UPDATED: Project EG Founder Dies In Accident
It’s with a heavy heart we are reporting that Project EG founder Seyhan Kilincci, known affectionately as The MadTurk, was killed in a tragic car accident over the weekend of July 15th and 16th. This is truly a horrific loss, not only because of the tragedy of the circumstances but because of his popularity and standing within the Atlanta car scene.
Seyhan Kilincci was survived by five children, a wife, mother, two sisters, and nephews and nieces according to a GoFundMe page established to help support the family during this time.
We’re still piecing together details, but early reports are he was a passenger in a Corvette that struck another vehicle at a high rate of speed. The accident left all of the participants in both vehicles dead.
Updated #1: We’ve learned those killed in the second vehicle were the wife and young children of a Hall County deputy. A fund has been established to help that family as well.
We certainly hope you’ll join us in extending heartfelt condolences to the families.
Impact To Project EG
It’s likely entirely too early to determine how this will impact Project EG as a club and their associated events going forward. Once we learn more we’ll let everyone know.
Update #2: As of this morning the Project EG Facebook group has been archived.
Updated #3: The Project EG Facebook group appears to have been unarchived, though it does not appear active other than memorials and support for families.
Impact To The Atlanta Car Scene
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first tragedy to strike the founder or leader of a group or club in the Atlanta car scene. It comes on the heels of Daily Driven ATL’s co-founder passing away last year in an accident in the North Georgia mountains. If early reports are confirmed that high rate of speed was involved, this is an opportunity to remind ourselves that our hobby can be inherently dangerous, and speeds in uncontrolled environments further increase the opportunity for tragedy. Still, that or any detail won’t change that fact that this was an absolute tragedy regardless of the circumstances.
This is also why we encourage all of our members to be cautious on the street. Seyhan Kilincci himself was an avid track enthusiast. There are so many tracks and opportunities to go fast in a controlled environment. Even if that turns out not to be a contributing factor once all of the facts are reported, the perception of that by others and authorities still often hurts the car scene.
Editors Note
We are trying to strike the right balance between reporting Atlanta car scene news, the fact that we personally interacted with Project EG members as part of the scene, including Seyhan, and the terrible tragedy that occurred here to all of the parties involved.
We are focusing only on reporting publicly available information. We also ask that other than supporting the families through the methods they asked like their GoFundMe, you respect their privacy and the recognize the level of shock, loss and grief they are trying to process through.
Updated: #4: We’ve been made aware that some of the details being reported, including the speed and who was driving, have been disputed by some of the families involved. With situations like this there is often a lot of changing and second hand information, as well assumptions made by online sources. While we are acknowledging the additional comments and potential for additional details, we won’t specifically report on them unless we receive solid information reported by authorities.
