Originally Posted by PDX_Racer

Since I know all of the people involved in the Portland incident, I was able to ask questions that others probably didn't bother to ask.

#1 - The driver had a choice -- take out people, or take out cars. He had enough skill and control to choose the cars instead of the people. (He has driven my cars in the past, and I still wouldn't have qualms with him driving them in the future).

#2 - The car was a Porsche 911 GT-3 -- a car notorious for having the pedals offset towards the centerline of the car. You literally drive the car with your torso "twisted." It's very easy to reach for the brakes and get the clutch instead (and in fact one of the eyewitnesses stated that the driver looked down as if trying to find out why the brakes didn't work).

I was able to talk directly to the eyewitnesses (not the people who heard the crash in the stands and turned around to see the damage).

As far as the last, yellow 350Z crashing into a tree -- that was a DriftAmerica event held in a different parking lot at Qualcomm stadium the same weekend as one of the San Diego National Tour events (I was at the tour). During that DriftAmerica event, they totaled *5* cars -- the 350Z was the last, and the DriftAmerica event was shut down at that point, and they were asked to leave the site.

Originally Posted by Shamu Z

I spoke with eye witnesses as well and I have driven 996/986s for years that have same exact pedal offset and never made mistake of hitting clutch instead of brake? "Lucky" he had choice to destroy his friends car and others rather than hit people.

Again $hit happens in autocross it's not a completely safe sport. never has been. People have been killed and injured.