[Fot] Evo-Spec 2012 Ferrari 458 Challenge for sale on BaT Auctions

[kkjjk at aol.com]

 What a story!
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark J Bradakis via Fot <fot at autox.team.net>
To: FoTTriumph <fot at autox.team.net>
Sent: Tue, May 19, 2020 9:27 pm
Subject: Re: [Fot] Evo-Spec 2012 Ferrari 458 Challenge for sale on BaT Auctions

On 5/19/20 6:55 PM, Mike Harmuth wrote:
> What the H can you hit there? There's not even a turn.
> Darwin at work

There are a few gentle turns and some elevation changes along the route 
we picked out.  My friend Rich was the main man, I was his assistant.  
We spent quite a few hours scouting the rural roads of Utah to find this 
spot.  And doing a couple of test passes in a Utah Highway Patrol Crown 
Vic along the route seemed fine.  But we never went over 100 - 110 mph.

The morning of the event there were many drivers ready to give it a go.  
About 5th out was this bright orange Camaro, heavily modified.  It 
finished up at the end of the run clocked at 195 mph.  The event was a 
fundraiser for the UHP, with the money going into the Fallen Heroes Fund 
or whatever it was actually called, which provided financial assistance 
to families of troopers who were killed in the line of duty. The kicker 
on this event was that the drivers would pay a "fine" of $1 per mph 
clocked at the finish.  After already shelling out something like 5 
grand for the entry fee.

Anyway, a few cars after that Bitchin' Camaro the jeweler's son took off 
in the Enzo.  We had spotters along the route at many of the mileposts, 
and they would radio in a quick word when a car passed there station.  A 
rough guess based on the time between spotters calling in the Ferrari's 
position was that it was closing in on 200 mph.  The spotter who saw it 
at the end said it hit a small rise in the road, got airborne and when 
the front wheels hit the ground they were pointed in a different 
direction than the rest of the car.  So it went sideways and rolled 6 - 
7 times.  At 200 mph.  The car disintegrated, leaving major chunks 
scattered along the side of the road for about a mile and a half.  Left 
rear quarter over there, engine and gearbox there, and so on.  But as 
you can see from the picture, the passenger compartment, the carbon 
fiber roll cage, was intact and in one piece.  Some fine engineering.  
Driver was banged up and bruised, but not as badly as one might expect 
given the details of the mishap.

And over a period of the next few years a local shop pieced the car back 
together, making some changes and the driver ended up setting a land 
speed record in the car out at the Salt Flats.

And oddly enough, Rich and I were not contacted about assisting with the 
event the following year.

mjb.


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