Man Dies at Richard Petty Driving Experience - Exotic Cars

[circus4u]

According to CNN, "The driver, 24-year-old Tavon Watson of Kissimmee, Florida, lost control of the vehicle, the Highway Patrol said. He was hospitalized with minor injuries." http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/12/us/florida-disney-driving-experience-death/index.html

 

[rteetz]

http://thedisneyblog.com/2015/04/12/fatality-reported-at-walt-disney-world-speedway/

 

[ChrisFL]

I agree, 120 is a speed that not many people travel in a passenger car on a daily basis. So when you can put the pedal down and hit that mark, it's fast. When you feel the wheel start to shake and such, it gets exciting, lol.

The exotic cars are just that. I've seen videos from this experience where they ask questions and literally, you could go buy these cars off the lot. So there's your safety features.

I think the bigger issue, and hindsight always being 20/20 is that guard rail and its position, it looks relatively ok as a guard rail for the other direction for the NASCAR stuff, but clearly it should have been changed to a different kind of barrier setup for the exotics driving course.....sad that it seems so obvious now

 

[skier_pete]

Gotta imagine this just closes the whole thing down. They were shutting it down in June anyways. By the time the investigation is done, it won't be worth reopening.

Very sad that anyone loses a life in this way, but driving cars fast is dangerous, even in a regulated environment.

 

[rteetz]

Gotta imagine this just closes the whole thing down. They were shutting it down in June anyways. By the time the investigation is done, it won't be worth reopening.

Very sad that anyone loses a life in this way, but driving cars fast is dangerous, even in a regulated environment.

Actually it was posted a week ago that they pushed the closing back to August but I agree that they should just close it now.

 

[mousehockey37]

I think the bigger issue, and hindsight always being 20/20 is that guard rail and its position, it looks relatively ok as a guard rail for the other direction for the NASCAR stuff, but clearly it should have been changed to a different kind of barrier setup for the exotics driving course.....sad that it seems so obvious now

That inlet for that guard rail is where the EMS vehicles sit at races. It's like that pretty much at every track. I've said that there should've been water barrels or something there to "soften the blow", but going forward, I see them reversing the path of the exotic experience now. It's still the same course, you just go reverse of what it was. It's the quickest and safest change they can make opening up for business today.

 

[KYMickey]

Does anybody know the reason that they use the track in the reverse direction from the way it was designed? Even if they did to have the water barrels or other safety enhancements just using the track in the other direction would have eliminated a lot of the danger.

 

[rteetz]

Does anybody know the reason that they use the track in the reverse direction from the way it was designed? Even if they did to have the water barrels or other safety enhancements just using the track in the other direction would have eliminated a lot of the danger.

This is the exotic driving experience they use more than just the oval that stock cars use.

 

[Squirlz]

This is the exotic driving experience they use more than just the oval that stock cars use.

Yes, but the part of the oval that they do use they run in the opposite direction that the track was designed for.

 

[rteetz]

Yes, but the part of the oval that they do use they run in the opposite direction that the track was designed for.

I know. It's just the route they use. Exotic cars are cars you could go and buy if you had the money so going the opposite direction doesn't hurt anything in theory.

 

[RustManFan]

The person killed was the instructor (actually the track's Operations Manager)

 

[DisneyCAL]

My DH has done this course before. I got to take the training class that is mandatory before even sitting foot in the car with him. They are all about safety there. Either the kid didn't do what he was instructed to do or something else happened. The instructor has the mechanics in the passenger seat to cut power to the car if the driver is getting "carried away", so something like this happening means something really went wrong beyond control. And by the way that spot with the guardrail is coming out of straightaway, and the lambo is all wheel drive surprisingly;therefore, it would take a major problem to end up spinning out into a guardrail.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

I don't know about you but I find 120 to be a high speed. That is almost double most freeways in the US which range from 55-70 mph. This also wasn't much of a wall but a metal gaurd rail much like you find on freeways in the US as well. The car is covered in the pictures so I don't know how you can tell just how bad it is. Yes it was a freak accident but it seems that the exotic cars have less safety features than the stock cars.

What I mean is that is not a fast speed for either the car or the track. And to correct what I said, they probably weren't doing more than 100 mph on the long part of the track just past the big bend. It is a speed at which the car is completely controllable, compared to say above 150. You can see the shape of a car underneath the tarp and it is not wrapped around the abutment, which appears more solid than a regular guard rail. It the car had hit the end of the wall at a speed anywhere near or over 100 mph the entire site would look very different.

What I am guessing happened is that the he lost control somewhere close to 100 and then slid down to the inside of the track. The car may not have been going very fast when it hit the abutment, but it came to an instant stop. The freak nature of the accident is that if the car had hit only a few feet one way or the other it would have been a very different news story.

How very sad. I will continue to pray for both families.

 

[Teamubr]

I am an amateur sports car racer. I hold a competition license with NASA (National Auto Sport Assoc.- nasaproracing.com). I race a 150 mph Mustang with a full roll cage and race suspension and brakes. We are required to wear similar safety equipment as the RP Driving experience, including a head/neck restraint system. That's me on the left and my car.

There are still a number of questions to be answered about this crash, but I felt some clarification was needed about this event. "Driving experiences" are much different than competition racing. For the most part, these are VERY novice drivers in high powered cars. Not a great combination. Driver safety equipment is also limited, sometimes just any helmet and nothing else. While instructors (racers trained in how to instruct) are often sitting in the passenger seat, it is common for the "driver" to get overconfident, overstimulated or overwhelmed and completely disregard what the instructor is telling them. Here is a short video about Exotic Driving Experience that was running the track day during the crash.

Here's also a link to a racing blog site the discusses the safety concerns running a track backwards from it's constructed direction. It's a little harsh towards WDW. Axis of Oversteer.

This is a loss to the racing community. While Disney may use this as an excuse to shut down a condemned track, I would hope that it stayed open until August and highlighted track safety.

j

 

[beer dave]

Does anybody know the reason that they use the track in the reverse direction from the way it was designed? Even if they did to have the water barrels or other safety enhancements just using the track in the other direction would have eliminated a lot of the danger.

This clearly is the question to be answered.... When a track is set up for direction, any high speed travel in the opposite direction is dangerous, regardless of what kind of car you are in.
This tragic event is clearly an example of this fact. Had they been running counter clockwise, this would have turned out completely different.

Someone wasn't thinking.

 

[rteetz]

Good article showing the dangers of driving the wrong direction and how barrels protecting the guard rail could have saved his life

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/please-stop-killing-my-friends-1697610915

 

[Teamubr]

Good article showing the dangers of driving the wrong direction and how barrels protecting the guard rail could have saved his life

Thanks for posting this Rteetz. My friends at Jaolpnik did a very nice job highlighting the dangers for all the instructors out there. Instructing is key to helping novice drivers develop. NASA's (and most sanctioning body's) entry level 'driving schools' place an instructor in the passenger seat. The instructor reinforces in class instruction the student is trying to put into practice. MANY of my race friends have instructed. The stories they tell at the end of the day are priceless and horrifying.

Sorry for being long winded, but the racing community is close. I didn't know Gary personally, but he was one of 'us' and that still hurts.

j