2 killed in car crash - very sad!

[EFE Speakers]

A Porsche owner and his friend were killed at Fontana raceway in California when a car pulled out of the pit in front of him and he had to swerve to miss it, it cost him and his partner their lives. The driver (Ben Keaton) was 39 and leaves a wife and little daughter. He touched a lot of people and was a regular poster at a couple of car websites.
Very sad!

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/4562562/detail.html

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=54

EFE

[topspeed]

Didn't know him Ed, but it sounds like he was a great guy. Lord knows he had a great car.

Quick question, I've been looking for a good car forum with little luck. Bimmerfest is pretty cool but I'd really just like a place that talks cars. I used to frequent autoweek but that place is an endless tirade of mindless dribble now. Any suggestions?

[EFE Speakers]

Darin,
Because of the wreck, in the last week I've visited at least 10 different car websites of various brands. Whether they were Corvette, BMW, Ferrari, Porche, Lamborghini or Ford websites, I found them all to be pretty much the same, biased towards what they love and own. What was surprising was even some of the very exotic car sites had guys that owned these $300k to $500k cars and they sounded and talked like teenagers to me. You would think people who could afford half million dollar cars would be more mature, but that's not necessarily true.

The fellow that was riding shotgun in the car with Ben Keaton was Correy Rudl, a 34 year old self made millionare, I just read all about him and the guy was a god in the Internet Marketing business. I think he was planning on buying a Porche CGT, what a demo ride!

The crash has really made me think about where and when I'll open up my new Z06 when I get it, even the race tracks are really not safe. Arizona has some nice desolate 20 mile (or more) open roads out in the tullies, that may be the only place I'll ever take forth gear to redline? But even there, some desert fox may want to see what all the noise is about and find out what the front of my car feels like. ) :

If you find some nice unbiased car site, let me know, thanks!

Ed

[topspeed]

You bring up a very interesting point. The problem with cars like ours is that there really are very few places that you can safely exploit their potential. Clearly, they have more performance than you can legally use on the road and to be honest, my car's capabilities are quickly approaching the limit of my courage (especially on public roads). They won't let me trackday my car because it's a convertible but I hear I can use it when the local BMW club reserves the track.

The Z06 is whole different beast. My M3 is a sports car. Your 'Vette is a FIA GT1 race car with street legal shoes. That thing really needs a big track to unleash it's potential. What about the Vegas track, I've heard that's a good one. Maybe you could convince Ford to let you use their Arizona Proving Grounds? Make a road trip to Cali and take her on the big track at Willow. Screw the Streets course, let her run where the big dogs roam :D.

BTW, have you seen this ad yet? I love it!

http://photos.e46fanatics.com/data/500/12536RaceCarAd.jpg

[EFE Speakers]

Cool ad!
I've been reading about the new V8 M3 coming out next year, the pictures look great! I do not like the new 3 or 5 series body at all, but the new M3 seems to be a little more sleeker looking without all the ripples and lines in the body. Heck, if that new M3 were out now and the price was comparable to the Z06, I might be tempted to go with one? As it is now, I'm growing gray hair waiting for this Z06 to come out! (( ;

Thanks,
Ed