Two killed in fiery Lamborghini crash at Las Vegas supercar experience

"A driver and an instructor were killed in a fiery crash in a Lamborghini at the “SpeedVegas” racetrack near Las Vegas Sunday afternoon.

The car slid off the circuit and into a concrete barrier lined with tires, before bursting into flames. Authorities believe both individuals were killed on impact.

The victims’ names have not been released. Authorities report that the driver was a client in his mid-30’s, while the instructor was a SPEEDVEGAS employee in his 50’s.

The “SpeedVegas” facility features a 1.5-mile 12-turn circuit where customers can pay to drive an exotic car. No prior supercar experience is necessary.

“Today, an accident on the track resulted in the deaths of a SPEEDVEGAS employee and a customer,” said SPEEDVEGAS co-founder and CEO Aaron Fessler in a statement. “We are fully cooperating with investigators at this time. We are devastated by this tragic event and extend our heartfelt sympathy to the families and to our SPEEDVEGAS team members who have lost a beloved colleague.”

An investigation into the incident is currently being conducted by The Occupational Safety and Health Administration."

Link

I've planned on doing that when I go on vacation to vegas actually.

The driving a supercar part only obviously

Whoa. I think there is someone on here that works that gig. It is either here or over on CC.

I just saw a friend "react" to the story on Facebook. A coworker went to another place in Vegas last year and it's on my bucketlist, but I had to see if this was the same gig. It is not. And from the comments not all places are created equal.

Wow, horrible...

I worked briefly for Xtreme Xeperience at NOLA last summer while Mental was still their chief instructor, and the potential for something like this is one of the reasons I decided it wasn't worth continuing.

Some people truly don't have the capability to drive a car at higher speeds, nor the self-preservation to know their limits.

I just stopped in this place a few weeks ago, just to check it out.
They make you sign a waiver of liability just to walk around their facility.

Honestly, it scared the crap out of me. Then again, I've never turned the wheel of a race or exotic car in my life. Possibly, neither have any of their customers. If that doesn't scare you, what would?

If I want to learn to drive a race car, I think I'd start someplace like the go-kart track, not with a $250,000 Lambo.

Start with a slow car with weak tires and good brakes, you will actually learn to drive. You will have great fun and it won't cost much.

You don't need a fast racey car to have great fun on the track, a slow safe car will really be more fun.

EvanR wrote: Honestly, it scared the crap out of me. Then again, I've never turned the wheel of a race or exotic car in my life. Possibly, neither have any of their customers. If that doesn't scare you, what would?

It's also $99/lap, just to provide you with extra incentive not to waste any time going slow and learning.

Rip to the dead. By the way, it cost me $50 bucks to try out a legends car at the Kentucky Motor Speedway about 20 years ago. I only got to go around a small track near the pits and I had more fun with that thing than I would with a Lamborghini.

They cut all the nanny'so off?

I have a few friends that have tried that on vacation. Knowing the caliber of driver they let do that I'd expect it to happen more often.

It's a damn shame, but I'm not going to condemn the idea. My friend, and fellow GRMer Mental, is an instructor for one of these schools. Yeah, from what I understand you can get a few morons, but most aren't out of control. Don't know the circumstances behind the crash, so who knows what really happened. Given the number of events like this all around the country, this kind of thing is rather rare. I haven't done it yet, but would like to some day.

What are the chances the driver froze with the gas pedal mashed to the floor?

My local indoor kart track has a 9hp kart. In order to be able to drive it you have to be able to drive their 6hp kart around the track under a specific average time that 8 out of 10 people wouldnt be able to do.

With this accident and the one at Disney speedway a while back you would think these businesses would put somone in a slower safer car for a couple laps to make sure they could handle the faster then highway speeds.

All this speculation about inexperience causing the crash with no information at all...

It was a Lambo. It might have caught fire first on it's own.

In reply to Wall-e:

I believe that something similar happened in Orlando a few years ago with an instructor being killed, as I recall the decision by those in charge of the operation with very little racing or track management experience to run counter race direction was the primary cause.

I've questioned these operations in the past for decisions such as the Orlando incident and I've always wondered who maintains theses cars, I doubt these operations have a certified Lambo, Ferrari, Lotus, Chevy/Cadillac, McClaren tech on staff, they could take them to a dealership for service, but how frequently and most such dealerships aren't exactly around the corner. How often are pads and rotors replaced and with what brand or compound? Same goes for tires, is OE rubber used and do they utilize match mounting and a high speed balancer (hunter 8100 or better). There are far too many questions about these operations and when reaching out to several for clarification, none have provided answers to the basic questions that I've listed.

I'm still thinking DreamRacing in Vegas as a bucketlist. They even have a Lamborghini Package of 4 Lambos. Link

In reply to Jerry:

apparently it should be the last thing to cross off on the bucket list.

Fr3AkAzOiD wrote: What are the chances the driver froze with the gas pedal mashed to the floor? My local indoor kart track has a 9hp kart. In order to be able to drive it you have to be able to drive their 6hp kart around the track under a specific average time that 8 out of 10 people wouldnt be able to do. With this accident and the one at Disney speedway a while back you would think these businesses would put somone in a slower safer car for a couple laps to make sure they could handle the faster then highway speeds.

How much of a difference is that really going to make? Yeah, it might weed out the people who shouldn't be behind the wheel of a pedal car, but that's about it. Not at all meaning to offend anyone, but pretty much anyone with a license can get into a car and do autox. It's 30-40mph in a parking lot with cones. No, of course they won't be competitive, but they can "handle" it. That's part of the attraction of it, anyone can go. You could also put someone out there on the road course in a Nissan Versa. It's going to go 60mph tops on the straights. Neither of those things will weed out people who can't handle high speed. These 600hp supercars are capable of things beyond most peoples understanding. Even a good driver can make a mistake and wreck. We don't know the circumstances here. The last incident I heard about was the one at Disney, and that was roughly 2 years ago.

I'm a fan of these schools, I think they're fun. Last season, I paid to have Mental drive my boys around in the car of their choice. My youngest, who was 8 at the time, chose the 458 Italia and my older one (who was 11) chose the Huracan. It was at Atlanta Motorsports Park, which has a half decent front stretch. Being an instructor, Mental is one hell of a race car driver, so he was putting the screws to the car. I stood right by the front stretch and watched. First, the sounds those cars make at full song is worth the price of admission, it's amazing. He got to about 125mph on the front stretch and my boys had the time of their lives.

Given the life these cars live, might I suggest that the engine may have puked it's oil, leading to the slide, crash and fire. Could have been absolutely not fault of the instructor or driver. Stuff happens!

May have nothing to do with it, and sure, I see people who aren't smart enough to ride the bus driving all the time. But that doesn't mean a mouth breather caused this.

I have friends that instruct for one of these venues. Sometimes those customers just 'freeze up' and bam!

It is entertaining to hear some of their horror stories.

It is a tragedy when anyone is killed on track. Condolences!

In reply to Klayfish: "Even a good driver can make a mistake and wreck. We don't know the circumstances here"

Yes. This. Let's please stop speculating about the driver's experience or lack-there-of or potential shoddy upkeep of the machines themselves. The reality is that these supercars even at 8/10 have razor thin margins. Even think of the pro drivers who have died over the years in crashes. It's tragic, but these things sometimes just happen.

Instructed a few of these. I no longer have the desire to honestly. Dumb people are dumb and sitting in that passenger seat, you have no control over what they are going to do. Had one "aggressive" customer damn near spin us at the IMS heading to the outside wall. That was not fun and pretty much negated the desire to sit in that seat again. Money was good, but nah... my sanity and safety are worth more.

I had a job in my younger years, working at an Indoor Kart track, you would be surprised to see the customers who would come in and get behind the wheel of those. They would bounce off every wall, drive flat out into a chicane, disregard safety on a every-race basis. It got as bad as a lady who drove flat out into a hair pin right hander, resulted in her breaking her wrist and a concussion. And these are 8hp Honda rental karts!! I can't imagine these same people in 550hp Lamborghinis and Ferraris. Just scary to me.

It kind of reminds me of when I went from a run-of-the-mill mountain bike to a top-notch one. Within a week I had crashed it and suffered extremely painful injuries. The fundamental problem is that a better machine doesn't make you a better driver, and in fact can make you overconfident. You can't buy experience, skill or wisdom.

Kreb wrote: You can't buy experience, skill or wisdom.

amen.