Ferrari covered 70m in 1/300 sec after brakes

KOLKATA: The Ferrari California T, which crashed on Sunday, was travelling at 130km/hr when it hit the flyover sidewall on NH-6, said forensic officials who visited the accident spot and examined the supercar on Monday.

With tyre marks on the road indicating that brakes were applied around 70 metre before the crash site, Shibaji Roy was driving at a considerably higher speed when he slammed on the brake pedal. Thereafter, the crash happened in a flash.



According to an official of the state forensic laboratory, the needles of the speedometer and tachometer recovered from the mangled car showed the vehicle was travelling at 130km/hr with the engine reving at 6,200rpm when it smashed into the concrete wall. The Ferrari California T has a top speed of 315 km/hr.

“When brakes are applied in a supercar travelling at such speed, it rapidly slows down. But it still travels a considerable distance before coming to a halt. Clearly, Roy was travelling at a speed much higher than 130km/h when he sensed danger and hit the brake. But the tarmac before him disappeared in an instance. The Ferrari would have covered up the 70 metre after braking in less than 300th of a second,” an auto expert told TOI.

At 130kmph, the Ferrari would have required at least 50 metre more before it could have halted. The typical stopping distance for city cars is 98 metre when travelling at 100km/h. “The stopping distance depends on multiple factors: driver reaction, effectiveness of the brakes and tyre and road condition. Supercars fitted with superbrakes can stop the monsters at much shorter distances than conventional cars used for everyday use. But it still requires adequate free road ahead to come to a halt,” the expert pointed out.

“These findings are very preliminary based on the first impression after inspecting the car. We will have to carry out detailed tests before we come to any conclusion,” said the official at the end of the inspection on Monday. The four-member team had arrived at 11am and examined the mangled remains of the car. Thereafter, the team went to the accident spot: Pakhuria bridge near Salap crossing.

“We have collected several crucial modules from the car, which we will examine in detail to arrive at a definite conclusion. But given the damage caused to the vehicle from the high speed impact, we have to first ascertain which modules are in good condition,” the forensic official said after collecting the event data recorder, engine control unit, dashboard camera, speedometer, tachometer, odometer and glass samples from the car.

The official also indicated that given the sophisticated engineering and software used in Ferrari, they may have to seek help from the company to decrypt the data stored in the modules. Ferrari has an office in Delhi and has trained technicians in partner service outlets in Mumbai and Delhi.

An official of Navnit Motors, Ferrari’s official dealer in India, said authorities investigating the crash also needed to look at the manner in which the highway got constricted and how the rail on the wall was jutting out. “Why was the guard rail sticking out? It was a death trap,” he said.