Carrera GT Was Travelling At 93mph On 9-Year-Old Tyres When Walker Died

 

why would such a nice car put on old tires?

 

saw this trailer on tv today

 

 

Because the Carrera was probably a garage queen (low mileage) and tire foam makes them LOOK good.

The car was Walker's friend's right?

 

IIRC, the car was owned by the shop that the guy worked at which I believe was funded by Walker.

They didn't put them on, it says they were the original tires the car came with from the factory and had never been changed apparently.

 

"Garage queen"

 

Yep, I know you said that already. And this is the kind of car you have a set of "garage queen" tires for it to sit around on and then a fresh set that goes on when you intend to drive it. This was a bad plan and it cost dearly.

 

Oh wow, those tires were hard as a rock then. Some people still really believe that age does not affect tires. Even had a guy at a tire shop tell me I needn't replace the tires on my wife's car when they are from '06 according to the stamp - because they still have tread. You can ease on the throttle in the wet and come around in this all-season equipped street car. Can't imagine what a C-GT would be like when they were known to be squirrelly even on brand new rubber.

 

I have a set of snow tires in my garage with a DOT code showing 2001 production dates. I'd have better luck on the road with plastic Big Wheel tires.

 

Tire age is totally important.

However the more I think about this one, 9 yr old tires on a garage queen like a 911 were probably not the real problem. Sure they are at a lower performance level but I doubt they were cracking and ready to blow. I doubt they were plastic rocks too. Driver error.... this accident would probably still have happened if they were on new all season touring tires.

That of course does not diminish the sadness.

 

Though the driver in question was an experienced race car driver, what happened here was a combination of all those things: old tires on a car that is known to be a handful and unforgiving and a driver trying to push it on city streets given those conditions - definitely a recipe for trouble. It has no electronic aids like many other super cars, to "catch" drivers when they push it too far.

 

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