http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...cleId=124526#2

An 18 year old kid with his Dad's M5 wanted to see how fast it could go... tragic.

 

Sad stuff. I cannot imagine letting my 18 year old son drive a 500hp car, even assuming that he is mature beyond his years which this kid, unfortunately, apparently was not. Anybody seriously considering a car with this kind of power who doesn't already have years of genuine hot shoe experience under their belt likely needs to look into a good driving school. An 18 year old like this just has no business behind the wheel whatsoever.

 

It drives me absolutely nuts when teenagers "think" they have experience behind the wheel. Regardless if the car is 500 hp or 50 hp, when in the wrong hands it can kill someone, just the faster the car the more experience a driver needs to be able to handle it properly. This unfortunately is another perfect example of someone being extremely stupid.

 

nomatter how much experience, how much skill, how much confidence you have, your never completely in control, speed=death if your not carful, this is why there needs to be tracks, places where things can be better monitored and controled, with safety equipment, paremedics, and knowledge to be shared, whether it be a young driver, or somebody who has been on the road for 15 years, you can always learn somthing new, everybody here knows, at least i hope, these cars we drive, they are beautiful, they are fast, but we can always mess up, human error is bound to happen, here is a tragic example, my prayers go out to those young mens familys

 

This story is getting LOTS of press in the automotive community. In this week's issue of Autoweek (Challenger on cover), Dutch Mandel talked about this story. Its a tragic incident and one I bet the father won't forgive himself for. I for one would NEVER give a car like that (or a 300 hp GT) to anyone who isn't prepared to handle the power.

 

man thats crazy

my kids will never be let loose with that kind of power. not unless im in the passenger seat coaching them.....

sad story.
i hope their friends learn a lesson from it.

you play, you pay.

 

i'm sorry but i have a hard time drumming up sympathy for this kid.
This happend about 45 mins south of me an all i can say is thank got it wasn't on I-75.

Over confident little **** is how i sum up this story
sorry if that offends but suck is life

 

This is the kind of story that you save for your children when they grow up.
They should read this and understand what happened.

 

I would have probably killed myself at 18 too if I was handed the keys to a 500HP sports car. I did drive an 800hp Mustang on the dragstrip starting at age 16, but that was a controlled environment with very different circumstances. It wasn't like "hey, I'll just go take the racecar out for a spin and see how fast I can go".

Being able to do that definitely made me a better driver though. I really got a good feel for high speed driving, control, and basic physics of automobiles. I'm all for going fast at a young age, but only in a controlled enviroment like a racetrack, with plenty of people to help and teach.

 

I dont like talking bad about the deceased, but this little ****er had it coming. I woulda said its good he did it on an airstrip rather than public roads, but unfortunately he still managed to take four of his friends along.

 

Agreed. I feel bad that his life ended so young, and the heartbreak his family and friends are feeling, BUT he was selfish in his decision to drive like that and unfortunately he learned what consequences were that morning.

That one girl in the video stated it best....

"They were stupid... what was going through their minds?"

 

I honestly really have to blame the parents for this tragedy. It saddens me deeply to think about all these poor families over this single morons mistake, HOWEVER, that being said, if morons moronic father would've given him the 100hp Celica he deserves as a new driver, this wouldn't (most likely) have happened. There are thousands of grown adults that cannot handle a car like the M5. A completely spoiled, inexperienced KID of 18 years qualifies as one of the LEAST LIKELY able to exercise the self control necessary to drive this kind of vehicle.

Once again this proves that just because you have money doesn't mean you're all that smart.

My heart goes out to all of the families of the passengers in that car.

 

i remember getting in trouble with my moms saturn when i was 16, i can only imagine what i would have done had i been in a 500hp car

kids this immature should not be put in the position to play with this much HP

 

After seeing the excerpted posts from the forum he lurked on - my feelings exactly. He probably would have killed himself anyway with 400 less HP. It doesn't take a lot of power to kill yourself (and others) with a car, just poor judgment. More horsepower just makes it quicker and easier to do so.

 

I agree with the overall theme of the posts here, but I dont think it's the type of car that made the difference. The issue here is the size of the driver's head, not the size of the car's engine. Most economy cars can reach speeds of 130+. As the long as the car has electronic aides such as TCS and stability control, even ABS, I think its a safe ride. The only issue with a faster car is that the driver is more inclined to "see what it can do." What killed this kid was not the power of the car, but his stupidity and immaturity.

 

I think we can see the difference here in one thing. It's his dad's car. I don't know about you guys, but I put hard work and sweat into every dollar I used/am using to buy mine. I wouldn't go faster than the speed of traffic if you paid me. That is because I am not going to risk having something that I have worked for go to waste. Kids who just receive something, are going to trash it, because they have no reason to respect what they have. That applies even to some people on this board I believe, and I doubt that most people who receive a car without earning it are going to wreck it. Especially a first car.

 

Fellas, fellas.....

We have all done stupid things when we were younger and this was no different, except he paid for it with his own life. Let's have a little respect for the kid.
His parents and his decision to drive like that are to blame.

I am very thankful that I didn't have a 500hp car when I was younger or I would have probably done something stupid too.

When starting out in the driving world we need a hunk of junk to crash and learn in, not a 500hp M5 or whatever....

 

This is something you don't se these days! A large majority of "kids" are given everything they want and don't have to earn anything! My dad told me if you want something bad enough you will work for it!

I have worked full time since I was 16 years old and I still take care of everything I own like it may never be replaced. My dad got me a loan for my first car ($1000, 12 montly payments of $99.00) when I was 16. I paid it off in 6 months. I never raced on the street, even as a teenager. If I wanted to have fun or someone wanted to race me they could come to the track Saturday Night.

To this day 31 years later I have never had a wreck, and I have been in Law Enforcement for 21 years and been in over 100 high speed chases (although I know accidents happen and I will not say I will never have a wreck).

I feel for the parents of the passengers in the BMW. I have a 16 year old son that just started driving and he is not yet allowed to carry passengers with him and won't be until he can prove he is responcible and has good driving skills.

 

The worst part of the story is that he had people with him. Being iresposible is one thing but putting other peoples lives i danger is just moronic.

 

I think its probably a very good idea to give any hormone laden teenager both defensive and performance driving classes before setting them loose with any car, especially any car with more performance than an '88 Volvo DL wagon.

Standard drivers ed in the US is plainly pathetic. A defensive driving course would at least show the budding Mario Andretti that indeed both he/she, and the cars they drive, do have limits and then how to handle them at those limits.

A performance driving course would be even better as you just know they're going to drive fast anyways as soon as they're out of earshot of mommy and daddy, so at least have them do it well and perhaps a touch more responsibly.

While obviously not a panacea to teenage hooning, at least it would be better than just sending out the little immortals with little more than parental denial to shield them.