The young driver lost control of his GT3 and plunged into the Limmat River in Switzerland
Through Chris Chilton
13 hours ago
- The driver of a Porsche 911 GT3 lost control and slid into the Limmat River in Switzerland.
- Local news reports say the driver was 23 and his passenger was only 17.
- This is the latest in a series of watery 911 accidents.
What about Porsche 911s and water? Barely a week goes by these days without reporting on an accident involving a rear-engined Porsche in desperate attempts to copy the performance of their World War II Schwimmwagen. ancestors, and this latest incident is not the first in which a GT3 plays the leading role.
Images and images from the scene show a 992-generation 911 partially submerged in the Limmat River in Switzerland, and rescue crews’ efforts to extract it without causing further damage.
Related: Another Porsche Takes a Dive! This time a 911 Cabrio in a canal
It’s hard to look at the straps wrapped around the paper-thin spokes of the forged alloy wheels without wincing as the crane pulls the stricken GT3 out of the water, although they seem to be doing a good job of getting it back onto dry land intact to get.
Unfortunately, as the water gushing from the interior confirms, if the insurance company even decides to approve a repair, the repair bill will be high.
Local news reports say the unnamed driver was only 23 and his passenger only 17, and that they were driving northeast along Chlosterstrasse, a small road that briefly runs parallel to the river. Swiss website Nau.ch, which has video of the extraction, says the driver lost control shortly after a left turn, and we can see from the skid marks that the car slid backwards into the river.
Photo Ecletica Sol/Zerin Dube
Judging from the portion of the Google map shown below, it appears that the driver lost the back of the left turn coming out of the straight next to the river, and slid into the water as if he were trying to do the famous James Bond imitate film. Lotus Esprit beach scene in mirror image.
We don’t know if the road was dry or greasy, if the traction control was on or off, or how much experience the driver had pushing the rear-engine sport’s 503 PS (510 hp) to its limits. But we do know that this probably won’t be the last time we see a 911 take a bath this year.
Today an episode of cheerful scenes in nature pic.twitter.com/Cz0Rb0mNoz
— Zerin Dube (@SpeedSportLife) June 3, 2024