2 UCF Students Died on Challenger Parkway in Research park Last night in SRT4...
 

<img src="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/media/photo/2006-04/22811275.jpg">

The Freaking car ripped in half...


---Sentinel Article

The three friends were going fast -- at least 70 mph, twice the posted speed limit. Maybe faster than that, officers said.

It was less than an hour past sunset Tuesday on Challenger Parkway, three miles south of the University of Central Florida.

Their families don't know where the students were going.

All they knew Wednesday was that Maximillian Krumm, 23, and Steven Lorenz, 18, are dead, and Lorenz's roommate, Ariel Poliak, 18, remained in critical condition after eight hours of surgery at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Florida Highway Patrol investigators think Krumm lost control about 8:30 p.m. and slammed into a tree. All three were wearing seat belts. Krumm and Lorenz, who was riding in the front seat, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Poliak was riding in the back seat.

His family doesn't think he knows his friends are dead, but he knows he was the only one emergency workers were talking to, his father, Alberto Poliak of Apopka, said Wednesday.

"When I heard that the others died, my first answer was to cry," he added.

Acquaintances told Lorenz's father that Lorenz may have sold Krumm a high-performance engine part for his Dodge Neon, and they were testing it out.

Lorenz owned a special type of Neon, the SRT4, and sold parts for the turbocharged model.

Krumm was an engineering student who grew up in Naples.

Poliak, a freshman, moved to Central Florida with his family from Argentina seven years ago and was in the first graduating class of Crooms Academy of Information Technology in Sanford. He planned a career in computers.

Lorenz was in his second semester at UCF. There was little he loved more than his Dodge Neon SRT4.

It was the Southwest Ranches resident's prized possession, the car he dreamed of during his days as a student at Cypress Bay High School in Weston, near Fort Lauderdale. He read articles about it and hung posters on the wall, his father said. Later, he would buy parts wholesale and sell them to other aficionados.

Manfred Lorenz was worried about buying his son such a fast car.

But he had good judgment for such a young man, Manfred Lorenz decided.

And a crash could happen to anyone, he thought.

Sgt. Jorge Delahoz, an FHP spokesman, said there's no sign that any of the students was involved with drugs or alcohol.

"They wanted to be the fast and the furious, but they wound up the fast and the dead," Delahoz said.

The families of the three men said risky behavior wasn't like them.<ul><li><a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-students0606apr06,0,1878973.story?coll=orl-home-headlines">Orlando Sentinel Story...</a></li></ul>

That is a shame...but why do cop's have to be so insensitive...
 

Sgt. Jorge Delahoz, an FHP spokesman, said there's no sign that any of the students was involved with drugs or alcohol.

"They wanted to be the fast and the furious, but they wound up the fast and the dead," Delahoz said.

What a jerk off comment even if it was true

2nd, didn't like that comment either...........

umm yea...ability to drive a car = priceless
 

I'm sorry if that post was in bad taste, but I have no sympathy for those who do stuff of that nature (the phrase "assumed risk" comes to mind). I'm sure you can say the same to me about a few things I've done in the past, but the difference is this.... 1.) I have a basic understanding of car control (hence the priceless part). 2.) There's a time/place for everything ('nuff said)

Gotta feel bad for the passengers....it wasn't their doing....

Well we have all sped on public roads. Secondly, you don't truly know what happened.
 

Something like an animal jumping out into the path of the car and depending on the situation no amount of driving skills could prevent an accident.

It was a tragic accident for sure. From what is being said on the SRTforums
 

The two guys in the front seat had just installed a new part and were trying it out. Definately not smart but like was said earlier there is a place for "testing and tuning". The front seat passenger that died was one of our vendors and a great guy.

Unfortunately these cars don't hold up well in accidents and that part of the car that hit the tree is an especially "soft" spot for a collision. Either way it sucks that a young life was lost over a poor decision that most of us into cars has made, fortunately we made it out alive.
Anyone familiar with the area, is there any reason that is onvious why they lost control (ie a curve or uneven road)?

holy crap.... the twisty roads are a little scary when you don't know whats around the corner...
 

a lot of people speed to the light at alafaya when they're on research and can't see cars stopped around the corner...

makes me nervous

but i have probably gone the speed they were going on challenger before in the past... it's too hard to speculate what happened to them... fwd + inexperience + speed could have been a huge factor though

Re: umm yea...ability to drive a car = priceless
 

HERE, HERE

i hate being a passanger in someone elses car when they drive like a madman
 

makes me very nervous... this is the kind of thing that reaffirms to me why i like driving myself so much... or why i offer to drive people places rather than get in their car