The Paul Walker Chronicles: Former Owner of Porsche GT that Killed ‘Fast and the Furious’ Star Reveals Car ‘Was Tricky’
One of the former owners of the Porsche Carrera GT in which "Fast and the Furious" star Paul Walker and his buddy Roger Rodas died revealed the car had a tricky clutch that would come to a standstill.
The previous owner said he doubted the clutch was responsible for the car crash that led Paul Walker's death in the fiery accident.
"It was tricky and could stall starting up, but once you got it into second gear, it wasn't a problem," said Eric Olberz who is the previous owner of the ill-fated Porsche Carrera GT, via Daily News. He is also a professional Porsche racing driver.
50-year-old Eric owned the red Porsche for close to 600 miles and sold it in 2008 to another owner who later sold the car to Roger. Eric told Daily News that he believed that Roger must have lost grip on a patch of gravel or oil as he drove through a turn in Santa Clarita, California. He also said that he himself drove the car in the Angeles Crest Mountains and the speedometer would hit 120 mph on straightaways.
"In a straight line, it was rock solid," said Eric of the high-performance car. "In the corners, I learned not to push it. I was always careful and respected the horsepower," said Eric.
He mentioned that he had just one horrifying incident during which he lost the front grip with the car. Eric pointed that he felt as if he was driving on ice.
"It did scare me, but it was to be expected with that car," mentioned Eric.
Porsche engineers intentionally excluded the Porsche Stability Management (PSM) technology in the 2005 Porsche Carrera GT that senses when the driver loses control and corrects the situation at hand.
"If you want to get the most out of the car on a professional level, you don't want stability control. You wouldn't want it full-time. But on a public street, you would want to activate it. You never know what your road conditions will be and when you might lose traction. And if you're going too fast in that car, you can't correct it," stated Eric.
Police commented that speed claimed the lives of two people including Paul Walker, but they are still investigating the matter.