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Says they were test driving the car. That leads me to ask two questions. Perhaps there are legitimate answers.
How does a dealership allow a car like this to leave the lot without a dealership representative going along?
How does an airport give permission to someone that does not own the car? I'd make them shown the owned the car and had insurance.
Well, if you worked at that dealership, would you go along on a "top end death ride" with these two characters, or would you find something else to do, up to and including quit and hit the bricks?
To me, suicide makes more sense as a root cause all along. Either that or as experienced drag racers have noted, they simply didn't have a braking marker.
From my understanding, you couldn't take the Hellcats out without a salesmen in the car with you. And I had a salesmen told me, that he would have to do the driving as well.
Understandable. I sold cars many years ago and no one drove one of the last RX-7's without a salesperson.
Well, if you worked at that dealership, would you go along on a "top end death ride" with these two characters, or would you find something else to do, up to and including quit and hit the bricks?
To me, suicide makes more sense as a root cause all along. Either that or as experienced drag racers have noted, they simply didn't have a braking marker.
They wouldn't have taken it to an airstrip if I had went along.
It's not the speed that kills, it's the acceleration. I can safely drive from 0-100mph if it takes awhile to trap at 100mph but with high HP cars, it's the faster acceleration along with someone who doesn't have steady hands can easily cause an accident.
I've hit some debris on the roads at about 90mph, luckily my AWD system saved my butt. It kept traction on the wheels that was still on the ground. AWD is much more forgiving than RWD.
The Hellcat is RWD and very easy to crash if the driver lost control for just a split second.
Location: Formerly Pleasanton Ca, now in Marietta Ga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dd714
Last 3 guys - I explained what happened. It's simple. If you have ever been down a dragstrip all you see is flat pavement coming at you at 100MPH plus. All this happens in seconds. No lights, no way you know when to stop until it's too late.
This is exactly it. That runway wasn't that long and at the speed they were traveling it gets eaten up way faster than you realize.
It's not the speed that kills, it's the acceleration. I can safely drive from 0-100mph if it takes awhile to trap at 100mph but with high HP cars, it's the faster acceleration along with someone who doesn't have steady hands can easily cause an accident.
I've hit some debris on the roads at about 90mph, luckily my AWD system saved my butt. It kept traction on the wheels that was still on the ground. AWD is much more forgiving than RWD.
The Hellcat is RWD and very easy to crash if the driver lost control for just a split second.
Or maybe more accurate, it's the rapid deceleration that kills.
The problem with racing a car down an airport runway is how perfectly flat the takeoff/landing strip is. From a car driver's viewpoint, there are no visual references available to tell that driver where the runway ends. An airplane cockpit is much higher off of the ground and the pilots can see the markers and the end of the runway. A pilot also has a clear plan of taking off or landing, not just putting the pedal down to the metal to see what the top speed of his vehicle might be.
On the Top Gear show, the hosts use airstrips all of the time to test fast exotic cars. However, they know the braking zones of their cars and mark the course carefully beforehand to show the drivers when to start braking. In addition, there are probably no ravines at the end of those runways either.
Not really. That muscle car is really only good for straight-line drag strip racing. IMO it doesn't have the handling and suspension for a twisty road. It would not be a good choice for spirited country drive or a tarmac rally.
Lots of good points in your post, but I take issue with your last paragraph. The Hellcat handles very well, besting many dedicated sports cars in Car And Driver's Lightning Lap at VIR. A Hellcat Charger did the deed in 3:03.5. Faster than many Porsches, BMW M cars, M-B AMG variants, etc.
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