Carrera GT Crash Settled for $4.5m
The lawsuit was recently settled for a reported total of approximately $4.5 million. The contributions to the settlement were about 49% from the estate of the driver, 41% from the track owners and the event organizers, 8% from Porsche, and 2% from the driver of the Ferrari that was claimed to have triggered the crash.
more details:
http://www.sportscarmarket.com/content/carrera
Original story:
http://www.knbc.com/news/4562562/detail.html

 

Interesting. I don't agree with the ruling but I guess someone had to be blamed. Porsche designed the GT as a streetable track car. Owners should understand the risks involved with driving these cars, but then again there are alot of dumb people with money to burn. Electronic nannies are good but they take away from the whole race car feel in supercars like the CGT. Instead of supercar manufactures making ECS standard, which is going to be a result of this ruling, they should make it optional. But buyers must then sign a release stating they fully understand the risks, and waive any at fault claims to the manufacturer.

I see this opening the doors to manufacturer lawsuits on the grounds of equipment failure. People have to understand that electronics only help keep you safe, they're not designed so you can drive recklessly.

 

^^^^ agreed ... if anything i think the driver of the ferrari that caused the crash should have paid more, but i mean its hard to hold someone responsible at a place where you push your car to the limit and beyond

 

I'm not necessairly HAPPY about teh ruling, but, I do tend to agree with what the courts decided. The lawsuit was from teh widow of teh PASSENGER, not teh driver. Her suit basically claimed that teh waiver was unenforcable because you can't "waive" GROSS NEGLIGENCE! The track designs, recent, unchanged modifications to basic track safety features, FOC's inability to enforce it's OWN rules, the toolbehind teh wheel ofteh Ferrari... All these elements combined to cause her husbands death. Any one of these elements, if mitigated, nearly eliminates the probability that something horrendous could happen. Unfortunately, the events ocurred at the confuluence of circumstances. Each of those elements were an example of gross negligence. All played a role. Porsche's end comes to a few thou... Of ALL the factors that contributed, the electronic gizmo's culpability is only .08%. I'm OK with that, to tell the truth.