LG John

Thread Here

The short version:

• 18yo lad asks on M5 board about how to drive his split new M5 better
• He is met with skepticism regards his age/ownership but advised to be very careful
• Usual doom mongering and, 'you are going to kill yourself' posts.
• A matter of hours later he does precisely that and take 4 other lads with him

Tragic, sad....and dare I say perhaps expected

News report that links AmericanM5 to the accident

Brendan Hughes

ScooByer Trade

What angers me is the parents allowing an 18 year old to drive it. You know for a fact he has not learned enough about driving before passing his test. Also giving an 18 year old an M5, is like giving the entire stock of sweets to a 5 year old ( you realise you had enough and don't want more ). This is a sad fact of life and condolences to all the families.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Spooky and very sad.

Hoow many times have we had 18yr olds on here asking about getiing a 200bhp Scooby and told the they're too young etc...

What on earth was this kid doing behind the wheel of an 500bhp M5.

It's just ASKING for trouble and, tragically, this is exactly what 5 families have now got!

Ns04

andythejock01wrx

This quote on on US website was particlarly prophetic :

"A member from Australia again cautioned Ammirato to be careful.

"My only bit of advice matey -- If you crash in a big way expect to be on the news," he wrote. "Enjoy and resist the temptation to drag others at the lights." "

V sad. Agree with Scoobyer.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

He appears to of been on an airstrip when it happened !!

LG John

John Travolta's airstrip no less. You can look it up on Google earth and see the embankment he flew off and the trees that he hit.....and also John's planed parked into the front of his house.

sti-04!!

DB07P1

kinda scary wen i think bout it!me being an 18 yr old 320 bhp scooby owner! mind the power between my car and a 507 bhp e60 m5 may be quite different!

spectrum48k

aw, that's so sad

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

A lot of 18 year old lads kill themselves in 50 bhp shopping cars, but giving them 10 times the power is mental, so eager to show off with so little experience.

A M5 is big and capable, the electronics sort a lot out as otherwise it would be undriveable for a lot of people, especially in the wet, I suspect that it just went that fast and ran out of runway.

Turbohot

^ What he said.

Wish

iTrader: (2)

The Parents bought it for him...


I read this when it first happened, very sad indeed

Fuzz

That's the trouble with killing yourself, you don't get a chance to learn from it!

Tiggs

Swings and roundabouts - at least others dont get a chance to be his second screw up.

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

Very sad

The utter irresponsibility of the parents defies belief; what idiot gives a car with half that power to an 18yo?

I know there are 18yo's on this board with cars with that power - at risk of sounding patronising, PLEASE, let this be a warning to you. I went through my phase of crashing almost everything I drove - - thankfully, they weren't capable of 150+mph, or I probably wouldn't be here now.

The slightly ironic thing is that perhaps Joshua was more sensible than his dad - at least he did this on a private runway, not a public road were the consequences would have been even worse than they already are.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Yep, by all accounts this was a good kid, not some toerag who'd pinched his dad's car and, as you said, the incident occurred on a private runway rather than the public road.

What this demonstrates is that even a good kid is still a kid, and a 500bhp car is no place for them.

Ns04

Shark Man

Says he went off the end of an air strip:

Reading into that it seems he sucummed to the M5's brakes moreso than its power

At least he wasn't doing it on a public road...now that say volumes (considering what drivers you do get on public roads at any age )

corradoboy

I teach a 17yo lad to drive who goes to a posh school in Harrogate. Although his family are just comfortable, and I get the impression they forsake some things to ensure his education, he tells me his peers at school are mostly from more privileged backgrounds. One of his 17yo classmates drives an Audi R8 Without knowing the lad or his family I can only judge from my own perspective, but I would prefer young people build their experience over time and mature into good drivers. I'd guess he might be a cocky know-it-all spoilt brat, but that would be unfair, as he may have driven in junior motorsport from a young age and could easily be a better driver than many of us. Look at Lewis Hamilton for instance. It does seem like a recipe for disaster, and in the posted thread it unfortunately was just that. From a sensible perspective, if your 1st car is something so special where do you go from there ? The excitement of building up through the performance leagues to try and reach your dream car can last a lifetime, and most of us will never achieve the dream. If I were his Dad he'd have a Mini Cooper or similar, and maybe he could drive my supercar occasionally under my supervision. At least in an R8 he might only kill one other, depending on what he might hit !

Sad story.

Brendan Hughes

Went to uni with a guy who'd been bought a Ferrari 308 GTS for his 18th (this was in about 1986) but normally commuted in in his 911 carrera. His dad was some sort of Greek millionaire (no, not Onassis). A few years later he traded in the carrera for a 911 turbo, a MY89-ish model, the one with a bit of a widowmaker reputation. Last I heard of him might have been 4 yrs after that, still doing well and I think trying to be a barrister. Lovely guy. I assume he's still around.

billythekid

Hm, its incidents like this that create attitudes about fast cars and young men that completely ruin the enjoyment of fast cars by legitimate responsible young drivers.

I myself was a participant in the "Young Driver of the Year" aged 17 some years ago, I am sure that this kind of competition would probably never happen now due to all the PC / H&S "rules" but its what got me into fast cars and racing and SAFE road driving.

I am not saying that every 18 year old with a serious motor is going to be responsible, and I agree its the parents that should be holding some of the blame, but those that can be responsible should be respected and be able to enjoy their car, in the appropriate place.

The first thing I would be doing with any of my kids is getting them onto a skid pan before they get anywhere near the road, a cheap and controlled way to learn some car control.

corradoboy

My lad is 12 weeks old and I'm already plotting his first go-kart, track-car and where I'll try to get him seen by the right people Of course, he may decide he'd rather be a ballerina than a racing driver

KiwiGTI

It's the ultimate lesson - he won't be doing that again. Pity he had to take others with him.

RS Grant

Tragic.


Cheers,
Grant

Brendan Hughes

Unfortunately every shred of evidence shows that those attitudes correctly apply to the vast majority of young drivers.

If you want to say there should be a new S (Superdriver!) plate awarded to 18-23 yr olds after extensive training and testing, I'd be the first to sign the petition for it.

ScooByer Trade

I will be the second to sign it.

Shark Man

With the way things on the road are going, I'd like to see that for every driver of any age.

Competence across the whole board has gone down the pan.

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

well at least he was off the highway and on private land,a little bit of common sense was in his head at the time,shame the skill didn tmatch.

RIP

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

thats terrible

c_maguire

This kind of thing does make you want to shout at somebody, although those you might want to shout at are suffering more than anyone else already.
When I was 18 (roughly) twenty years back I managed to somersault a car end to end three times with a mate who started out sitting alongside me and ended up in the back (neither of us were wearing seatbelts). It started on the road and finished up two gardens later and in truth it is lucky no-one got hurt (apart from a bit of concussion for matey in the boot). It started when he turned up just as I'd finished replacing the carburettor diaphragm and I decided we should take her for a spin (literally, as it turned out) so I could show him how well she was running. It had been raining (this seemed to be a common link in all of my 4-wheeled excursions from the road at the time) and the rest is history.
One of the reasons I'm still here (and much wiser) is that when I was 18 I had to buy my own cars and I couldn't afford to buy what I wanted. So we were in a crappy old Talbot Sunbeam with a 900cc Imp engine. When I was young pretty much all 18 year olds drove like prats (and drink-driving was par for the course across the age range). Nowadays I would say your average 18 year old is less irresponsible behind the wheel (partly due to a change in attitude much the same as has happened with drink-driving) but for those that aren't then their transport is a damned sight faster. I think for some people (probably mainly boys) crashing cars, falling off bikes, scrapping etc is a kind of rite of passage to adulthood or at least that's what used to be the case. It used to be fun. But now the 60bhp Escort dog is a 165bhp shiny Astra your dad gave you for your birthday and the guy you tangle with might have a knife in his pocket.
Kids need to grow up a little slower and parents need to learn to say no.
Kevin