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Investigators blame speed in fatal Paul Walker crash

When the tragic news first came in that actor Paul Walker had been killed in a car crash, family, friends and fans were left searching for answers. They now have at least one key question answered, with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department blaming "unsafe speed" for the fatal accident.
According to a statement released by the LACSD, "Investigators determined the cause of the fatal solo-vehicle collision was unsafe speed for the roadway conditions". The investigation into the November, 2013 crash determined that Walker's 2005 Porsche Carrera GT had been driven by his business partner and racer, Roger Rodas, at speeds between 80 and 93 miles per hour - less than the 100+ mph initially suspected, but still far too fast for the road on which they were traveling, which carried a posted limit of 45 mph.
In the investigation into the death of the Fast & Furious star and his friend, some people were quick to finger the Porsche in which they were riding as the culprit. The Carrera GT does, after all, have the reputation of being a notoriously difficult car to control. But after an exhaustive investigation, law enforcement officials in California have vindicated the car and dismissed any mechanical fault as the cause of the accident.

Felicity Ace sinks with thousands of VWs, Porsches, Lamborghinis

The stricken ship Felicity Ace sank overnight after a week of salvage efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful. The ship, which was carrying up to 4,000 VW Group cars, went to the bottom unexpectedly while a salvage team was attempting to tow it to shore, Bloomberg reports.  "Initial reports from the local salvage team state that the vessel had sunk at around 9AM local time having suffered a list to starboard," Mitsui O.S.K. Lines transportation company (MOL), which owns the Felicity Ace, said in a statement released early Tuesday.    "The last vessel position was around 220nm off the Azores," MOL said. "The salvage crafts will remain around the area to monitor the situation. Further information will be provided as it becomes available." The ship sank after being battered by waves and listing 45 degrees to starboard, the ship’s operator said. “The weather was pretty rough out there,” Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for MOL Ship Management (Singapore), a unit of Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., said by phone. “And then she sank, which was a surprise.” VW, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini-branded models were aboard the ship, which was headed to Rhode Island from GermanyÂ’s Emden port when the fire broke out on Feb. 16.  Rough seas and ongoing fires fueled by the lithium-ion batteries of EVs onboard delayed the ship's salvage and recovery operations for the better part of a week. While the likelihood of salvaging the smoke and potentially fire- and water-damaged vehicles from Felicity Ace's hold was slim to none, some had held out hope that their special-ordered vehicles might survive the mishap.  The Panama-flagged Felicity Ace was safely evacuated of its 22 crew members by the Portuguese navy after a fire started in its hold more than a week ago. The ship can carry up to 4,000 cars. European carmakers declined to discuss how many vehicles and what models were on board, but it appears to have been transporting approximately 2,500 cars, including roughly 1,100 Porsches and an undetermined number of Volkswagens.  The cars aboard were on order. Porsche customers in the United States were being contacted by their dealers, the company said. “We are already working to replace every car affected by this incident and the first new cars will be built soon,” Angus Fitton, vice president of PR at Porsche Cars North America, Inc., told The Associated Press in an email. The ship sank in water nearly 10,000 feet deep, the Portuguese Navy said.

Porsche to offer next-gen 911 GT3 with a manual

Porsche may have offended some of the purists among its customer base when it rolled out the current 911 GT3 with only a dual-clutch transmission. But according to Car and Driver, the next GT3 will get a stick again. The development comes as the good folks at Zuffenhausen (and Weissach) attempt to balance the instant-shifting benefits of a DCT with the direct involvement of a conventional manual transmission. On the one hand, Porsche introduced a new seven-speed manual with the 991-generation model. On the other, it didn't offer that manual (or any manual for that matter) on the GT3 or even the more hardcore GT3 RS. In response to customer demand for a more back-to-basics approach, Porsche is preparing to introduce a new variant expected to be called the 911 R, with a manual, no turbos, and skinnier tires for a more linear driving experience. And the Cayman GT4 was launched only with a manual instead of a DCT. "The GT3 is full of systems that make sense on the track, but for the purist, there may be something lost," Porsche GT chief Andreas Preuninger told C/D. "It is our long-term goal to have the customer decide between the two approaches." In addition to the DCT, the current GT3 also features a four-wheel steering system. The shift (so to speak) back to a manual option in the next GT3 will undoubtedly come as a welcome development for those purists offended by the DCT-only option – to say nothing of Porsche's movement towards SUVs, diesels, and hybrids. That manual option may not, however, offer all seven forward cogs available in the stick-shift Carrera. One way or another, though, we don't doubt that most customers would still go for the dual-clutch option over the single on they can actuate themselves. Related Video: