Read and learn: m5board.com loses a member

[Erik]

Read and learn. Hopefully things like this will not happen again.

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=111545

"One thing is certain. The families and friends of Jacob James Casey, 19; James Devon Hime, 19; Joshua D. Ammirato, 18; Dustin J. Dawe, 19; and Isaac Rubin, 20, are devastated.

All five were pronounced dead at the scene after an apparent high-speed crash that investigators say likely involved alcohol.

Ammirato was driving his father's gray 2008 BMW M5 sedan. The $80,000 car, registered to Santo Ammirato, was traveling north on the 1.5-mile-long airstrip that actor John Travolta and others regularly use to fly in and out of Ocala."

[Erik]

http://www.ocala.com/article/2008012.../BREAKING_NEWS

Less than 12 hours before he died, Joshua Ammirato was posting messages on an Internet message board seeking advice about how to drive his 2008 BMW M5 faster.

Ammirato, 18, logged onto M5board.com Thursday and Friday, asking other M5 drivers how to shift smoother in the 500-horsepower machine.

"The problem is when I'm going pedal to the metal pushing 140 and upshifting, there tends to be thud noise with the gear change," he wrote in one post.

Ammirato and four other young Marion County men were killed at about 3:45 a.m. Saturday, when the BMW M5 he was driving sailed off the end of the Greystone airstrip in Anthony and crashed into a tree.

Messages on the board devoted to M5 enthusiasts show Ammirato logged on shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday as "AmericanM5."

"Let me say I am beginner when it comes to high performance cars as I am only 18 so take it easy on me," he wrote.


...

[HKS786]

I seen this a while ago, really really sad. The saddest thing is reading his messages from a short while before it happened. What a tragic loss, I hope this is a lesson to other young drivers. My condolences to the families.

[AndyBG]

R.I.P.

18, so early to go...

[DuckWingDuck]

ultimately this is part of the reason why as cars are built faster and faster that we need to have more defensive driving courses.

[nene]

Defensive driving courses aren't a deterrant to stupidity!
I'm only glad he did not take any other families down with him, besides the morons that decided to jump into that machine with him.

I for one don't feel sorry.

[DuckWingDuck]

Well, I wouldn't say that I don't feel sorry Nene, but what you said is right on and I agree with you for the most part. Glad you said it.

[IbisRS6]

Defensive driving courses aren't a deterrant to stupidity!
I'm only glad he did not take any other families down with him, besides the morons that decided to jump into that machine with him.

I for one don't feel sorry.

That's the worst thing I have ever read! Do you even understand how devastating the situation is. These kids were between 18 and 20 years old. I'm 20 right now and I have so much ahead of me / going for my self. Imagine them.. wealthy, possibly intellegent kids that made a single mistake by driving a car to quickly on a runway! Your a joke if you don't feel pitty for that, imagine if that was one of your children (If you already have / are able to have them) and they died right when they were about to become real functioning people in this world.

Death is death and it's somethign that invokes an emotion one way or another. These childrens lifes were put at an end so suddenly I only hope they were having a good time before they lossed their precious lifes.

I feel for all the famlies that this effects directly and I'm sorry that these families will never get to experince life the same way ever again.

Something I've learned in my short years in this world is have sympathy and love for everyone, because if you don't people that are like me and my friends (Intelligent and influential) will know that you are ignorant and unkind.

-Alan

p.s. People commonly say things without propperly thinking about what they are saying. If this post has changed your opinion in any way let me know.

[nene]

You find devastating the fact that 5 kids born with silver spoons couldn't control their desire to be extremely stupid? You need to get out of your house more IbisRS6. Hopefully you did not hold your breath waiting for a change in my opinion, because you may have joined those 'poor' fellas.

Clearly they did not value their lives. Had they been on a road regularly, and a drunk driver hit them and killed them,...now that is a tragedy!

There is much worse going on in the world that I feel sorry about than 5 kids playing with fire and getting burnt in the process.

I do have a nephew that is about to be 20 years of age. And he drives daily the S4 I gave my sister. Albeit not an M5, and believe me, it does not take 500HP to do stupid things. They could have achieved the same goal (death) in a 90HP Smart Car. However, it is stories like this one that I bring up to him to keep him informed that we are not truly invincible behind the wheel. But I must say that I am not there to protect him, and he must learn from his mistakes.

So... NO, I don't feel sorry, and I am glad it is not one of my children.
I do hope that the driver's parents get their pants sued by the other parents, and get thrown off that lavish gated community they call home. Maybe that will help put some perspective into things. I did not read the story fully, so unsure if the kid took the car out with permission or without.

[01a6v8]

ohh my god
that is very tragic, i read all the bulletins on the m5 board and im really sad now
im only 19 but god i never drive like that top speed for me is 80mph thats it.
idk all my condolences go to the familys god bless and everyone be safe
drive carefull you never KNow what can happen
and if this story doesnt touch you in anyway then theres somthing wrong with you. put it this way somthing like this happens to one of your family members and you go on a thread and read where someone says they dont care how would you react??????????????????????????????????

[Erik]

nene, I'm actually a bit surprised by your comment too but I can see what you mean. I've been in cars (luckily the ones with 90 hp) where I've just jumped in at the wrong occassion but because I was young, inmature and drunk it felt like the totally right thing to do at the time. Didn't even give it a 1 second thought.
So I think similar things happen to a lot of people, it's like a Darwin award you have to pass to get older.

I guess that was the reason why I posted in the first place.
I'm sure it will happen again, but if the post can avoid just one occassion it's worth it regardless if the people are born with a silver spoon or not.

[Boosted-Bora]

I am only 20 and I must say I have many of acquaintances who do this same kind of nonsense and some so I've heard have ended with similar fates (death)
I feel deeply sorry for the families of the kids as well as the kid themselves all I can say is when some one my age gets there hands on a high power machine like the M5 I wish they would just be more careful as it is not a toy. This makes me remember more and more that life is not a joke.

I just wish more people in my age group (18-25) would think before they do certain things but i guess people are right when they say that my age group is one of the most dangerous on the road.

My condolences go out...... but as nene said what they did was still plain stupidity especially if alcohol was involved.

[DuckWingDuck]

damn I feel old, so many kids....

[skiwi]

man there are a lot of kids on this board....

for the kids:

1) you have a long time to get your thrills. you don't need to rush
2) if you really like driving cars fast - visit a track

for the old b@stards like me with kids:

1) it pays to remember what we got away with (i'm on my 4th "life")
2) rebuke is not teaching.

[iconcls]

Nene,

I couldn't agree more.

[Mr Balsen]

I could not agree more with nene.
I am already teaching to my children (10 and 7) that driving a sport car requires special driving skills. And alcool is out of the picture when it is about driving any car.

And I take them on regular basis as passenger of my Audi Sport Quattro Groupe B Replica. They know what power and safety mean...

Cheers,
Frederic

[KarlMarx]

Brave of Nene to post like he did (and I mean that in a supportive way). He's put into words what probably a lot of us where thinking anyway.

[JavierNuvolari]

Jeez man...that's very sad. But I guess inmaturity got him...I mean...he should have NOT been driving at that speed with others on board, no matter if they said" GO, GO GO"...so just for that I think he's an a**hole...because of him other families are grieving their sons.

On other side, my condolences for the family, truly...I can only imagine how much that has to hurt and it terryfies my to find out....even more now that I'm going to be a father(just heard at new year's eve in Brazil).

Truly a sad story