The Place

Would you expect them to pay for it?

The question follows on from this.. a journo (and racer) tested a Porsche, valued around the million mark, at Cadwell for an article.
The engine went pop, the owners wants 50K off the journo towards repairs.

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

Seems pretty relevant question with the Lydden test day arrangements.

I'm not too sure what I would do, probably not lend it out to avoid such decisions.

Same rule as "If you bend it, mend it". If you can't afford to put something right, you shouldn't be borrowing it in the first place.

To avoid any ill feeling after such an event has occurred, then surely it is best to have a "witnessed agreement" beforehand. i.e. "If you borrow it and it blows up you have to make good the repairs".

Its a bit naive of a Journalist to borrow a million pound vehicle without the releavant insurance in place he should be glad he only wrecked the engine !

Very pertinent question and one I've faced a few times- most of the steelie fleet have been lent out to people that I know and trust on various occasions.

What I've always said is if you're racing the bike as intended (changing gear at the right revs up and down the box, using the clutch and generally not riding like a see you next tuesday) and she goes bang then no liability attaches, would have happened sometime so don't worry about it. Likewise if you lob it down the road due to racing incident- contribution to repairs welcome but don't get too worked up about it. The fleet had primitive datalogging on board (Alfano laptimers/rev counters and video cameras) so anything blatant would have shown up.

Mind I'm talking here about solid reliable low-budget Hondas- you have to try ever so hard to destroy them and with replacement frames, engines etc. around the £200 mark it isn't exactly an open-ended liability.

Where it gets really interesting is if someone else is involved (when you lob my bike down the road) and an ambulance chaser turns up- there is every possibility these days that said ambulance chaser on his CFA deal will come after me for damages on the grounds that without my bike you wouldn't have been able to damage Mr X, who has a family of 7 to support, no sick pay and insufficient sense to get CICA or the current equivalent.

And with that journo, if he's driving kit like that around for his work then some serious liability cover would be sensible- he can always knock it off the top of his gross so HMG pays for 20% of it. Yes it'd be specialised work but someone would cover it.For a fee of course...

My friend is a motoring journalist and he has no insurance and wouldn't review any car unless it was fully insured by the company lending it out. In return they get free advertising.

Agree with Tim on the bend it, mend it theory.

However...I've also worked on T20's where the bike was a sponsored ride, which I think makes it a whole different ball game.

Edited
With modern day technology why would it blow up?
Rev limiters are in place.
What I'm trying to say is it should simply not blow up unless there's a manufacturing defect.its a Porsche therefore built to withstand very hard abuse.
If the car was loaned as for an article, limits would have to be explored,you can only do this at a track.
give it back and ask them to prove how the jurno blew it up.
At the end of the day it would have probably blew up anyway irrespective of the driver.

On the other hand if I lend my outfit out(will never happen) for someone to race,then any damage should be repaired by that person.
David Piper allowed Mark Hales, an experienced racing driver and freelance writer, to take his treasured Porsche 917 for a spin on a test track for a magazine article.

ALLOWED HIM TO TAKE A SPIN.

If I let someone go out on a test session and they bend it they pay for it !! no exceptions. but if the engine lets go I would consider it my issue as it would have gone anyway. Am I making sense?

gotta agree with brian-------on another note i still got stuff for the t20 or super six whatever you want to call it

the one in the article was older, about 40 years old.

My favourite car,Porsche 917K.The owner did some of the stunt driving,and in fact lost a foot in the Steve McQueen film Le Mans.

powerhouse wrote:Edited
With modern day technology why would it blow up?
Rev limiters are in place.
What I'm trying to say is it should simply not blow up unless there's a manufacturing defect.its a Porsche therefore built to withstand very hard abuse.
If the car was loaned as for an article, limits would have to be explored,you can only do this at a track.
give it back and ask them to prove how the jurno blew it up.
At the end of the day it would have probably blew up anyway irrespective of the driver.

On the other hand if I lend my outfit out(will never happen) for someone to race,then any damage should be repaired by the lendee(is that a word?)
David Piper allowed Mark Hales, an experienced racing driver and freelance writer, to take his treasured Porsche 917 for a spin on a test track for a magazine article.
ALLOWED (GET IT)thus expecting every eventuality.
If I let someone go out on a test session and they bend it they pay for it !! no exceptions. but if the engine lets go I would consider it my issue as it would have gone anyway. Am I making sense?

no

std rules apply.............you bust it you bought it