A boy and his BMW M5

Well, the kid said it was his, but it was hid dad's.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=124526


Short version:

Kid brags online about going 140 in his M5, claims "I do drive safe and
I will not endanger the lives of others."

Another poster warns him: "If you crash in a big way, expect to be on
the news."

The next day he kills himself and 4 of his friends.

655321:
> Well, the kid said it was his, but it was hid dad's.
>
> http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=124526
>
>
> Short version:
>
> Kid brags online about going 140 in his M5, claims "I do drive safe and
> I will not endanger the lives of others."
>
> Another poster warns him: "If you crash in a big way, expect to be on
> the news."
>
> The next day he kills himself and 4 of his friends.

Darwin: 5
Idiots: 0

Though I do feel sorry for the runway and the tree.

--
"I always heard that primitave hoo-mans lacked intelligence,
but I never thought they'd be this stupid."
--Quark

In article et>, necromancer wrote:
> 655321:
>> Well, the kid said it was his, but it was hid dad's.
>>
>> http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=124526
>>
>>
>> Short version:
>>
>> Kid brags online about going 140 in his M5, claims "I do drive safe and
>> I will not endanger the lives of others."
>>
>> Another poster warns him: "If you crash in a big way, expect to be on
>> the news."
>>
>> The next day he kills himself and 4 of his friends.
>
> Darwin: 5
> Idiots: 0
>
> Though I do feel sorry for the runway and the tree.

Well at least he did it on the runway... too little brains to know that
about a mile and half was too little space for what he was doing, enough
to know not to do it on a public road.

Brent P:
> In article et>, necromancer wrote:
> > 655321:
> >> Well, the kid said it was his, but it was hid dad's.
> >>
> >> http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=124526
> >>
> >>
> >> Short version:
> >>
> >> Kid brags online about going 140 in his M5, claims "I do drive safe and
> >> I will not endanger the lives of others."
> >>
> >> Another poster warns him: "If you crash in a big way, expect to be on
> >> the news."
> >>
> >> The next day he kills himself and 4 of his friends.
> >
> > Darwin: 5
> > Idiots: 0
> >
> > Though I do feel sorry for the runway and the tree.
>
> Well at least he did it on the runway... too little brains to know that
> about a mile and half was too little space for what he was doing,

Yeah, I guess the concept of aerodynamic lift causing a plane to take
flight well before the end of the runway and the fact that the M5 is
*not* and airplane would be (pardon the pun) over their heads....

> enough to know not to do it on a public road.

Well, I don't know about that. Darwin was batting 1000 that evening.
Maybe he would have made another collection had these idiots been on the
public streets....

<sarcasm>
BTW, where's the, "family," of one of our recent Darwin Award winners
posting from a web based forum to lecture me on my insensitivity at the
deaths of these *fine young men* in this tragic incident?
</sarcasm>

I need a good laugh today.

--
Aunt Judy demonstrates its lack of understanding
of the concept of "</killfile>," and "<killfile>,"
and what a "thread," is:

"Now that takes nerve. You claim to killfile
me TWICE in the same thread and you expect
people to take you seriously???"

Ref: http://tinyurl.com/r5qp9

On Jan 31, 9:00 pm, 655321 > wrote:
> Well, the kid said it was his, but it was hid dad's.
>
> http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=124526
>
> Short version:
>
> Kid brags online about going 140 in his M5, claims "I do drive safe and
> I will not endanger the lives of others."
>
> Another poster warns him: "If you crash in a big way, expect to be on
> the news."
>
> The next day he kills himself and 4 of his friends.


Since the premise of the story sounded a lot like a kid I graduated
with and hung around with on occasion, I spent a few minutes reading
the threads mentioned in the article.


When AmericanM5 was asking his questions about the setup and what he
called "max mode, "snowball" replied:
"I don't consider that the max mode. I consider S6, P500s, DSC off,
edc sport, HUD M-mode the max mode. You also can not do launch control
with DSC on.

Anyway, in MDM the kick in the rear end is awesome and it should feel
like a bang in the rear end, cause DSC is still minimally trying to
keep the wheels from spining. (sic) Try the S6 mode with the DSC off
and you'll feel a better punch and a better feel. But be careful DSC
off and there is no skid protection."

The M5 is an excellent handling car. The computer in it does
wonders. We used to joke and call the traction control the "reset
button" when playing in the snow. We'd be fishtailing down windy snow
covered roads, going for miles without ever stopping the fishtail, and
on occasion if the car started to get away from us we'd just jab the
traction control button and the thing would straighten itself out. It
seems entirely possible to me that this kid had been driving this car
"at it's limits" with the computer doing everything possible to keep
him on the road, resulting in relatively little input from him to keep
the thing on the runway. He then turned off the DSC, or Dynamic
Stability Control, and railed into a turn he'd been familiar with,
just like he was familiar with taking it. With DSC out of the
equation the 500 horses likely got away from him, and all of a sudden
you're flying. Sad. I wonder if the kid even knew what DSC was when
he turned it off?

Of course this is speculation, but it seems likely to me.

A poster named keang also warned him to learn the car before turning
off DSC, but still no mention if what DSC is. Apparently the cautions
were not heeded.

In article >, wrote:

> A poster named keang also warned him to learn the car before turning
> off DSC, but still no mention if what DSC is. Apparently the cautions
> were not heeded.

Probably some sort of stability control gizmo. Seems these idiots think
the gizmos can save their ass. Hopefully I won't have one around me in
the snow today. Bad enough having some fool who thought conga-lining
through a left turn a couple feet off my rear bumper in big ass pick up
was a good idea.... Once I changed lanes to the right, he passed those
ahead of me, cut them off, and made a right turn.

On Feb 1, 8:47*am, (Brent P) wrote:
> In article >, wrote:
>
> > A poster named keang also warned him to learn the car before turning
> > off DSC, but still no mention if what DSC is. *Apparently the cautions
> > were not heeded.
>
> Probably some sort of stability control gizmo. Seems these idiots think
> the gizmos can save their ass. Hopefully I won't have one around me in
> the snow today. Bad enough having some fool who thought conga-lining
> through a left turn a couple feet off my rear bumper in big ass pick up
> was a good idea.... Once I changed lanes to the right, he passed those
> ahead of me, cut them off, and made a right turn.

I stated what DSC is in the part you snipped. My point is that that
particular "gizmo" CAN save you and allow one with little skill do
what appears to be impressive driving. Take off the Dynamic Stability
Control, and all of a sudden there's 500 horses under your foot in
that turn, regardless if there's traction for them.

In article >, Scott in SoCal wrote:
> On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:47:01 -0600,
> (Brent P) wrote:
>
>>In article >, wrote:
>>
>>> A poster named keang also warned him to learn the car before turning
>>> off DSC, but still no mention if what DSC is. Apparently the cautions
>>> were not heeded.
>>
>>Probably some sort of stability control gizmo.
>
> "Dynamic Stability Control" is my guess. A feature that cocky
> 18-year-old punks should NEVER turn off.
>
>>Seems these idiots think the gizmos can save their ass.
>
> You shouldn't pass judgement until you actually drive a car that has
> these gizmos. They CAN save your ass, and it's not just me saying
> that. A buddy of mine, who races Corvettes on the weekends (on
> racetracks like Buttonwillow), told me that the Active Handling in his
> Z06 saved him one at least one occasion.

I'll add the obvious bit from the context... they think they can do
really STUPID things and it will magically save their ass.

Sure, if you get nasty tail oscillation in the snow and can't break out of
it, yes those things will get you out of it. If you run out of road and
need to do a U-turn at 140mph it won't.

On Feb 1, 10:39*am, Scott in SoCal > wrote:
> On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:47:01 -0600,
>
> (Brent P) wrote:
> >In article >, wrote:
>
> >> A poster named keang also warned him to learn the car before turning
> >> off DSC, but still no mention if what DSC is. *Apparently the cautions
> >> were not heeded.
>
> >Probably some sort of stability control gizmo.
>
> "Dynamic Stability Control" is my guess. A feature that cocky
> 18-year-old punks should NEVER turn off.

Why guess? I've stated it twice for certain already in this thread.
Here's a cite, if that'll help:
http://tinyurl.com/3xay2r


> >Seems these idiots think the gizmos can save their ass.
>
> You shouldn't pass judgement until you actually drive a car that has
> these gizmos. They CAN save your ass, and it's not just me saying
> that. A buddy of mine, who races Corvettes on the weekends (on
> racetracks like Buttonwillow), told me that the Active Handling in his
> Z06 saved him one at least one occasion.

This we agree with. I've felt it first hand as well, and it certainly
can save one's ass. It can also allow someone with very little skill
drive very near the edge of traction, making it seem like they can
drive. My guess is this kid didn't realize how much of the driving
the car was doing, until he turned off the DSC and learned the hard
way.

Brent P wrote:
> In article >, wrote:
>
>
>>A poster named keang also warned him to learn the car before turning
>>off DSC, but still no mention if what DSC is. Apparently the cautions
>>were not heeded.
>
>
> Probably some sort of stability control gizmo. Seems these idiots think
> the gizmos can save their ass. Hopefully I won't have one around me in
> the snow today. Bad enough having some fool who thought conga-lining
> through a left turn a couple feet off my rear bumper in big ass pick up
> was a good idea.... Once I changed lanes to the right, he passed those
> ahead of me, cut them off, and made a right turn.
>

DSC = Dynamic Stability Control. Not familiar with the setup in the M5
but some of them are quite good. I, um, know this guy that had the
opportunity to play with a Yukon Denali with DSC (Kelsey-Hayes; I ASSume
that the M5 uses Bosch) and you cen get quite stupid with it and not get
bit. That is, you can get away with stuff that you KNOW would put you
in the ditch without it...

nate


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