About a year ago, there was that horrific Carrera GT crash at California Speedway which killed the driver and passenger. Now, the passenger's wife is suing a lot of people.
A quick recap. Passenger (Ruhl) was having problems with his Lambo, and was complaining of overheating. The driver of the Carrera GT (Keaton) offered a ride in his Carrera GT, to try to convince him it was the car to buy. Keaton hit a wall at about 145mph on the front straight when a Ferrari pulled onto course late and too slowly causing it to enter around when Keaton was passing the hot-pit exit.
Full Article:
http://www.businessweek.com/autos/co...608_466074.htm
Those being sued:
Quote:
• Keaton Estate - Failure to inform Rudl that he had been having handling problems with the Porsche, and that he had a recent incident where he lost control of the car.
• Racetrack owners and operators - Maintaining an unsafe racetrack as a result of inadequate maintenance, signage, and safety controls, and not moving back the concrete barriers after creating the children's play area.
• Ferrari Owners Club and the flagman - Negligently operating the track day by sending the Ferrari onto the track at the wrong time, violating their own rules by allowing passengers in the cars, failing to disclose Keaton's dangerous driving propensities, and allowing the track day to occur without moving the concrete barriers back to where they belonged.
• Ferrari driver - Not paying attention to the flagman, entering the track improperly, driving too slowly, and moving directly into the path of the Porsche.
• Porsche - Product liability for selling an unsafe car. This falls into three levels of defect.
1. There was some mechanical problem with this particular car that made it handle badly.
2. There are design defects with the Carrera GT that make it a poor-handling car, mainly tail-happy.
3. Third: The Carrera GT is too difficult a car to handle at high speeds for the average driver without instruction.
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What really worries me is this quote from an event organizer on NASIOC.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by mh_WRX
Being a HPDE/TT event organizer and competition group we are following this one closely. If they do manage to win, it may spell the end of club level HPDE as we know it. Event Insurance may go the way of Malpractice and price all of us smaller organizations out of the Market, and price the remainders so that only the affluent can afford them. And they are the ones who keep making these types of mistakes and filing the lawsuits.
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