Very very sad news. Makes me wonder if there was something wrong with the safety systems in this particular LFA.

The structure of both cars look OK, doesn't look like this was a particularly fast impact? The BMW drivers initially survived.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/23/b...-germany-ring/

EDIT: On-scene video: http://www.rhein-zeitung.de/regional...id,102517.html

 

Can't believe Hiromu Naruse died... I wonder what happened.

 

Very sad. RIP...

 

Very sad news

 

if you watch the video, the impact area + damage looks much worse than the photos.

 

Maybe he died before the wreck, like as the result of a heart attack?

That 5-Series doesn't look any worse than the example after the IIHS 40MPH offset test, which is considered highly survivable. It doesn't look like the dash was pushed in or the A-pillar crushed. Lots of survival space left which is why I am surprised that this resulted in such injury/death. I am really curious as to how fast each was going.

 

Horribly sad news. Looks like he died because no airbag was fitted for the prototype car, or at least none deployed. The driver compartment looks to be in good enough shape for the driver to survive otherwise.

 

very very sad......

from the news it says both people in the bmw are in life-threatening conditions too

 

I know that's why I said I was surprised these drivers were injured so badly and the LFA driver killed, because the pax compartment of the 5 looks barely compromised, lots of survival space, and the LFA looks like it has decent survival space too.

There was quite a bit of blood spatter on the LFA driver's helmet, so it must not have had (functioning) airbags, or maybe he was hit by debris. Very sad, reminds of Ayrton Senna's crash scene for some reason...

 

Sad to learn of this incident.

 

Very sad my goodness its like we just saw the yellow LFA pics a couple of days ago and this tragedy happens ..

R.I.P and my condolences.

 

So sad, especially when you look at his resume. He had a hand in developing every single important Toyota sports car. He lived an awesome life, and someone like this you just CANNOT replace. Big loss for Toyota and fans of Toyota sports cars.

They should name the special edition LFA after him.

http://gazoo.com/racing/english/vol_01/page04.asp

 

Very sad. I really enjoyed his commentary on the various interviews with him that have been published in the past couple years.

I recall from the discussions that the Nur edition was not fitted with the same airbag features as base model (at least the US one) to begin with, and also, this may have been a different prototype spec version.

 

What a tragedy!

 

Sad news for sure.

"The two test drivers in the BMW sustained life-threatening injuries and one is in critical condition.". I hope they will be ok.