488 Crash at Estoril

That's bad :-(
It will be interesting to have some investigation results, specially whether it was a sudden failure or not.
Against popular beliefs the CCM brakes are also subject to fading, it was clearly noticeable at the track day I did in Spa.

 

Wow!! Certainly looks like a mechanical failure of some sort......

 

I'm hoping the it was the driver that reported the brakes as the cause......



Jim

 

Made me sick to watch. I hope the driver was OK.

 

Oh my god, that was awful to watch.

 

With a track day coming in my 488 suddenly I am iffy. LOL

 

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/ferrari-488-flies-through-estoril-bend-wrecks-in-airborne-crash-as-brakes-fail-116807.html

 

Glad to hear the driver's okay. Thanks for posting the article.



Jim

 

Sand and barriers for the safe.

 

It happened last Saturday at a track day event in Estoril.

Portugal being a small, peripheral country, this sad story has been gaining lots of traction, namely on the internet.

Long story short: the occupants are OK and escaped unscathed. That's the most important thing. Your life, health and well being can't be replaced. A car can.

The Speciale was left in a pretty bad shape too. There wasn't any contact between the two cars, but the 458 was hit with a rain of gravel travelling at around 150-200kph, as you can see here:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/portugal/549491-ferrari-%40-estoril.html

488 GTB was a year and a half old. I'd be very surprised if the car isn't totalled. A friend that was in attendance said brake failure is going to be alledged by the owner. I wasn't there so I can't and I don't have an opinion, but he said both cars were having a go at eachother, with the more powerful 488 being left behind on corners and only managing to catch up on the main straight. In his opinion, it isn't hard to conceive that a less experienced 488 driver lost control due to delaying braking past the normal point (some say he started to apply the brakes roughly at the 100 meter mark - that's pretty much the F1 mark at Estoril). You arrive at Turn 1 in Estoril at well over 300kph and it's a second gear corner. Not difficult to mess it up and braking a few seconds later than usual it's all it takes to go off, when travelling at well over 300kph and racing another Ferrari.

Answering the OP's question: I have no knowledge of 458/488 carbon ceramic brake failure, quite the opposite: that they're very durable and reliable, by friends who have no qualms about tracking their car. If you do track the car, you should get more frequent inspections to the braking system, but I'm yet to see technical data that supports beyond any shadow of a doubt that a 458/488 are prone to catastrophic brake failure on the road or on the track, causing an accident with potential loss of life.

Kind regards,

Nuno.

 

Another photo that has gained traction here in Portugal.

Kind regards,

Nuno.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Looks like what happened when Michael Schumacher tried to outbrake Eddie Irvine.

 

Sure didn't hear much for braking.

 

Nuno I spoke today with someone that was there and had a good look at the car after the crash. According to this source a catastrophic failure of the breaks doesn't seem to be the cause of the accident. According to several experienced track drivers who followed the getting at each other between the 458 Speciale and the 488 a very late breaking is probably the cause. The truth can always be found because Ferrari has the technical means for accessing the car parameters registration in order to find out if there was any kind of mechanical failure.

 

My admittedly very under qualified opinion: Too fast, wrong line, driver error. An investigation should affirm or refute the brake failure claim.

 

Under qualified drivers seldom notice the brakes hinting about problems until they scream "I'm done".

 

An alternate view might show when the brake lights were lit. Looks like he was flying into the curve and he went right to avoid the speciale ahead. Once he hit the inside dirt there was no chance to stop.

SV

 

458s are known for brake booster failures, which Ferrari will readily deny. Brake booster failures are fluid mechanical and don't necessarily log on the ECU or turn on a check engine light. It is possible this is the cause in addition to late braking if the driver experienced a hard pedal and non responsive brakes.

Sent from my SM-G9350 using Tapatalk

 

Wow!

Glad the driver is still with us !

Curious, whom reported these 458/ 488 " brake failures "?

Thank you for sharing this information.

Let's see, streetcars ,on the street tires, going toe to toe with each other for an entire session, sounds like and looks like a case of .. over driving the cars ...and their brakes .... it doesn't surprise me that that driver suddenly found an extremely soft brake pedal when attempting to once again late brake for the "lead".

As others have mentioned, Ferrari has a way to check their systems. Not to mention the condition of the brake pads will more than likely be a chalky white around the pad surface and edges ( excessive heat ? )

Curious to hear more about the findings after technical inspection.


But in the end, I'm glad the driver will be OK

 

Good grief, never track a car without slicks! Regardless, thanks God that occupant was fine! Phew!

 

Too hot into that corner. Too impatient to pass. At least he is safe and will learn a valuable lesson. Sometimes it can be very frustrating when there is someone who is clearly faster than you on the track that makes you take risks.

 

I had my Italia on the track a year ago...been out for about 20 min charging hard. Coming down front straight doing about 125mph...hard on the brakes for turn one...and the pedal went right to the floor. I hadn't noticed any fade on the preceding turn at all.

Luckily right at the turn is the run off into the parking lot.
Blew by people sitting at picnic tables still doing about 100mph as I downshifted and slowed over the next 150 yards or so of parking lot.

I suspect I boiled my brake fluid.

 

I wonder whether the "VDA Status" screen would actually tell the overheating conditions of the brakes (and/or engine); unfortunately I did not think about checking it when experiencing them.

 

Type of the tire has nothing to do with this type of accident. Slicks won't save you if there is a problem with the brakes or if you miss the braking point or any other driver error