Yeah, there are people that can kill themselves in even 1.1 Punto, forbidding something is not a cure to problem, you can only limit symptoms with that.

If person likes to enjoy from speed, let them, make it possible so that they can enjoy from speed, make so they can enjoy racing, teach them responsibility, facts about physics and car control in progress.

When I was kid we had chance to go to icy lake at winter and learn to drive there, we had great time, nobody did not got hurt and I would say that we got basic car control pretty good compared to those that haven't had such experience, also we learned something about limits.

Quote from sgt.flippy :

I can't help but wondering why so few people say: what a moron he was?

Because it is quite obvious without us pointing that aspect out

Quote from Stang70Fastback :

Yeah, I mean, had the driver been properly educated he would have realized that the M5 was obviously loaded beyond takeoff capacity and would have aborted. He simply couldn't get enough lift to clear the trees with that many people in it.

I know this will make me sound like an awful person, but I laughed...
"M5 Orbiter to Houston, we might have a problem"

my deepest sympathy goes to the families of the lads who weren't even driving the car. But you can't overlook the fact an 18 year old had a 500+hp car, i guess he learned the lesson the hard way

Quote from Jakg :

Clarksons runway ends in grass, not a fecking massive jump (which sounds pretty stupid imo - even more stupid is the fact they could just drive into it!)

Small airfields near urbanized areas usually have a high jump right after each end of the runway - to prevent the jetwash from making cars flip over on the nearby roads. Its either an L shaped piece of metal (or an array of those), or more commonly, an embankment. And on a wide runway is very easy to loose perspective and think you can still brake cause it feels like your moving slowly...

Wow, that's really awful, especially when you read those posts in that forum as they start to put the pieces together.

Must have been horrendous in the car as they began to realise they were about to run out of runway.

It's a real shame, that Josh kid didn't come across as being a chavy arsehole, just a young lad awash with testosterone and teenage hormones, and we've all had that. Granted not many of us had the keys to a 500bhp car, but, if i'm being honest, i think if i had an M5 at that age i'd have tried pushing it to the limit at the first opportunity too.

Maybe there is a case for limiting car performance/power to age. When you get older and have had a few knocks, you begin to realise you ain't indestructible, and are therefore naturally more cautious. (not boring, just more aware of the right and wrong times to take risks)

Quote from Stigpt :

And on a wide runway is very easy to loose perspective and think you can still brake cause it feels like your moving slowly...

Thats one good point. I mean compare driving 220km/h on the Oval and doing it in Southcity. The speed feels quite diffrent. Driving on this wide, flat runway isn't compareable to a highway and makes it hard to guess you braking space.

I know he still was a moron

Quote from Tweaker :

This video opened my eyes to a pretty horrific sequence of events. And it definitely changed my mind about speeding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmJjQekIaAs

Some commercial from the DOE?

That is shown most nights during the ad breaks over here on Irish television.

Quote from sgt.flippy :

I can't help but wondering why so few people say: what a moron he was?

Agreed.

We can bang on all day about him being young and driving a fast car was the problem here, but in reality he was being an idiot.

In conclusion, don't drive fast down a road with a massive great drop at the end of it.

i think everyone here thinks he was a bit of a dunce. at least maybe a bit... but it's frowned upon to talk badly about the dead. we all do dumb things. its just what he did happened to get himself and 4 others killed.

Surely he saw that he was running out of runway and he saw a great big huge drop?

Surely he had a look around the runway beforehand?

Trust him to pick the only runway I've ever seen with two massive drops at either end

Quote from Tweaker :

This video opened my eyes to a pretty horrific sequence of events. And it definitely changed my mind about speeding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmJjQekIaAs

Some commercial from the DOE?

Adverts that work? This is the only speeding one that pops into my head occasionally when thinking about driving. Makes you think.

The worse advert I ever saw like that was one of a kid playing football in his back garden, dad watching from a window doing the dishes looking proud. Then cut to a driver who is speeding and hitting the curb, he spins out and flips the car. Next shot you see is the dad drop the plate he was drying and run to the door. Then you see the garden fence destroyed, and a car on its roof where the little boy was playing football. Those adverts have an effect, the problem is that the people who see them are not the ones who will jump into a car and speed past a school at 50mph.

It is sad that this guy was warned the day before, it is even worse that he had his friends with him too. Alcohol would of slowed his reactions down enough, then take into account the darkness and limited view he would have and the complete lack of experiance, it was only going to end one way.

Quote from JO53PHS :

Surely he saw that he was running out of runway and he saw a great big huge drop?

Surely he had a look around the runway beforehand?

I think someone on that forum said they were doing it at 3am, so i guess he didn't see he was running out of runway until it appeared in the beam of the headlights.

Quote from Mazz4200 :

I think someone on that forum said they were doing it at 3am, so i guess he didn't see he was running out of runway until it appeared in the beam of the headlights.

Well in that case all I can say is what a wally.

Why 3am?

Quote from JO53PHS :

Well in that case all I can say is what a wally.

Why 3am?

Cops won't be alerted so easily, I guess

But why there can't be speed party every other week or something like that? Kids could be drive fast safely...

Why not drive fast on a race track???

Quote from JO53PHS :

Well in that case all I can say is what a wally.

Why 3am?

I suppose they knew it would be closed and empty at night. It's only a small private landing strip, so there's no landing lights or control tower (to chase them off). So they would have known they wouldn't have had to dodge any planes trying to land.

The sensible thing to do was a trial run, and put a cone or something a couple of hundred feet before the end of the runway. But the news report said they found skid marks stretching 80ft at the runways edge !. Just makes you think how fast they were going !

Quote from JO53PHS :

Why not drive fast on a race track???

Most kids don't care for corners, they just want a nice long straight stretch of tarmac to get their cars top speeds.

I remember reading somewhere that Hulk Hogan's son wrote off the 700bhp Supra whilst trying to race someone on a straight road. Rear lost traction, veered to the side and clipped the curb, BAM! The car spun out and hit everything near it.

There are organised events for top speed runs but kids don't do organisation either.

Anyone with half a brain wouldn't buy an M5 at that age, if they did then I don't think they'd have their foot to the floor everywhere they go. They (as proved) won't last very long. They could do the same in a cheapy little hatchback and not last long either.

Another thing I don't get is some countries allowing people to drive at the age of 16, and some places younger. UK is being or has been raised from 17 to 18 to try stop so many younger people getting in accident and hurting themselves and others. How 1 year makes a difference, I don't know.

At the end of the day it's all down to common sense. Any propelled vehicle can be dangerous, even if it's not moving.

Quote from Mazz4200 :

I suppose they knew it would be closed and empty at night. It's only a small private landing strip, so there's no landing lights or control tower (to chase them off). So they would have known they wouldn't have had to dodge any planes trying to land.

The sensible thing to do was a trial run, and put a cone or something a couple of hundred feet before the end of the runway. But the news report said they found skid marks stretching 80ft at the runways edge !. Just makes you think how fast they were going !

Or even simpler, go to the end of the runway with the drop, turn around and go fast in the opposite direction.

Quite sad really, but a 18 year old with an M5 is just crazy, I know if I got one i'd be the happiest 18 year old alive, but it doesn't mean I agree with it.

RIP to all who died, even the driver but have you ever thought that it wasn't actually the owner of the car who was driving? It's 3am, quiet airstrip and you have this new M5, your mates are begging for a go so you take them some place quiet where they 'can't do anything wrong. I know he was only 18 but why didn't he just go flying down the motorway?

Im a kid...But Kid's that drive think they are invincable and think they can take anything that happens..And you also not supposed to drive faster that your lights can show...

Quote from beefyman666 :

There are organised events for top speed runs but kids don't do organisation either.

If there are, I don't know of any. Sadly, in the US there aren't such things as "track days" (probably for liability reasons, but IDK) so kids do not HAVE an output for their energy.

You'd thing that for liability reasons these events WOULD EXIST for this very reason.

Either way, driving full-bore down a runway at night with no way of seeing where the end is is RETARDED - no matter what the circumstances were. At the very least, anyone with one iota of common sense would have had a friend park his car near the end of the runway with the lights on to mark the spot to brake... but even so it wasn't very smart.

A very sad incident, but 18 years of age in the hands of a new and powerful vehicle is ridiculous really.
I'm 16 years of age, a few months shy of 17 and can't wait to apply for my provisional so I can drive my mum's 1.3l Ford KA.
She has warned me plenty of times about my driving (no my driving isn't bad :P), and she is worried (as any parent should be), and I've tried to relax her nerves, saying to her that I won't act like an immature boy racer who wants to show off to his mates.
I just want my licence, a car and to ENJOY the DRIVING.

If I want (or had the money) to buy a vehicle such as an M5 or an equivalent, I surely won't get it before I was 25.

I remember seeing an incident a few weeks back, mum, a friend and I parked up for a break at a mini-roundabout, we saw a Citroen Saxo Full of kids coming up the road at 60-70mph (on a 30mph limit), he hit the roundabout in such a way through the back end out, he tried correcting the fishtail but failed miserably, luckily he didnt hit any curbs and ended up facing the wrong way. It's incidents like that which make the rest of the young drivers look bad in one way or another.

I agree with all you guys about speeding and all that, but my question is why all 5 in the car speeding?, damn thats just crazy, it should been like in turns. First you,next you and so on, and i think that there was a distraction from one of the 4, and the driver just lost control or something and they crashed, the think that surprises me is how the car flied and hit the tree, and how the car ended all made shit, and damn... i dont want to imagine bodies..300kph+ for sure
And for sure, M5 for a 18yo boy, but if you have money why not.... i have a clasmate (16yo) that has an audi, but the money is the thing, and im sure parents want the best for their sons and daughters, thats why they get cool things when money is an issue....
and and i know worse... 16 with ----- nvm