Engine fails while old pork being tested. Owner sues journalist - who's right?

[clipperjay]

i'm still confused as to how they know he over revved the engine? the guy who owned the car has more than enough money to pay for repairs so i feel this is more of a moral issue of a guy who can pay forcing a guy who can't and will probably lose his home because of having to pay.

An on board data logger would have logged engine RPM, gear changes, throttle position etc etc, and where on the track the incident happend! Engine management would most likely have an interchangeable "chip" that would govern throttle RPM, but useless against over revving by missing a gear, or engine braking etc,
Uploading this data to a laptop, will show, and prove exactly what happened...

Thom

Thom meant to say the rev counter needle got stuck at 9000RPM just after it blew 

[Diamond Hell]

This is still rumbling on.  There is a fund to donate to Mr Hales' legal costs etc.

Not sure how I feel about that - it's not going to change the precedent of the judgement, which serves as a stake in the ground for further cases of this nature.

As my first post really - the problems of the well-off. 

[Thom89]

My opinion stays the same, if you have an expensive race car, be careful who you lend it to!
 

Thom

[X4MGS]

Or at least make sure the insurance covers all eventualities... 

[Mr Blue]

Feel for the guy. Legal cases are not cheap and I hope he doesn't lose his home.

[Jay]

I think the tabloid he was doing this for should help him out, they're a bunch of cnuts for washing their hands of this.

[clipperjay]

Agreed with Jay there, should be Contigency plans on insurance. Anyself respecting journalist tabloid would have one! Plus not sure if he was freelance journalist or actually under contract with company?

[dTEA]

Agreed with Jay there, should be Contigency plans on insurance. Anyself respecting journalist tabloid would have one! Plus not sure if he was freelance journalist or actually under contract with company?

I presume thats where the technicalities kick in...covered if a full time employee...limited insurance for freelancers, presuming they have their own cover...and seeing as he does this regularly you would think he did have...or was he driving stuff as complete freelance on his "own" full comprehensive?? 

[Diamond Hell]

The main thing this should do is ensure contracts are drawn up for this sort of thing and signed before the event rather than relying on goodwill, which can evaporate very quickly if something goes sh*t-shaped.

[dTEA]

^definitely. But even contracts can go to sh1t. Just means more for lawyers trying to earn their crust if someone wants to defend themselves and sees themselves in the right still