Team-BHP - Supercar & Import Crashes in India

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sahil (Post 3684766)

This belonged to the Adar Poonawala stable when bought new. There is also another black MH-12-AP-xxxx black porsche turbo that had metallic blue wrap which came from the same stable and sold to mumbai and then down south. Are both these cars the same?

It's strange that the car has caught fire in the front. Porsches are notorious on catching fire but most often emerging from the rear as the car is rear engined.

This particular car that crashed was the first 997 Turbo in the country and was silver earlier. Repainted to yellow later.

aquaplaning is a phenomena where a thin film of water, oil or even water super heated to steam, can cause loss of contact between the rubber and the road, in effect it is like skating over ice, no friction, so no traction and no control. Aquaplaning is to be expected when driving in light rains, on a bone dry road, or during first rains or when slush or mud is dumped and it rains. The first sign of it is the steering feels abnormally light, as if the car is airborne, the second sign is the eerie sound of silence when the tyre/road noise is cut out. If you ever get into this, just do nothing, no steering movements, no acceleration, no braking, no gear change. Gradually reduce the accelerator inputs, try to keep the nose straight and allow the drive train to decelerate the car slowly, until you feel friction on the wheels and steering getting firmer.
If the Porche was at 250kmph (as reported) it is nearly impossible to aquaplane, it mostly would be a sudden skid due to driver error, which because of high speeds, and obvious lack of skills, wrapping the car around the fence. I am not sure how can one do 250kmph on the ORR, the road even though wide and well marked has a undulating surface and some hidden bumps and dips, a low slung car will be flung if driven over those at insane speeds.

I think you have some things right there, and some things wrong. Aquaplaning requires actual water on the road, not just the wet surface that "light rains" would cause.

Quote:

If the Porche was at 250kmph (as reported) it is nearly impossible to aquaplane ...

Why? The higher the speed the more possible it is to aquaplane.

250kph on a public road is always lunacy. However, I don't know anything about the reports, and we all know how unreliable media "eye-witness" reports are.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 3685352)

I think you have some things right there, and some things wrong. Aquaplaning requires actual water on the road, not just the wet surface that "light rains" would cause.

Why? The higher the speed the more possible it is to aquaplane.

250kph on a public road is always lunacy. However, I don't know anything about the reports, and we all know how unreliable media "eye-witness" reports are.

There are 3 kinds of aquaplaning.

1) Viscous aquaplaning. Due to rubber deposits on the road, or other such slippery muck which if not cleaned reduce the surface friction coefficient.
A thin film of water is enough for causing this, and can occur at much lower speeds than dynamic aquaplaning

2) Steam aquaplaning. At high speeds a slightly wet/damp surface, will heat up on rubber contact and the moisture will form a thin film of steam,which causes tyre to lose contact. Happens mainly to aircraft, due to high speeds involved.

3) Dynamic aquaplaning. It is a relatively high speed phenomena, involving atleast 2.5 mm of water depth.

More information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaplaning

http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/aquaplaning.html.
Tyre condition (thread depth) and tyre pressure are responsible for when and what speeds will the vehicle hydroplane. Can occur as low as 60kmph also.

I am not sure about this Porche though. Was he running on semi slicks or racing tyres? If so, it could explain what happened on a wet road.

I was at teh spot around 15 mins after this happened.( I guessed it by the smoke just starting off.). I was on my way to pick up my mom from the airport. This happened near an exit( If I'm not wrong it was at the rajendranagar exit after which the 'hills' start. I got out of my car and took a couple of pics. By then the car was completely engulfed in flames. Good thing though the driving cabin (roll cage probably?) looked intact with airbags blown out. I guess the driver and passenger walked away scratchless. But there was no sign of the owner/passenger there. Surprisingly no plates! The cops were already on the job! clap::uncontrol .From what I could see, he was trying to avoid somebody probably trying to take a quick exit towards rajendranagar without realising what speed he was coming at. he tried to swerve, aquaplaned and hit the divider on the right with his rear. I believe it was the engine I saw lying atleast 50 mtrs behind the car.(apologise for the poor pics this was taken with an average phone under overcast conditions and with the cops pushing me away.) The funny part was when i got back in my car, a few other cars had stopped and were all clicking away. The poor cops seemed helpless. In the pics below you can see them trying to attach a rope to drag it to the side. The fire engine came just after this. On my return leg from the airport, 2 hours later, this stretch was already wiped clean with no sign of this horrendous crash! Kudos to the team maintaining the ORR.

I can imagine Suhaas cringing right now. Extremely unfortunate that this happened.

As far as speeds are considered, there are multiple videos of supercars crossing the 300 mark on that very road. Sheer lunacy, I say. Such displays of power need to be limited to the track; where the ambulance would know exactly where you were, in case you tried being Ken Block lol:

Cheers!
Cartman :)

Damn another beauty up in smoke! R-I-P

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 3684273)

I'm guessing this was an AWD? Nevertheless, 500 BHP + wet roads demand a conservative driving style.

Water generally accumulates on the side of the road. It's best to drive in the middle lane under such circumstances. The Mumbai-Pune expressway has innumerable puddles of water in the right-most lane when it's raining heavily. Impossible to drive in that lane.

Unfortunately, the 911's techno-wizardry (ESP etc.) would have limited use when the tyres have no contact with the ground.

R-I-P to a seriously wicked car.

I have experienced this first hand on one of our drives to Panchgani/Mahableshwar during the monsoon. We were at a steady 110 km/hr cruise (2010 Innova) in the right most lane on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and we managed to hit a puddle at that speed. Car started violently pulling to one side later on. Slowed down immediately, and stopped by at a tyre shop in Pune.

Turns out it managed to crack the RHS alloy! I couldn't believe that a puddle of water could manage to do that.

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Originally Posted by cUjO (Post 3685936)

Plates were on till the end, they burnt up with the car and I dont think engine was pulled out during the impact, the front bore full impact, pic for reference;

Also to put an end to the name calling here, from the owners FB Page;

I happened to witness this crash . The car hydroplaned and hit the steel barricade and spun around . It ended up facing the wrong way on the ring road . It was raining heavily and the car was going pretty fast . In fact it was a smooth right hand curve where he crashed . The fuel tank must have got busted and hence the fire from the front end . Nothing happened to the driver but within minutes the car was totally gutted .

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Originally Posted by ShortShifter (Post 3684814)

The car was not on the wrong way, and owner is a good friend, just bad judgment of speeding on wet roads.

Aquaplaned, hit the road barrier on the right side which had an opening and spun backwards in the process rupturing the fuel tank. The Engine did not catch fire first, it was the fuel tank leak that lead to the car being Gutted.

The owner walked away scratchless.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gannu_1 (Post 3687305)

Just wondering, do these Porsches come with a fire extinguisher onboard? I've seen some sport cars and supercars do - it is strapped below the driver's seat quickly accessible in the event of an emergency.

Should all cars not come with the extinguisher? should it not be made mandatory like a spare wheel or a seat belt?

/OT

Quote:

Originally Posted by apachelongbow (Post 3687338)

Should all cars not come with the extinguisher? should it not be made mandatory like a spare wheel or a seat belt?

Yes, if you ask me. I have stowed one in my car below the co-driver seat:

It's a 1 kg dry powder extinguisher but I am not sure if I'll have the presence of mind to get out of the car and quickly douse a fire in the event of an emergency!