What Is It With Celebrities Crashing Porsches?

From James Dean’s famous fatal wreck in his 550 Spyder in 1955 to Lindsay Lohan’s less-serious collision with the back of a truck while driving a 911 Carrera last year, Porsches seem to spell trouble for some of the stars who drive them.

One possible reason: They are not easy to drive.

The Porsche 911′s layout, with its engine in the rear, where you find the trunk in most cars, gives it dynamic properties unlike any other sports car on the market. Having the engine “hung out” in back gives the car a rearward weight bias that can be accentuated when it is driven fast and aggressively.

According to a police report, Brown said he was trying to evade a group of photographers, known as paparazzi, when he lost control of the car. There were no injuries and no charges have been filed, police said. A Porsche spokesman declined to comment.

Under some conditions the rear end will begin to slide or “step out,” and if the driver doesn’t respond quickly and accurately the car may spin out of control. Porsche’s are famous for this quality that driving experts call “oversteer.” It has been a contributing factor in many crashes, particularly involving drivers not familiar with the special techniques needed to drive some Porsche models in a smoothly and safely.

Bobby Phills, a player for the Charlotte Hornets basketball team, died in 2000 when his speeding Porsche 911 collided with another vehicle after the team’s morning practice session. Ryan Dunn, who starred in MTV’s ”Jackass,” died in a high-speed crash in a 911 GT3 in 2011.

The earliest Porsche road cars were based on the Volkswagen Beetle, which carried its air-cooled engine low and behind the rear axles mainly for ease of packaging. The arrangement helped designers maximize the tiny car’s interior space. Since the VW was not designed with high-performance driving in mind, the ill-balanced setup didn’t raise much alarm. However, the VW-derived Porsches had problems from the beginning.

In fast corners, the relatively heavy rear-mounted engine was a bit like the head of a hammer. It seemed to want to swing around toward the outside of the turn. Well-trained drivers knew it was vital to continue applying power, making subtle adjustments to keep the car balanced and under control. But startled drivers tended to ease off the throttle or release it completely. When that happened, the sudden shift imbalance toward the front often caused the rear wheels to lose traction, allowing the car to spin wildly.

Some Porsches like the four-door Panamera sedan and the Cayenne SUV have the engine in front so they have more forgiving handling and are as easy to drive as your grandmother’s Buick Park Avenue.

But the 911 Carrera series of sports cars remain Porsche’s signature design. And while the company has gradually improved its rear-engine models and tamed their skidding tendencies, driving the powerful machines without crashing can still be a challenge.