Journalist damages Piper's Porsche 917k - loses court battle

[PTRACER]

I read on the internet that racing driver-come-journalist Mark Hales missed a gear while track testing David Piper's Porsche 917k at Cadwell Park for Octane Magazine and over-revved the engine. Although insurance was there to cover crash damage, it didn't cover mechanical damage...

Piper took Hales to court and sued him for not only the £40,000 it cost to fix the engine, but also £65,000 in court fees. Mark Hales is going to end up filing for bankruptcy and will probably lose his house. David Piper meanwhile has already sold the Porsche for a whopping £1.25 million.

I think this is just disgusting.

Article here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/cla ... lodes.html#

[Ian-S]

Saw this earlier, it's just plain wrong.

[Cheeveer]

Was it worth it? He got to drive a Porsche 917K after all! But yeh, not really cool by Piper.

[PTRACER]

It doesn't make Piper look like a good guy that's for sure.

From what I understand, he was short shifting from 2nd to 3rd, but the 3rd didn't sync properly and it threw it out (back into neutral?). The engine revs hit 8200rpm, which was above the 7000rpm Piper's mechanics told him to use, but below the rev limit of the engines back in the day. So there's a good chance the engine hadn't been maintained properly anyway.

The gear selection problems were a design fault with the car and they had the same problems driving the thing back in the day. Anyone could have made that 'mistake', professional or otherwise.

[caneparo]

the court fees excess the settlement? wow!

[PTRACER]

Yup. Mark has his own fees to pay as well. £120,000 plus. Awful amount of money.

[Sam]

If you are going to drive a car that you cannot pay the repairs for make sure you have an insurance. That's where the real mistake was made...

[kals]

Mark Hales and David Piper apparantly made a gentlemans agreement that if any damage was caused during the test then Hales wouldn't be held responsible. But when Hales called upon this Piper claimed no agreement existed.

Also, a saving grace for Hales is that an Octane fan set up a fund that other fans could donate into to help cover the costs he owes.

[caneparo]

40.000 pounds for the engine is a lot of money really. Who can fix such an engine?

[Ian-S]

If you are going to drive a car that you cannot pay the repairs for make sure you have an insurance. That's where the real mistake was made...

They did have insurance, but the insurance company wriggled out of paying saying the damage was not a result of an accident.

Several years ago I found this out to my cost too, I was told back then that as soon as the engine blew, I should have "lost control" and crashed the car into the nearest wall backwards, then the engine damage would have been covered by the insurance.

[PTRACER]

Have you had an engine blow on you?

[Ian-S]

yeah couple times.