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Was at Aspen in '78 for the Parade, and assume we used that track for the autocross but I really don't remember much other than lots of BIG rocks if you went off the track. And that my 914 really didn't like the altitude...
Wonder what kind of car he was in? Track doesn't seem big or long enough to build up a lot of speed- no HANS?????? (close to home, he's younger than I am!!)
Hopefully he was alone. Would suck if he maimed an instructor or passenger too.
Even small tracks with modern cars it is very easy to hit stupid fast speeds. One track I instruct at is tiny, so small we can't actually road race at it (designed for motorbikes and trainer open wheel cars) and yet I'm sitting in green group cars watching the speedo hit over 180kph in non sports cars after they took the corner onto the straight 20kph too slow.
Sad to hear, and hopefully no one else was involved. No details available on the crash that I've found....
One might assume, that being a multi billionaire, he was driving something expensive and fast.
Or expensive and vintage, perhaps lacking somewhat in safety equipment.
Doubt it was a Spec Miata or a rental Focus...
When I met my soon-to-be wife, I told her that I wouldn't stop the race track stuff, but promised to keep it absolutely as safe as possible.
Part of that is the track itself. Look at it ahead of time, and ask:
"If I go off here (or there...) what will I hit, and how fast will I be going when I do?"
"Tight and small with no runoff" doesn't sound like a great place for a fast car.
pretty tight is right,.. 1.1 mile 8 turns. From image, there is some runoff, but other turns are quite tight and unclear about barriers if any.. definitly rocks. also surface, at least in this and other images on website seems to be concrete in sections. ...
The barriers at either end of that straight look a little sketchy....
It looks long enough to get some serious speed in a high HP car.
100%. I'm guessing even in a vintage / low HP car its not a place you want to lose your brakes. I wonder what car he was in and if it had all the safety / race car gear in place.
Also what people fail to mention is that he could have had a medical emergency and died while at the controls before the accident happened.
06-26-2023, 06:37 PM
Bad news from Aspen...... sigh
