Do magazines ever wreck cars?

[JoeSchmoe]

I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of a car getting damaged during a review by a magazine or TV program? You would think that no matter how careful the reviewers were, there would be some careless driver who would plow into the test car. Or maybe one might get wrecked during their "performance testing".

Do the magazines just keep these incidents secret or are these people invincible?

 

[POWERED by HONDA]

I've heard/read of a few cars wrecked by journalists.

Wasn't there a journalist who had an incident with a F50 on a wet autox track?

I remember when a Best Motoring reviewer spun an S2000 into a tire barrier while pushing the car on a wet race track. I wouldn't consider it wrecked though...

 

[AaronR]

I'm sure they do as I have seen our (tire/suspension/brake) test cars meet odd fates before (and most of us have considerable track/autocross time under our belts). Plus, the cars belong to us so we are being much more considerate too!
Aaron

 

[sabashioyaki]

Magazines wreck cars all the time, sometimes they even talk about it. The F50 wrecked in Europe is probably the most famous example.

 

[Andrie Hartanto]

A while back one of the bigger magazine tested one of the RennTech Mercedes and crashed. The driver died. I forgot which magazine and which Mercedes.

 

[JoeSchmoe]

I ask because you see and read about all the crazy stuff they do when testing these cars and one can only wonder why you arent seeing more crashes. The folks across the pond at evo, topgear, and bestmotoring seem to give these cars a good thrashing yet seem to escape unscathed.

The american magazines on the other hand seem to do a lot of "livability" tests by driving the cars in town, through the narrow streets, over the potholes, etc which seems equally prone to accidents. A lamborghini review in NY and a 911TT review in SF come to mind.

A while back one of the bigger magazine tested one of the RennTech Mercedes and crashed. The driver died. I forgot which magazine and which Mercedes.

Ouch. I guess that pretty much rules out invincibility... Just curious, was the crash on public roads or on a track somewhere?

Originally posted by POWERED by HONDAI remember when a Best Motoring reviewer spun an S2000 into a tire barrier while pushing the car on a wet race track. I wouldn't consider it wrecked though...

Now that you mention it, I think I might have seen this... but I didnt realize it was a BM video.

 

[Mr.Wolf]

From NSX Prime's "Fun Stuff" Gallery

<IMG SRC="http://www.nsxprime.com/Gallery/funstuff/rearview.jpg">

 

[POWERED by HONDA]

Now that you mention it, I think I might have seen this... but I didnt realize it was a BM video.

I believe it was BM. It could have been one of the other Japanese video magazines.

I also remember a BM race session where a driver (in a Skyline?) almost ATE it BIG time but caught it... It was wild!

 

[Big_nate]

The fatal crash was a Road & Track or Car & Driver editor, can't remember which. It was during top speed testing, on a closed track obviously, of a Renntech product. I believe it was tire failure at high speed. Automobile magazine did the first real world testing of the Mini's SRS system when an editor swerved to miss a deer and hit a tree head on. The tree broke in half and fell on to the roof of the car. It was hard to believe from the pictures but she escaped without so much as a scratch! Cars are unbelievably safe these days.

Nate

 

[NSX2play]

A while back one of the bigger magazine tested one of the RennTech Mercedes and crashed. The driver died. I forgot which magazine and which Mercedes.

It was Car and Driver.

 

[4AU4LIFE]

It was Car and Driver.

Wasn't the driver testing top speed?

 

[maomaonsx]

In a recently EVO magazine, they had a whole article dedicated to some of their biggest F-ups in their editing history. Sorry forgot which issue.

 

[JoeSchmoe]

In a recently EVO magazine, they had a whole article dedicated to some of their biggest F-ups in their editing history. Sorry forgot which issue.

Hmm... this I want to see. If you ever find out which issue (or can scan in the article) please let me know.

 

[CokerRat]

I recall another major mag (had to be either MT or Automobile) in the early 90's totalling a Toyota MR-2 Turbo (MkII) on a snow-covered winter road. In the aftermath they admitted they had committed the sin of mismatching winter tires front vs rear.