An inquest into the death of 47-year-old Zef Eisenberg, a land speed record holder, has heard that his death may have been down to a braking error.
Eisenberg was killed in a crash while attempting a new land speed record in a Porsche 911 at Elvington Airfield in 2020.
The BBC reports that the inquest into Eisenberg’s death has heard that the fatal crash may have been due to the brakes on the car in which he was attempting a new land speed record run being applied before the parachute was fully deployed. This, the BBC says the inquest was told, would have caused the car to become “unstable.”
Race marshal Graham Sykes said in a statement that although Eisenberg had used the car throughout the day, “the car began to lift as though air had got under it," when Eisenberg deployed the parachute on the final run of the afternoon.
Sykes said that it was likely that Eisenberg “had got the sequence wrong,” applying the brakes before the parachute was fully deployed. Sykes told the inquest into Eisenberg’s death that “Sadly, I feel driver error caused this tragic accident.”
The BBC reports that Eisenberg’s 2020 crash in Elvington was not his first there, after he crashed in 2016 on a turbine-powered motorcycle. Afterwards, he set the speed record for a motorcycle on sand 370kph, or 230mph.
In total, Eisenberg had set over 90 land speed records on two- and four-wheels. The inquest into his death is set to continue at a later date.
