Viper accident in Hartland, MI

I was under the impression the new Viper had not been released yet for sale. Was this a magazine tester?

 

From the article I read, the cause of death seemed to be from a pre-existing medical issue (heat attack, stroke, etc), not the crash itself. Either way, RIP.

 

He was a Chrysler engineer.

 

If there was a pre-existing medical cause, that's certainly a different spin, but the first thing I thought of was the cold tires.

I looked around and it doesn't seem like the production tire for the Viper is that aggressive, and I actually saw a reference that the compound for 2013 features better low temperature performance, but...

it's important to keep in mind at this time of year that the highest-performing "summer only" tires really are suitable for summer use only. I know that manufacturers put notices in their owners manuals about this, but many people don't get a chance to really test those assertions out. Some of these tires really do get rock hard and nearly impossible to drive in the cold. We had a guy park a car up north this winter because he underestimated the loss of grip in a summer tire during cold weather. Yesterday it was about 40 degrees and cloudy when this accident occurred. You CAN get into conditions in which the stability control system can't save you. As we say "you can't beat the physics". When the tire doesn't have much grip, you can get enough energy in the car that ESC doesn't have the control authority to correct. I've wondered if this same type of cause could have been a part of the 458 crash that was filmed and came around recently.

It's really important to be extra cautious as we get cars out on the road in still chilly weather with ultra-high performance tires.

 

Wow, that is terrible! I am wondering if this is a guy who lived several blocks down from me. I've seen a few SRT Viper test cars at his house.

Chris

 

this story has it he stopped on the on ramp then did a full speed ahead run until he crashed .

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There's been a ton of Viper's out in the detroit area over the last couple months with manufacture plates on. I see at least 2-3 a week, but its too bad to see this. RIP.

 

His name was Martin (Marty) Morse, a colleague at Chrysler. I met him several times, but did not know him very well. Very sad story. It is odd to see his office empty now.

 

Sad, it made me think of François Cevert from looking at how he may have died.

 

That is terrible. Perhaps cable barriers aren't the best idea as a safety measure...

 

+1

Killed by safety equipment! How sad. Gruesome too. Poor guy.

 

I don't think you can blame it on the cable barrier. He didn't go onto oncoming traffic and kill a family of five did he? You don't blame trees for killing drivers, or blame ditches for killing folks during rollovers.

Did he have a medical issue or something?

 

Even more than that......Not doing high speed runs on a public highway, knowing the consequences of cold pavement/cold high performance tires and keeping your car between the white lines is the best safety measure.

This is a very sad accident. I'm the same age and can't imagine. I feel for his family.

JIM