[Buckaroo]

Five young men died Saturday when the car they were in drove off the end of a private airstrip near Ocala, Florida, became airborne for 200 feet and slammed into an oak tree, authorities said.


Five dead after car crashes off end of private airstrip - CNN.com

[PB2K]

even runways end

[ctt1wbw]

It's called a break peddle. Why can't people figure that out?

[Oisín]

F*ckin’ hell!

Either that airstrip is on top of a very steep precipice, or these guys were going hella fast. Flying 200 feet, hitting the tree 15 feet above the ground, splitting the car in two, one passenger landing 40 feet away? That’s horrible.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by ctt1wbw 

It's called a break peddle.

I guess for awl intense porpoises, it could be called that.




And as for that horrifying crash: I sympathize with their families.

[ctt1wbw]

Hey, cut me some slack. I've been awake since midnight and I've only had one pot of coffee so far.

[Sherman Homan]

FTA: The engine block of the BMW was completely dislodged and wreckage from the car was found over a 200-square-foot area, the FHP spokesman said.

Something about this article is just not right. First of all, a private air strip a mile and a half long with an oak tree 200 feet from the end? And as far as the debris scattered over a 200 square foot area, that is about the size of a garage bay. Even so, my prayers for the living.

[analogika]

satellite image of the runway and aprons

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by analogika 

satellite image of the runway and aprons

Um... there seems to be, ah, something not quite right about that link.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

Um... there seems to be, ah, something not quite right about that link.

fixed it.

[ghporter]

Reporters are notorious for getting technical stuff wrong. I'll bet the debris area is not "200 square feet" but more like "200 feet in all directions" or something like that. From the aerial photo, it looks like they went off the north apron-while a runway may not have obstructions within a specific distance from the start/stop of the actual runway, you can have lots of apron space for turning at the end. That's what I think happened. I'd love to see an elevation survey of the place-was the car going so fast that it actually lifted off (not impossible) or did the ground drop away at the end of the apron?

[Buckaroo]

Here is another link with Google Map

Ocala, Florida Private Runway - Google Maps

[OldManMac]

If you play with fire..........

[analogika]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Reporters are notorious for getting technical stuff wrong. I'll bet the debris area is not "200 square feet" but more like "200 feet in all directions" or something like that. From the aerial photo, it looks like they went off the north apron-while a runway may not have obstructions within a specific distance from the start/stop of the actual runway, you can have lots of apron space for turning at the end. That's what I think happened. I'd love to see an elevation survey of the place-was the car going so fast that it actually lifted off (not impossible) or did the ground drop away at the end of the apron?

From the google maps link, it looks like a drop-off at the edge of the northern apron.

[Art Vandelay]

There is an 85 foot drop at the end of the runway.

[bmwparamedic]

Bimmer = BMW motorcycles
Beamer = BMW automobile

[Buckaroo]

Originally Posted by bmwparamedic 

Bimmer = BMW motorcycles
Beamer = BMW automobile

Oops, I hastily grabbed the wrong spelling from wikipedia.

Originally Posted by wikipedia

The term "beemer" started as an acronym for the abbreviation "BMW," adapted from the early-20th century British pronunciation of BSA (as /ˈbisə/ or /ˈbizə/), whose motorcycles were often racing BMWs. Over time, the term became closely associated with BMW motorcycles.

BMW - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[d4nth3m4n]

Originally Posted by bmwparamedic 

Bimmer = BMW motorcycles
Beamer = BMW automobile

you f'n pedant. god i hate this.





one of the last posts of the driver on another forum

[Mastrap]

I blame Top Gear.

[Rumor]

They forgot to add wings.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Oh look, rich kids who get everything they want from their parents and act like idiots before killing themselves.

And now, back to my world.

greg

[Tiresias]

Originally Posted by ctt1wbw 

It's called a break peddle. Why can't people figure that out?

Peddle is the verb, pedal the noun.

You're welcome.

[IceEnclosure]

I haven't read the articles, but from the first post in this thread I was sure they were trying a bit of a high speed run. Idiots!

[IceEnclosure]

Originally Posted by Tiresias 

Peddle is the verb, pedal the noun.

You're welcome.

Pedal is commonly used as a verb also.

Drag racers often "pedal" their cars down the track, when traction is at a premium. (also pedaling a bike, etc)

You're welcome.

[hyteckit]

They're brake pedals, not break peddle.

Those kids must be driving past 100mph.

[IceEnclosure]

Originally Posted by hyteckit 

They're brake pedals, not break peddle.

Those kids must be driving past 100mph.

uhhh, the grammar police corrected that like, forever ago. did you even read the thread?

[driven]

Prayers to their families. I pray I never lose my children that way.

[IceEnclosure]

so, WOW. It's always crazy when something like this happens and then the guy's forum threads are brought to light. 100mph????

This guy was going 150+, at 3AM, and he brought four of his buddies along for the ride.

[hyteckit]

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure 

uhhh, the grammar police corrected that like, forever ago. did you even read the thread?

'Pedal' was corrected, 'brake' was not. Did you bother to read?

[Buckaroo]

Now for you math experts. At what speed were they traveling at when they left the edge of the runway?

They traveled 200 feet (from the edge of the runway into the side of the tree) and dropped 70 feet (from the top edge of the runway to the side of the tree 15 feet from the ground). The ground was approx. 85 feet below the edge of the runway.

[Buckaroo]

I found the last post from that kid AmericanM5.

It was on a forum thread that was talking about racing down a runway.

The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com) - View Single Post - South Florida run-offs

South Florida run-offs - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)


Here's another one:

South Florida run-offs planned - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

[GSixZero]

Originally Posted by Buckaroo 

Now for you math experts. At what speed were they traveling at when they left the edge of the runway?

<fixed>

95 ft/second or 65 miles per hour.

Vertical Displaced distance (They fell 70 feet)= .5at^2; a = 32feet/sec^2 so they were in the air 2.1 seconds.
Horizontal velocity (not accounting for drag) = distance traveled/time traveled = 200/2.1=95ft/s=65mph.

[driven]

Assuming that's the kid .... he has some toys to play with:

2008 M5 Space Gray (fully loaded)
2008 535i Monaco Blue Metallic(fully loaded)
2007 335i Montego Blue Metallic(sold)
2007 Cadillac Escalade(Loaded)

Does BMW actually have a color called "Space Gray" ????

[Tiresias]

Wow. Looking at the photographs, I don't "bumping" is the right word somehow. You "bump" into someone in a narrow corridor. That car was completely annihilated.

[driven]

You know .. the idea was sound. A safe place to run the cars without putting others in danger.

However: I don't think the intent was to drive the runway at 3AM without walking it first or finding where the darn thing ended.

Good idea with good intentions gone bad.

[Buckaroo]

Originally Posted by GSixZero 

87 ft/second or 59 miles per hour.

Vertical Displaced distance (They fell 85 feet)= .5at^2; a = 32feet/sec^2 so they were in the air 2.3 seconds.
Horizontal velocity (not accounting for drag) = distance traveled/time traveled = 200/2.3 =87ft/s=59mph.

They fell 70 feet, not 85 feet.

[IceEnclosure]

Originally Posted by driven 

You know .. the idea was sound. A safe place to run the cars without putting others in danger.

However: I don't think the intent was to drive the runway at 3AM without walking it first or finding where the darn thing ended.

Good idea with good intentions gone bad.

There's discussion on their boards about a runway almost twice as long as the one he was on, where other well-equipped cars had difficulty slowing down after running up to 160+mph. In daylight. With fire/rescue crews onsite.

Anytime I ever made a high speed run in my previous fast cars -- EVERYONE OUT. Heck forbid, an accident were to happen. I'm not trying to take my friends on their last car ride.

[driven]

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure 

There's discussion on their boards about a runway almost twice as long as the one he was on, where other well-equipped cars had difficulty slowing down after running up to 160+mph. In daylight. With fire/rescue crews onsite.

Anytime I ever made a high speed run in my previous fast cars -- EVERYONE OUT. Heck forbid, an accident were to happen. I'm not trying to take my friends on their last car ride.

Exactly!

Unfortunately experience becomes common sense only after you live long enough.

[GSixZero]

Originally Posted by Buckaroo 

They fell 70 feet, not 85 feet.

Oops. You're right. I fixed my post above.

[Buckaroo]

65 mph. It just seems like there was way too much damage for only 65 mph.

[IceEnclosure]

I never trusted math anyhow.

[Mastrap]

Originally Posted by driven 

Exactly!

Unfortunately experience becomes common sense only after you live long enough.

Experience is an expensive teacher. It charges the fee first and gives the lesson after.

[zerostar]

Originally Posted by Buckaroo 

65 mph. It just seems like there was way too much damage for only 65 mph.

My math puts them at almost 80, but i'm not going to post my formula here to be laughed at, its a poor mans version of the one above, anyhow even 65 downhill would cause the car to tear in half, that tree was not moving and adding the drop + gravity to the wreck makes sense. I'd say there were between 70-80.

So three other fools drove with an 18 year old who just got the car and drove up to say 160mph, then tried to slow down when they saw they were still hauling ass as the roadway ended they probably shat themselves.

You don't get a car with 500hp for an idiot driver, the parents obviously didn't know the son well enough to know what to buy him.

[ghporter]

WAY too freaking fast without a clue about what the consequences would be. Does it matter if they hit the tree at 83.2MPH or 71.35MPH? They impacted a tree at high speed while airborne-the result was that five people died. As for "way too much damage" for any given speed, most experience in evaluating speed from the damage seen comes from impacts on the ground. This was not on the ground, so we don't necessarily even know what part of the car first contacted the tree.

[IceEnclosure]

(in response to zerostar)

Yea, but 160-0 in an M5 would be like doing 110-0 in a car that didn't have extraordinary brakes/suspension/large tires.

You can get yourself into big trouble in almost any kind of car.

[MichiganRich]

Good riddance to spoiled little boys. I'm certain they would all agree that the rush was worth it, isn't that what all the thrill-seekers say? Well, they can only ask the ones that are still living so I guess the answers are somewhat biased in that respect....

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by driven 

Assuming that's the kid .... he had some toys to play with:

Fixed.

[GSixZero]

Originally Posted by Buckaroo 

65 mph. It just seems like there was way too much damage for only 65 mph.

Originally Posted by zerostar 

My math puts them at almost 80,

65mph is the horizontal speed they left the runway... if you account for the velocity gained through the car falling vertically, they hit the tree doing ~78.4mph.

[besson3c]

It's "pedal", not "peddle".

[Atheist]

"It was not known if the victims were wearing seat belts"

You gotta love reporters. Like wearing their seat belts would have made a difference! There's nothing left for the seat belts to be attached.