Zef Eisenberg death: Millionaire attempting land speed record lost control of Porsche during parachute deployment

Zef Eisenberg reached 244mph in a modified Porsche 911 at Elvington Airfield, near York, before the crash on October 1 in 2020.

An inquest, which concluded in Northallerton on Friday, heard the 47-year-old suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, at 4.33pm.

The father-of-two had been told he must deploy the parachute before braking, otherwise the weight of the vehicle would be transferred forward and the rear would be lifted off the ground, and he used the chute several times that day without incident.

But video footage shows that when he was attempting the fastest mile with a flying start, he applied the brakes before the parachute was deployed. The vehicle was then lifted up into the air and it flipped onto its roof.

Collision investigator Stephen Gardner said footage recorded inside the car shows the steering wheel “twitches” when the driver takes his left hand off to push the lever for the parachute.

“The slight twitch, coupled with the fact that the brakes were applied prior to the parachute deployment, is in my opinion, the reason the vehicle lost control,” he said.

He also said there were no defects with the car which could have caused the fatal collision.

Mr Eisenburg, who lived in Guernsey, was best known for launching nutrition firm Maximuscle but he also ran the Madmax Race Team, which attempts speed records with motorbikes and cars.

He had amassed dozens of speed records on various vehicles during his life, including a Guinness World Record for the fastest turbine-powered motorbike run of 243mph, which he achieved in 2015.

During a previous record attempt at Elvington Airfield, in 2016, he broke 11 bones, including his pelvis, when he crashed a motorbike at 230mph.

It is the same airfield where Richard Hammond almost died in 2006, as he was driving a jet-powered car at speeds of more than 300mph and lost control.

At the inquest, Mr Eisenburg’s family raised concerns about the safety harness and the way it was positioned.

But the pathologist who conducted the post-mortem examination found it would have had “little or no effect” because of the force involved.

And at an earlier hearing, Andrew Bush, a scrutineer from Motorsport UK, said he inspected the vehicle, which had been fitted with a roll cage and safety harnesses, before the record attempt and “did not identify any safety issues”.

Senior Coroner Jonathan Heath ruled that Mr Eisenburg’s death was the result of misadventure, as it was “the unintended consequence of his actions”.

“The cause of his death was multiple traumatic injuries he suffered when he lost control of the motorcar he was driving at approximately 244 mph during a national speed record attempt,” he added.