We don't have much in the way of details yet, but according to a report out of Germany, Toyota's chief test driver has died in a crash on highway 410 near the Nurburgring after veering into the oncoming lane and colliding with two others test drivers driving a BMW. While the two BMW test drivers survived the crash, the yet-unnamed Toyota driver died behind the wheel of the recently spied LFA Nurburgring Edition he was driving. The report says that the driver of the LF-A was 67 years old and Toyota's chief test driver, which leads us to believe that he is Hiromu Naruse, In addition to being the company's chief test driver, Naruse is also Akio Toyoda's personal driver and the Godfather of the LFA. More information should be forthcoming. http://toyotaminis.com ******************UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE********************** According to reports, Toyota's chief test driver, 67-year-old Hiromu Naruse, has died in a crash on highway 410 near the famed Nürburgring race track in Germany. He was driving the recently spied Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition (above) at the time of the accident, and reports say he veered into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with two others test drivers in a BMW. The two BMW test drivers survived the crash, though one is reportedly still in critical condition. German video of the crash scene after the accident took place can be viewed below. Police are investigating the crash and have yet to determine its cause. Naruse was heavily involved with the development of the Lexus LFA supercar he was driving, along with many other past sports cars from Toyota's history since he joined the company in 1963. Enthusiasts today call him the "Godfather of the LFA," though he was involved in the development of sports cars for Toyota going as far back as the storied 2000GT from the late 1960s. The prototype of a special edition version of the LFA that he was driving when the accident occurred was reportedly worth 1.5 million euro. **************TRANSLATION FROM GERMAN TO ENGLISH****************** This Translation was provided by YouTube User: slippingsnake " 'test drive died on frontal crash' a traffic accident happened, here at the K 94 (K = Kreisverkehrsstraße= district traffic road), behind me in this left corner 2 vehicles crashed almost frontal. In the Nissan lexus 1 person was killed, int he BMW 2 person are injured who have been rescued by medics (DRK) and brought to hospital. I can't tell how this traffic accident happened, Police is investigating.... ...prosecution is informed and they have ordered an expert witness/ consultant. He's now coming from Koblenz to saerch for further proof/ evidence and to reconstruct how the accident happened. [sorry for my english) So this is just a common traffic accident on a public road, prosecution is involved bec. a person has been killed (standard procedure). if you look at the pic. at 1:04 you'll see that incoming traffic is covered by trees... maybe the Nissan cut the corner"

• published: 02 Jan 2012
• views: 6261421
• author: Roslan Lan