
A spokesman for Porsche said the engineer "was one of the most experienced test drivers." The company representative confirmed that the car was a camouflaged cabrio covered with foil to mask parts of the vehicle's appearance. He also noted that, although it did not rollover, the convertible does not have the same resilience as a coupe.
Police and fire department personnel responded to the scene from nearby Darmstadt. The public prosecutor there has taken charge of the ongoing investigation. The location of the accident was midway between Frankfurt and Heidelberg, in the German province of Hessen.
It is not yet known what caused the accident. Witnesses say the driver, who has worked for the German company for 25 years, was driving a prototype of a new Porsche 991 model at a high rate of speed. That stretch of road does not have a speed limit. He was being followed by a second Porsche testdriver in a camouflaged four-door Porsche Panamera prototype.
That driver successfully evaded the crash, and escaped unharmed. Although the accident did take place at an unusual hour, both drivers were working on a 10pm to 6am shift. An initial damage estimate is said to be several thousands of Euro.
Porsche said he was part of a road endurance test in which three drivers drove the car non-stop in shifts around-the-clock.
Source: [link=http://www.worldcarfans.com/9090213.013/porsche-test-driver-dies-testing-pre-production-911]Clicky[/link]
Rip man... Porsche test driver is what I always tell people when they ask what my dream job is.
02-14-2009, 10:51 AM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
Damn! RIP man....
I hope this accident saves another life in some way. Hard to believe the railing was able to bend up like that....he must have been hauling. Wonder if the other guy and him were racing?
Kevin
I hope this accident saves another life in some way. Hard to believe the railing was able to bend up like that....he must have been hauling. Wonder if the other guy and him were racing?
Kevin
02-14-2009, 11:50 AM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
I don't think that barrier would fly in the US. Then again we don't set up barriers in speed limit free zone either. Whats with that anyway? No speed limit..? What good can come from that? Other than leaving your house at 8am and getting to work by 7:55am.....
Kevin
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02-14-2009, 12:04 PM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
You'd be surprised how little crashes there really are on the Autobahn. The only problem is that the crashes that DO happen have a higher chance of being fatal. Sad this guy died. Shame on the German highway engineers for making a barrier like that. I also doubt they were racing. these are million dollar prototypes and I doubt they would so actively try to lose their jobs.
02-14-2009, 12:18 PM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
They were endurance testing, so I doubt they were racing, but you don't take a prototype exotic to a speed limit-less autobahn unless you are going to open it up. I expect he was doing near to 200mph when it happened. As for why the barrier is configured that way, who knows... definitely something they will fix now, you can be sure of that.
02-14-2009, 12:22 PM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
so everyone who goes on the Autobahn's (with a capable car) does 200mph speeds? its not likely that this will be proven either way..
02-14-2009, 12:34 PM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
why is that barrier is so high maybe if it was lower the car wouldn't of been caught under it and he might of been saved
02-14-2009, 02:31 PM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
ORIGINAL: lee172
so everyone who goes on the Autobahn's (with a capable car) does 200mph speeds? its not likely that this will be proven either way..
so everyone who goes on the Autobahn's (with a capable car) does 200mph speeds? its not likely that this will be proven either way..
02-14-2009, 02:32 PM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
RIP. Terrible crash there. And terrible barrier design.
I know I always get a little claustrophobic driving stretches of highway with those big concrete barriers for noise reduction on the side. While I realize that flipping and landing in a field probably isn't any better than flipping and hitting a wall, it at least sounds a little bit more appealing. That metal barrier looks deadly though.
I know I always get a little claustrophobic driving stretches of highway with those big concrete barriers for noise reduction on the side. While I realize that flipping and landing in a field probably isn't any better than flipping and hitting a wall, it at least sounds a little bit more appealing. That metal barrier looks deadly though.
02-14-2009, 05:13 PM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
ORIGINAL: lee172
so everyone who goes on the Autobahn's (with a capable car) does 200mph speeds?
so everyone who goes on the Autobahn's (with a capable car) does 200mph speeds?
) ahead of the US Interstate system. The roadbed is over twice as deep and the pavement three times as thick as the US Interstates, which keeps the roadway much smoother and less prone to buckle from "frost heaving" or summer heat. It does look like the guardrail should have been a bit lower to prevent the low-slung car from getting underneath it. The rails are entirely necessary to prevent head-ons into sign supports or crossing into the opposing lane.I was impressed with drivers' habits when I was stationed in Germany in the early 90's. Trucks didn't stay in the middle lane any longer than it took to pass, and the left lane stayed open all the time except when one of those 4-wheeled rockets went by. Nobody passed on the right (illegal in the US as well, but not enforced). Everyone used their turn signals, and blinked their headlights when overtaking from the rear.
It's truly impressive to get passed by a car going over twice as fast as you are, amazing at how quickly they appear in your mirror and then go flashing past. There was a group of us driving to Paris in a Fiat minivan one weekend, and we had that little 4-cyl diesel floored, going maybe 85-90 mph (about 120 km/hr). Some guy came past us in a slope-nosed Porsche, we figured he was doing at least 100 mph faster than we were. Took him no time at all to disappear in the distance. It made us want to get out of the van to see why we had stopped
.As for the test driver and the time of day, they may have been doing certification speeds. They generally do the high speed driving at night because there is less traffic then. You hate to see this happen, condolences to his family and friends, but these guys are well aware of the dangers and risks of their job.
02-14-2009, 07:24 PM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
Sad. Accidents are less common than you'd think out there thankfully - but still, the faster you go and the more you push the limits the greater the risk you are taking, that's true no matter where you are driving.
02-14-2009, 09:38 PM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
it sounds to me like the porsche failed in some way. I thought they had there own test track why would they be on the road? Ford and GM have there own proving grounds and they run the crap out of them. they only run them on the street for the spy photos. I doubt it was driver error it had to be the car IMO.
02-15-2009, 01:11 AM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
I know why that rail was made like that , its so if you have a problem you can drive into it to stop in an instant, But the side effect is death lol
02-15-2009, 02:57 AM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
was it a convertable coz it is now lol
no disrespect to the man who passed thats just a governmental 'mistake'
no disrespect to the man who passed thats just a governmental 'mistake'
02-16-2009, 12:41 AM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
Watched a show about the development of the C6, they had one in disguise in Germany testing it on the autobahn. It was tearing the other cars up.
02-16-2009, 06:25 AM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
ORIGINAL: d.k.v
was it a convertable
was it a convertable
200+ MPH production sports car.
Extremely sad.
02-18-2009, 10:12 AM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
O man! I am sorry to here that, and I fell kind sorry for the first people that were there.......
02-18-2009, 11:36 AM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
he probably never even had time to put the t on his "oh shi", things happen so fast at these speeds, your time to react is dramatically reduced, at this point the lines on the roads just look like dots. Luckily for us in the US if you got a capable car you can go to an SCCA event or pay the test fee and drive around a controlled track. Well actually you can run your 04 accord out to its 102 mph top speed if you pay for the event lol.
02-18-2009, 03:39 PM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
ORIGINAL: J.D.T
Well actually you can run your 04 accord out to its 102 mph top speed if you pay for the event lol.
Well actually you can run your 04 accord out to its 102 mph top speed if you pay for the event lol.
That's with the v-tec kicked in too!
02-25-2009, 04:44 AM
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RE: Porsche test driver killed in Germany driving prototype.
i blame the idiots for approving that stupid gaurd rail , they should be responsible for the death of that driver and they should be be brought to justice then the government should be sued even more
