Ferrari Mailing List: That big accident in Japan

[Dennis Liu (bigheaddennis]

A friend just forwarded me this thread.  Thanks for thinking of me!  :-)  A
couple of comments:

1.  Wait, Dennis CAUSED the accident?  No, no, Charles is forgetting his
Flist history.  It's CREAMPUFF that causes these incidents, led by Lashdeep,
with Dennis merely as a terrified passenger.

2.  "Damned iPhone"?!?  If that happens, that would only be due to the fact
that the installer of the new receiver in the Ferrari would have screwed up
the iPhone installation (that would be David Perry... Er, I mean CHARLES
Perry).

3.  On a serious note -- I've organized quite a number of these types of
drives (including one this past Saturday that was happening probably not too
long before or after the one in Japan), and have learned some lessons.  SOP
now is to have a drivers' meeting before we start, and warn everyone of the
following:  each of us is responsible for the whole group.  You can drive as
fast as you feel safe doing, but you cannot put others at risk -- whether
it's someone in our group, or a stranger.  If we're not on a major road,
then don't speed at all.  If you cross the double yellow, you get thrown out
and not invited back.  If some punk in a WRX is goading you, ignore it.  If
you drive like a dick, you get thrown out and not invited back.  The judge
of your behavior, with no appeals?  Me and my discretion.  On our drive this
past Saturday, the first half was through the suburbs of Metrowest Boston.
We stuck to reasonable speeds, made ZERO passes on anyone, and enjoyed the
beautiful fall foliage on back streets.  Then we got onto I-90, a 6/8 lane
limited access (tolls) superhighway, and opened it up a bit.  Nobody was a
dick to any non-participant cars, and everyone had a good time.

It's enjoyable -- and hilarious -- for us to theorize what happened in
Japan.  We may all take guesses as to what caused the accident.  And we may
even be correct!!  But we don't know, do we?  **I** think that the group was
going fast, and one driver loses control and the chain reaction was massive.
But that could also be true even if no one was driving particularly unsafely
-- e.g., on one of the times that Creampuff spun his 308 (with me in the
car), he wasn't going that fast - just that his old tires were overinflated
and the pavement was very cold (and, as David Perry, er I mean Charles Perry
will immediately point out, having Dennis as a passenger means that the
center of gravity changes massively, laterally and altitudinally).  What if
someone was following a little closer?  Could the same thing have happened
to us?  Sure.  Chain reaction wrecks happen all the time -- we read about
pile-ups involving 20 cars, 50 cars.  Do we know what the weather conditions
were at the time of the accident?  Could it have been caused by an animal
running into the road, or a truck that just happened to change lanes, or
whatever?  Sure.  Again, my immediate, quick-to-judge reaction is the same
as all of yours.  But that doesn't mean that we're necessarily right.

Vty,

--Dennis