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06-23-2010, 02:55 PM | #1 |
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Toyota Chief Driver Dies in an Accident in a LFA - Sad Sad Day
News from: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/23/b...germany-ring/2
BREAKING: Toyota's chief test driver dies behind wheel of LFA in Germany by Damon Lavrinc (RSS feed) on Jun 23rd 2010 at 1:55PM We don't have much in the way of details yet, but according to a report out of Germany, Toyota's chief test driver has died in a crash on highway 410 near the Nurburgring after veering into the oncoming lane and colliding with two others test drivers driving a BMW. While the two BMW test drivers survived the crash, the yet-unnamed Toyota driver died behind the wheel of the recently spied LFA Nurburgring Edition he was driving. The report says that the driver of the LF-A was 67 years old and Toyota's chief test driver, which leads us to believe that he is Hiromu Naruse, In addition to being the company's chief test driver, Naruse is also Akio Toyoda's personal driver and the Godfather of the LFA. More information should be forthcoming. UPDATE: The two test drivers in the BMW sustained life-threatening injuries and one is in critical condition. UPDATE 2: Video of the scene added after the jump. UPDATE 3: Spiegel is confirming that Naruse was the driver. |
06-23-2010, 03:06 PM | #4 |
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yea can't believe it..
hard to believe how a 300k car could not protect the driver as well as a 50k 3-series i'd think the more performance car it is, the safer it is for crash tests..
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06-23-2010, 03:35 PM | #6 |
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That's terrible. It was only yesterday that the special edition LFA involved in this crash was spotted on the Ring. What's notable is that while this accident looks bad, I've seen significantly worse accidents where everyone involved was able to walk away. Being a layman, this accident doesn't strike me as one that would result in a fatality and two critical injuries.
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06-23-2010, 03:38 PM | #7 |
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Why wasnt this on the news...?
damn soccer, taking up all the channels. On a serious note this is un real man.
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06-23-2010, 03:40 PM | #8 | |
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I agree, but unlike most 2 car accidents where the cars get REALLY trashed, this was a head to head crash.
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06-23-2010, 03:43 PM | #9 |
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My father always told me growing up that Japanese cars used inferior recycled steel and thus were generally less safe in serious accidents. He thus refused to buy me anything Japanese while I still lived at home. Best not show him this story or I'll hear the lecture again.
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06-23-2010, 03:45 PM | #10 |
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I think this was a complete head to head crash and the force of impact was not absorbed and dissipated by the body of the car..
It's not whether which car is safer, there are so many factors that come into play during an accident, the angle of the car, where the driver's hand was, air bag deployment force, body position in relative to seatbelt.. so many things to think about A really sad day and my heart sunk when I read this news... My condolences and prayers are with his family. |
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06-23-2010, 03:45 PM | #11 |
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Is that a right hand drive car from the pics? That could explain why he was in the wrong lane at the wrong time...
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06-23-2010, 04:01 PM | #13 | |
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Because the engines in the back and BMWs is in the front, a head to head could have played in BMWs favor. I dont know, just assuming. edit: did not know the LF-A was front/mid engine
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06-23-2010, 04:15 PM | #14 |
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It probably also doesn't help that he is 67 years old. I am not saying old people are weak, I am simply stating that his body was more than likely a little more fragile and thus, injuries that may not kill a younger man, took there toll on him.
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06-23-2010, 04:18 PM | #16 |
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Lack of a motor in front should have created greater room for reduction of force in the crumple zone. Not sure how the LFA is designed but on paper, it should have an advantage.
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06-23-2010, 04:20 PM | #17 | |
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06-23-2010, 04:27 PM | #18 | |||
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06-23-2010, 04:29 PM | #19 | |
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edit: We do recycle steel here as well, but to my knowledge its not used often in auto manufacturing. |
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06-23-2010, 04:29 PM | #20 |
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That's horrible news
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06-23-2010, 04:30 PM | #21 |
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Carbon body, the frame and stiffeners are steel no?
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06-23-2010, 04:43 PM | #22 |
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the lfa has no steel, it's either carbon or aluminum
either way the whole talk on steel is silly, not like it's proven in this case strength of steel is the problem and this is the nur edition of the lfa (track version), info hasn't been confirmed, but it seems like there might be no air bag on this car (again, not 100% confirmed yet)
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