Porsche testdriver killed in tragic crash
#1
02-13-2009, 06:49 AM
Porsche testdriver killed in tragic crash
Quick translation of the German article to English by me. My German sucks so don't expect to much.
"It should've been a testdrive like the dozens others which are undertaken daily on the Autobahn. Erlkönig (king of Elfs) - the 'codename' for a prototype - is to be tested by two drivers to further develop the handling characteristics of the vehicle before it's released to the public.
Both men have been on the go since 10 PM, using the Rheintal Autobahn as their testroad. In front is the 51 year old piloting a heavily camouflaged 911 convertible. His colleague follows suit in a Panamera chase car. Their shift is supposed to end at 6 AM but tragedy strikes around 2.45 AM when the 911 suddenly looses control and slams into the guardrail. The Panamera driver manages to avoid colliding into his colleague.
The killed testdriver is among the most experienced and skilled drivers, working at Porsche for 25 years according to Porsche's press liaison. Although the convertible is well protected against rollovers, it's body doesn't offer the same stiffness as its coupe counterpart Porsche states to the press. At which speed both cars were travelling is still unknown although high speed testing usually occurs on closed tracks. These kind of testdrives are meant to test the funcionality of the car in day to day conditions. The cost of the damage is estimated to be multiple tens of thousands of Euros."
Pretty gruesome pic below:
Unfall auf A 5 bei Weiterstadt: Tod im Erlkönig | Frankfurter Rundschau - Hessen
"It should've been a testdrive like the dozens others which are undertaken daily on the Autobahn. Erlkönig (king of Elfs) - the 'codename' for a prototype - is to be tested by two drivers to further develop the handling characteristics of the vehicle before it's released to the public.
Both men have been on the go since 10 PM, using the Rheintal Autobahn as their testroad. In front is the 51 year old piloting a heavily camouflaged 911 convertible. His colleague follows suit in a Panamera chase car. Their shift is supposed to end at 6 AM but tragedy strikes around 2.45 AM when the 911 suddenly looses control and slams into the guardrail. The Panamera driver manages to avoid colliding into his colleague.
The killed testdriver is among the most experienced and skilled drivers, working at Porsche for 25 years according to Porsche's press liaison. Although the convertible is well protected against rollovers, it's body doesn't offer the same stiffness as its coupe counterpart Porsche states to the press. At which speed both cars were travelling is still unknown although high speed testing usually occurs on closed tracks. These kind of testdrives are meant to test the funcionality of the car in day to day conditions. The cost of the damage is estimated to be multiple tens of thousands of Euros."
Pretty gruesome pic below:
Unfall auf A 5 bei Weiterstadt: Tod im Erlkönig | Frankfurter Rundschau - Hessen
Last edited by DJ; 02-13-2009 at 07:55 AM.
#3
02-13-2009, 07:15 AM
According to eye witnesses the speed they were going at was 'very high'. I left that out of the original post because that's a) pretty hard to determine for an untrained person at night b) it's a pretty subjective term, for some people 100 mph is already 'excessive speeding'. I guess he either swerved for something on the road or hit a slippery bit of surface.
#4
02-13-2009, 07:16 AM
Damn.
I looked at the other pics on the site. Definitely a cab, maybe even a Turbo. It has standard (vs. centerlock) wheels (look like Carrera Sports), the seats have covers on them (look like std Porsche seats)...
The worst part is that he had to know what was coming (the guardrail). I wonder if he had time to try and duck.
I looked at the other pics on the site. Definitely a cab, maybe even a Turbo. It has standard (vs. centerlock) wheels (look like Carrera Sports), the seats have covers on them (look like std Porsche seats)...
The worst part is that he had to know what was coming (the guardrail). I wonder if he had time to try and duck.
#5
02-13-2009, 07:46 AM
Sad news :( - Porsche Test Driver Dies Testing Pre-Production 911 
A 51-year-old died in Germany this morning following an accident involving a Porsche 911 cabrio prototype. The victim, a Porsche engineer, was driving the car on the A5 Autobahn when he lost control and slammed into a guard rail. The one-car accident happened at 2:45am just past the Weiterstadt exit on the motorway. Photos of the scene show the sports car wedged under the barrier, with the rail making contact near where the driver's head and torso would have been.
A spokesman for Porsche said the engineer "was one of the most experienced test drivers." The company representative confirmed that the car was a camouflaged cabrio covered with foil to mask parts of the vehicle's appearance. He also noted that, although it did not rollover, the convertible does not have the same resilience as a coupe.
Police and fire department personnel responded to the scene from nearby Darmstadt. The public prosecutor there has taken charge of the ongoing investigation. The location of the accident was midway between Frankfurt and Heidelberg, in the German province of Hessen. It is not yet known what caused the accident. Witnesses say the driver, who has worked for the German company for 25 years, was driving a prototype of a new Porsche 991 model at a high rate of speed. That stretch of road does not have a speed limit. He was being followed by a second Porsche testdriver in a camouflaged four-door Porsche Panamera prototype. That driver successfully evaded the crash, and escaped unharmed. Although the accident did take place at an unusual hour, both drivers were working on a 10pm to 6am shift. An initial damage estimate is said to be several thousands of Euro.
