Rudy

If they haven't already, they need to close all those threads in which Josh posted something controversial in...

EuroCarFan

I think he only posted in one thread; the one where he asked how to program the car to max settings. I believe they closed the thread but it's not deleted.

Rudy

That's good. At this point, I'm not sure if that thread should be deleted (certainly if the family requests it) but closing it is the proper thing to do at this point in time...

Rudy

Here's a photo of the five victims...

(Josh Ammirato, the driver, is on the lower-left.)

EuroCarFan

So young.

I was reading the news articles and watching the video interviews of their friends. Brought tears to my eyes.

JStraw

By no means I mean to take away from this tragic incident, and the turmoil their families are going through. But, nevertheless, this accident got me thinking. about the speed of the car when it actually left the embankment.

1. It doesn't matter what top speed they attained. The skid/yaw marks indicate that they tried to stop, but were unable to.
2. To calulate this speed, I had to ask my friend for help, who came up with this:

Here's the speed of the car as it left the embankment: approx 65 mph. How was this arrived at?? read on.....

1. Compute time to fall 70feet (25 meters). This is the difference between at 80ft high embankment , and the car struck the tree at a height of 15ft.
s(distance) = Initial Velocity x time + 1/2 * Acceleration * t^2
25 = 0* t + .5 * 9.8* t^2
t = 2.25 seconds

2. compute velocity to travel 200ft in 2.25 seconds.
s(distance) = Initial Velocity x time + 1/2 * Acceleration * t^2
66.6 meters = Initial V x 2.25 + .5 * 0 * t^2
66.6 = init V x 2.25
v = 66.6 /2.25
v = 29 m/s
v = 104400 m/hr = 104 kph = 65 mph


So you will see that all it took was 65mph which is not too fast.

Just as the other have said..... Please, Please, be careful.

Russ1974

Does this not assume (wrongly) that the car weighed virtually 0, and had no air resistance? at 65mph I'd expect it to jump a little then run down the embankment, not fly 200ft, that seems way too low. But then I'm no mathematician.

C's Bimmer

Aside from this being a really, really sad story, especially after seeing the pictures of all 5 boys, the fact that this kid posted that thread on M5Board 6 hours prior to his death is really crazy. I shared this story with my wife, who knows I frequent M5Board, and she was totally freaked out. Especially the reply where one member says "You will end up on the News".

SilberGrauE60

This reminds me of the 4th generation Corvette ZR-1. These were built from 1990-1995 and included a key-operated "valet" switch locked out the upper speed ranges, limiting power to a normal 250 horses to prevent inexperienced hands from taking advantage of the car's outstanding power. Otherwise, the LT-5 engines produced between 375hp and 405hp depending on model year. Not a bad idea...

Here's the link, http://www.zr1netregistry.com/ZR1_about.htm

EuroCarFan

This one was especially eerie:

"I completely understand where you are coming from, assuming that I am irresponsible...that is definitely understandable. I do sometimes make bad decisions but I am young and I do drive safe and I will not endanger the lives of others."