Vmax makes local paper
Discussion
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Driver-...
Article includes one piccy of the damaged 9FF where is "landed".
Article includes one piccy of the damaged 9FF where is "landed".
Leicester Mercury Newspaper said:
One minute he was having the drive of his life at a nerve-jangling 222mph.
The next, Jan Fatthauer was counting the cost of a high speed spin which left his £535,000 supercar a wreck.
The German businessman lost control as he braked, sending the prototype careering into the grass at the Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground, in south Leicestershire.
He walked from the wreckage of the 9ff GTR – built by his company on a Porsche chassis – battered and bruised.
But he was airlifted to hospital safe in the knowledge that he had clinched the track record ahead of a fleet of other high performance street cars.
The car – the first of only 20 to be built – had just recorded an average speed of 222mph on a 1.5mile stretch of the track.
Moments before he lost control it had hit 230mph.
Following the crash, shocked onlookers ran to the scene while paramedics tended the driver.
Pictures of the wreckage, which has a top speed of 257mph, have been beamed worldwide on the internet.
The 9ff GTR was built by Mr Fatthauer in Dortmund, Germany, and the limited edition models will sell for about US $800,000.
Vehicle tests and private high-performance events are regularly held at the former American bomber base.
The crash happened on March 13, at the VMax Armageddon meeting – an invitation-only day for the owners of high speed cars.
One of the track's owners David Walton, said: "It is certainly the highest speed accident we have had at Bruntingthorpe. He was doing 230mph in the prototype and it appears he left his breaking a bit late.
"I hear the vehicle's rear wheels locked and it span around.
"Our emergency services, including paramedics, were on the scene very quickly and he was airlifted to hospital, but he only suffered superficial injuries."
Jamie McKee, the local 9ff dealer in the UK, said: "The damage to the car looked a lot worse than it was.
"However it did crash at very high speed, but its carbon fibre shell withstood the impact very well.
"We are also so happy we beat the record.
"Not only this car, but our cabriolet also set the record of an average speed of 222mph.
"It also set the convertible speed record of 210mph with the top down.
"Jan was a little sore as a result of the crash. He was treated by paramedics at the scene and then he was airlifted to hospital as a precaution.
"Afterwards, we all went out in the evening for dinner."
Mr McKee added: "We are investigating the cause of the accident and I don't want to comment on that.
"What I can say is that if you are travelling at over 222mph, a split second before braking means you have covered a very long distance.
"I would like to thank the organisers of the day for all their help and the paramedic crew and everyone who helped. They really saved us.
"The car will be rebuilt for next time. So we will be back to beat our new record."
The next, Jan Fatthauer was counting the cost of a high speed spin which left his £535,000 supercar a wreck.
The German businessman lost control as he braked, sending the prototype careering into the grass at the Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground, in south Leicestershire.
He walked from the wreckage of the 9ff GTR – built by his company on a Porsche chassis – battered and bruised.
But he was airlifted to hospital safe in the knowledge that he had clinched the track record ahead of a fleet of other high performance street cars.
The car – the first of only 20 to be built – had just recorded an average speed of 222mph on a 1.5mile stretch of the track.
Moments before he lost control it had hit 230mph.
Following the crash, shocked onlookers ran to the scene while paramedics tended the driver.
Pictures of the wreckage, which has a top speed of 257mph, have been beamed worldwide on the internet.
The 9ff GTR was built by Mr Fatthauer in Dortmund, Germany, and the limited edition models will sell for about US $800,000.
Vehicle tests and private high-performance events are regularly held at the former American bomber base.
The crash happened on March 13, at the VMax Armageddon meeting – an invitation-only day for the owners of high speed cars.
One of the track's owners David Walton, said: "It is certainly the highest speed accident we have had at Bruntingthorpe. He was doing 230mph in the prototype and it appears he left his breaking a bit late.
"I hear the vehicle's rear wheels locked and it span around.
"Our emergency services, including paramedics, were on the scene very quickly and he was airlifted to hospital, but he only suffered superficial injuries."
Jamie McKee, the local 9ff dealer in the UK, said: "The damage to the car looked a lot worse than it was.
"However it did crash at very high speed, but its carbon fibre shell withstood the impact very well.
"We are also so happy we beat the record.
"Not only this car, but our cabriolet also set the record of an average speed of 222mph.
"It also set the convertible speed record of 210mph with the top down.
"Jan was a little sore as a result of the crash. He was treated by paramedics at the scene and then he was airlifted to hospital as a precaution.
"Afterwards, we all went out in the evening for dinner."
Mr McKee added: "We are investigating the cause of the accident and I don't want to comment on that.
"What I can say is that if you are travelling at over 222mph, a split second before braking means you have covered a very long distance.
"I would like to thank the organisers of the day for all their help and the paramedic crew and everyone who helped. They really saved us.
"The car will be rebuilt for next time. So we will be back to beat our new record."
Edited by fullbeem on Sunday 4th April 13:16
and what fabulously terrible journalism and comments that link provides.. 
(at the article, not you OP..)
(at the article, not you OP..)newspaper said:
Pictures of the wreckage, which has a top speed of 257mph, have been beamed worldwide on the internet.
have they? The only photo I've seen of the wreckage was on Stuart's phone at Brunters.. oh, and the dent in the bank on a few videos..
Dear Readers,
I am the founder and organiser of the vmax event and felt I should add a few comments in the interests of clarification on this incident.
When the incident occured I was very swiftly at the scene and was relieved to see Mr Fatthauer walking around and safe and well. We ensured the car was safe to be near and the safety crew made a full assessment of Mr Fatthauer. As a precautionary measure an ambulance was called, as the air ambulance happened to be close by they responded swiftly. The paramedics did a superb job and we were all extremely grateful for their attendance. I would hope that if I were in another country I be treated equally well if I had cause to call on professionals such as these gentlemen.
Safety at the event is always paramount and our primary concern, we halted proceedings until we were sure that Mr Fatthauer was safe and well and when our safety crew had made a full assessment of the conditions after the incident.
At no time was Mr Fatthauer or his colleagues' laughing about when had happened as someone commented above. We were all relieved that the incident passed and was dealt with without serious consequence however.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this.
I am the founder and organiser of the vmax event and felt I should add a few comments in the interests of clarification on this incident.
When the incident occured I was very swiftly at the scene and was relieved to see Mr Fatthauer walking around and safe and well. We ensured the car was safe to be near and the safety crew made a full assessment of Mr Fatthauer. As a precautionary measure an ambulance was called, as the air ambulance happened to be close by they responded swiftly. The paramedics did a superb job and we were all extremely grateful for their attendance. I would hope that if I were in another country I be treated equally well if I had cause to call on professionals such as these gentlemen.
Safety at the event is always paramount and our primary concern, we halted proceedings until we were sure that Mr Fatthauer was safe and well and when our safety crew had made a full assessment of the conditions after the incident.
At no time was Mr Fatthauer or his colleagues' laughing about when had happened as someone commented above. We were all relieved that the incident passed and was dealt with without serious consequence however.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this.
Edited by CraigW on Tuesday 6th April 12:21
A commentator said:
German roads are full of would-be Schumachers and now they try it out here too ? At the famous "green hell" called the Nurbuergring close to my home, they even pay a fee to drive their family saloons around the Formula one course . About 30 of them manage to overturn on a sharp bend annually.
Maybe our fees in the UK are too low if they test their production cars in Leicestershire.
Patrick, Germany
Maybe our fees in the UK are too low if they test their production cars in Leicestershire.
Patrick, Germany
snuffy said:
I don't see what's wrong with the laughing bit. Okay, they'd not be laughing at the time, but afterwards, when they had thought about it, I imagine most people would have laughed with the relief and realisation that they weren't dead !
yep take your point pal but I'm keen to quash the idea with them that we're a bunch of rich playboys who driver recklessly, smash up cars for fun then laugh it off.
Bit annoyed that this story got out tbh. Private day at a private venue, no one injured etc.
What really pi$$ed me off though was seeing a picture of the crashed car on a website news story.
Who that was at VMAX, and thus could have taken the photo thought it was a good idea to post it on the net for a news service to get hold of?
Does it help VMAX? NO
Will it help Bruntingthorpe with any ongoing local council issues? NO
Whoever was responsible should frankly be banned from attending future events.
What really pi$$ed me off though was seeing a picture of the crashed car on a website news story.
Who that was at VMAX, and thus could have taken the photo thought it was a good idea to post it on the net for a news service to get hold of?
Does it help VMAX? NO
Will it help Bruntingthorpe with any ongoing local council issues? NO
Whoever was responsible should frankly be banned from attending future events.
Worryingly, that story appears to have cropped up elsewhere with the same image (and, on one link a, presumably unauthorised in terms of copywrite, photo from Trackdemon)..
http://www.gtspirit.com/2010/03/31/car-crash-9ff-g...
http://www.fueltopia.co.uk/profiles/blogs/car-cras...
http://www.worldcarfans.com/110040225475/9ff-gt9-r...
http://www.onlydreamcars.com/2010/04/05/9ff-gt9-r-...
http://www.4wheelsnews.com/9ff-gt9-r-crashed-in-th...
And that's just the first few links I clicked on after googling "VMAX 9ff"
http://www.gtspirit.com/2010/03/31/car-crash-9ff-g...
http://www.fueltopia.co.uk/profiles/blogs/car-cras...
http://www.worldcarfans.com/110040225475/9ff-gt9-r...
http://www.onlydreamcars.com/2010/04/05/9ff-gt9-r-...
http://www.4wheelsnews.com/9ff-gt9-r-crashed-in-th...
And that's just the first few links I clicked on after googling "VMAX 9ff"
dazren said:
Bit annoyed that this story got out tbh. Private day at a private venue, no one injured etc.
What really pi$$ed me off though was seeing a picture of the crashed car on a website news story.
Who that was at VMAX, and thus could have taken the photo thought it was a good idea to post it on the net for a news service to get hold of?
Does it help VMAX? NO
Will it help Bruntingthorpe with any ongoing local council issues? NO
Whoever was responsible should frankly be banned from attending future events.
Exactly my thoughts!!! What really pi$$ed me off though was seeing a picture of the crashed car on a website news story.
Who that was at VMAX, and thus could have taken the photo thought it was a good idea to post it on the net for a news service to get hold of?
Does it help VMAX? NO
Will it help Bruntingthorpe with any ongoing local council issues? NO
Whoever was responsible should frankly be banned from attending future events.
The stupid idiot.
Hi there,
I was contacted a couple of days before the article was published by the picture editor of the Leicester Mercury and asked to supply some images for the article as he had seen my pics on here.
I told the guy I would call him back and immediately got in touch with CraigW and we agreed that it would be best all round not to supply any images to avoid potentially adding "fuel to the fire"
It was a bit of a surprise to see that every single article linked in the post above has my pictures in it. As for breach of copyright there is absolutely nothing I can do as I supplied hi-res images to Holger and the team at 9ff for inclusion in there media release newsletter and that is probably where the various sites have got them from.
As a footnote I know of one other site which has some pics of the wreckage on it, these pictures are different to the ones in the above article and have not yet appeared on the majority of sites and were definately taken by someone who was participating in the event.
Regards
Tim
I was contacted a couple of days before the article was published by the picture editor of the Leicester Mercury and asked to supply some images for the article as he had seen my pics on here.
I told the guy I would call him back and immediately got in touch with CraigW and we agreed that it would be best all round not to supply any images to avoid potentially adding "fuel to the fire"
It was a bit of a surprise to see that every single article linked in the post above has my pictures in it. As for breach of copyright there is absolutely nothing I can do as I supplied hi-res images to Holger and the team at 9ff for inclusion in there media release newsletter and that is probably where the various sites have got them from.
As a footnote I know of one other site which has some pics of the wreckage on it, these pictures are different to the ones in the above article and have not yet appeared on the majority of sites and were definately taken by someone who was participating in the event.
Regards
Tim
Edited by autofocus on Sunday 11th April 22:13
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