Lamborghini Staffer And Passenger Die During German

Wuppertal, Germany (dpa) -- A man believed to be an Italian
employee of Lamborghini lost control of a demonstration car in
Germany Thursday and was killed along with a female passenger.
Eyewitnesses said he gave the enormously powerful
Lamborghini Gallardo far too much throttle. It skidded against a
carriageway divider, flew through the air, hit a lamppost and
burst into flames.
The yellow demonstrator car was being shown off at a
dealership in Wuppertal, Germany. The passenger, 28, came from a
nearby town.
The Gallardo's engine is rated at more than 500 metric
horsepower. The car's specs say its top speed is 309 kilometres
per hour.
Police said the value of the written-off car and other
damage amounted to 150,000 euros.

 

I have exchanged communications with him a short while ago just to be sure, and FWIW it is not Valentino.

 

link: http://www.gtspirit.com/2010/05/06/car-crash-two-dead-during-gallardo-demo/
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Very Sad SuperL?

 

Thank you for checking Joe.

 

You are welcome. I did so the minute I heard the story. He is in London, and had not even heard of it. Clearly I was not the bearer of glad tidings.

 

Yes.

Very sad. RIP both...

 

Balboni would never do anything like this, he knows how to drive these cars.

rip for the two killed...I really feel sorry for the woman.

Fred

 

R.I.P. Godspeed

I would figure Valentino would let the testing be done by others nowadays?

 

Wow, that is terribly sad. I drove the car on Thursday and was impressed with the stability. Obviously it got out of control there. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.

For what it is worth, the new Superleggera is a phenomenal car.

 

I've driven alongside and behind Valentino in "his" namesake car and while he used the occassion to spin out the rears a few times, he is a consumate professional and knows the limits of the car better than anyone. It was much more likely a "sales" person trying to impress a potential buyer or simply a young woman in the car and pushed way past his capabilities. It is always sad to hear of someones passing and as others have said thankfully Mr. Balboni was no where near the incident.

 

There are also times when even Valentino has his own little off road excursions. Here are shots of Valentino in a Balboni at Daytona.
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The big difference is, he is aware of his surroundings. And really, it's a huge difference.

Also, quite often a test driver will do controlled spin-outs -- they can spend 1/2 their time on the edge, they know it well. So when they are in ANY kind of spinout, they know exactly what to do.

Test drivers will also setup the spinout ahead of time. Know where they are going to spinout and that's where they push the edge.

Even if Balboni was caught off guard in the photos above, he knew what to do in order to make it a "non event." I'm sure he was smooth as silk the whole time.

With everything that Wallace and Balboni have gone through, the fact that they are both still alive proves they are exceptional drivers, on a number of levels.

Cheers,

Fred