Sad news from the Petty Driving Experience at Disney. Passenger in a Lamborghini was killed when the car hit a guardrail. From the pictures, it looks to be a Gallardo. What seems shocking is that the guardrail end seems to be completely unprotected. Perhaps because they appear to have been driving clockwise, not in the typical NASCAR direction? Regardless, very sad to hear.
My cousin was there earlier in the week, he drove a 430 Scuderia. He says it was an awesome experience. I'll be curious to see what he has to say about this and the relative safety of the whole event.
Unprotected guard rail ends is an amateur mistake, you'd think Disney would be more health-and-safety-conscious than that. It would be cheap to guard both ends regardless of direction.
How do these work? Were the passenger and driver both paying customers or was one of them an employee? Sad way to go. Have the lawsuits been filed yet?
That's very sad, but also a ignores Race Track Design 101. My 3-year old would know not to allow a guard rail like that on a straight.
Passenger was an instructor: http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/fhp-investigates-fatal-incident-disney-property/nkr9W/
T.J. wrote: How do these work? Were the passenger and driver both paying customers or was one of them an employee? Sad way to go. Have the lawsuits been filed yet?
Sounds like the guy killed was an instructor, a paid employee: http://jalopnik.com/lambo-crash-at-disney-world-track-kills-passenger-1697421901
I can't imagine the guilt the driver must be feeling right now. 
That's tragic. For once the lawsuits will be entirely justified.
I can't believe berkeleying Jalopcrap has published the drivers name. That's disgusting so soon after the accident.
Adrian_Thompson wrote: I can't believe berkeleying Jalopcrap has published the drivers name. That's disgusting so soon after the accident.
Every media account seems to have it.
Yeah, skid marks look like he lost it running clockwise into the back side of the guardrail. someone overlooked that big time for them to be running that direction.
Tom_Spangler wrote:Adrian_Thompson wrote: I can't believe berkeleying Jalopcrap has published the drivers name. That's disgusting so soon after the accident.Every media account seems to have it.
And people wonder why that journalists are so derided (GRM excepted obvioulsy)
The Jalopnik article says the guy who died was the operations manager of the facility and yet it also seems they were running the course backwards.
Now that I know the passenger was the Operations manager, I guess his family should sue him for operating an unsafe event. Not sure how the driver would be sued in this case unless there is some evidence of them not following instructions or violating whatever waiver they signed.
Sure makes for a sucky vacation. The driver should have read the how to Disney right thread we had here a couple months ago. It didn't include impaling anyone on anything.
E36 M3 like this, even though I don't know anyone involved, sometimes makes me appreciate the fragility of life and reminds me to be thankful.
Here's what my cousin had to say:
I can totally see this happening. So you run counter clockwise on the back half of the track and then turn into the infield for a road course section. I've attached a photo of the layout, or you can pull it up on Google Earth. You pull out of pit lane going "backyards" or counterclockwise. You stop just before the road course joins the oval and wait for the instructor sitting next to you to say go. He tells you to drive up to 75MPH in the first tight corner of the oval, once you are past the apex of that turn, he tells you to floor it. Which you gladly do. You accelerate down the back stretch hitting 150MPH. And hitting the gear shift paddle while flooring it is amazing. As you come down the back stretch, there is a lane to turn off toward the road course section. The instructor tells you to brake just as you pull onto the road course pavement. You can see it on the picture where there is a touch of grass between the oval pavement and the inside road. You haul on the brakes to drop from 150 to 30MPH to turn right into the infield. If you go in too hot, you will go straight. And if you look on the picture of the speedway, there is a guardrail that you can run right into. I'm betting that is what happened here. It sounds like the driver was 24, and I remember the stupid stuff I did at that age. It's sad, because all the driving instructors are guys just like you and me. They started out doing some type of SCCA Autocross or something similar. They weren't good enough to be professional drivers, but they were good enough to land a job at a place like this. In the 30 minute classroom session before the drive, they describe the different cars, Audi R8, Ferrari F430 Scuderia, Ferrari 458, Lambo Gallardo, Nissan GT-R, etc. They go over the safety rules and describe the handling characteristics of the different cars. While you are in the car, there is a video and audio recording of everything that happens. There is a camera focused on the driver's face and one on the road ahead. Kind of like Top Gear when they do a Star in a Reasonably Priced Car. You can then buy the recording for $99 or something after your run. (I passed on that). I'm sure the video is being looked at from this accident. They probably hear the instructor screaming to brake. Couple things surprised me on the safety front when I drove. The first was when I climbed in the car. I was looking for a 5 point harness, and they just had the factory installed seat belt. The other was no roll cage or internal modifications to the car for extra protection. The F430 Scuderia I drove was a bone stock car. I did have a helmet to wear. But other than that, just a seat belt. There was a microphone and headset in my helmet so I could talk with the instructor. Ironically, they were giving away old racing tires for free. But I don't remember seeing a tire barrier ahead of that guardrail. It's obviously a dangerous business, but this accident was preventable.
Tom_Spangler wrote:T.J. wrote: How do these work? Were the passenger and driver both paying customers or was one of them an employee? Sad way to go. Have the lawsuits been filed yet?Sounds like the guy killed was an instructor, a paid employee: http://jalopnik.com/lambo-crash-at-disney-world-track-kills-passenger-1697421901 I can't imagine the guilt the driver must be feeling right now.
After a little googling, it appears that the driver was there for a birthday treat. Not that it wasn't going to stick to his memory for the rest of his life anyway...
So mom and Dad may have picked up the tab? A lot of sadness all around.
In reply to Tom_Spangler:
It took me a while to figure out what Brent was saying, but I think it's in a different place to where he thinks it happened. It looks to be an access point in the Armco.
Tom, something else. It looks like that long corner is about 150deg with some quick math, but opening on the way out running clockwise. Brent says he was hitting 150mph, thats berkeleying fast. When we did the NASCAR school we were only hitting 140mph and that was in ex Cup chassis with 400hp crate motors. They were definitly lower power to weight ratio than a Gallardo. It's amazing they don't (didn't, I predict the end of the school) have any safety requirements but helmet. We had full cages, nomex and HANS.
Adrian_Thompson wrote: In reply to Tom_Spangler: It took me a while to figure out what Brent was saying, but I think it's in a different place to where he thinks it happened. It looks to be an access point in the Armco.
The pics from Jalopcrap agree with the wreck being at the bottom of Mickey's chin.
So why in the hell were they running the course backwards with the barrier overlap facing the driver? I know they make you sign a crap ton of paperwork before going out there, but that seems like a huge failure of the track operator.
This is strange, I am seriously seriously upset about this. Accidents happen, we read about them as car and motorsport enthusiasts, they are sad, but life goes on. I"ve read about other accidents at track days, schools, HPDE's etc and again, it's sad, but I have more of a detached interest in what went wrong and how can the sport, and myself learn from this to prevent it happening to others or me int he future. For some reason I am feeling very very unsettled and upset about this particular accident. Maybe I'm getting old..
Adrian_Thompson wrote: Tom, something else. It looks like that long corner is about 150deg with some quick math, but opening on the way out running clockwise. Brent says he was hitting 150mph, thats berkeleying fast. When we did the NASCAR school we were only hitting 140mph and that was in ex Cup chassis with 400hp crate motors. They were definitly lower power to weight ratio than a Gallardo. It's amazing they don't (didn't, I predict the end of the school) have any safety requirements but helmet. We had full cages, nomex and HANS.
That is weird. I once did a ride & drive with Marlboro (of all things) at MIS. They used ex IROC v6 cars with full safety gear and only rides as a passenger (pro drivers) - what amazed me is that they even had runflat goodyear slicks.
I'm shocked they didn't have more safety gear either. The car we rented to run on the Ring had a full cage and harnesses (one of my friends ended up not being able to ride along because the passenger seat wasn't adjustable and he was too big for the harness to fit around :P) - helmets weren't required though not discouraged (I didn't have room to bring mine). I'm pretty sure even the most entry-level, non-race-rubbered car they rented had a cage.
I've instructed at a similar event, except ours was an autocross and not at a goddam race track. Customers are given a helmet. Instructors don't have one. The cars are stock except traction control is on.
I did right seat work a grand total of once, and it was once too many for my tastes. Some people are good at it though. In my brief experience, there is no way, no how I would right seat work with someone off the street in that kind of car with no safety gear. For the most part, the average driver has no concept of controlling that kind of car. Even with nannies, looping one is easy. You still have physics and poor ability working against you. My experience was in a Viper, and one guy, after one lap I got out and wouldn't get back in. Not saying that's what happened here, but saying the model of this driving experience appears to be flawed on the surface. Very sad for all involved.
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