Porsche RSR Airborne at Lemans Practice

Maybe the rear wing was mounted upset down?

 

Doc Brown, meet Doc Bergmeister
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They changed the curbs at the Ford chicane this year, so that the GT cars wouldn't straight line it. This is he result of a mistake there, now.

 

There have been a lot of positive changes at Le Mans after last year's tragedy and debacle
of a race.

They have revised their caution procedures to allow the track to be green for most of the
way around but in the area of an incident will be called "slow zones" where cars may not
exceed 60KM/H or risk incurring a major penalty which seems reasonable.

Last year, with all of the safety car periods, contending cars in all classes got shuffled out of
contesting for class lead (and) could be put half a lap or more behind due simply to the fact
that the ACO would break the field into three groups under prolonged cautions. A lot of teams
lost out on good finishes just because they were in the wrong place on the track whenever the
music stopped (some multiple times).

Also, the ACOs use of the gravel traps is still a matter of concern to drivers (former and current).
Some of the rocks in the gravel traps are the size of a fist or potato and after a car has an off
and re-enters the track, these rocks become 200+MPH projectiles that can penetrate a car and
cut tires.

There was a famous image by Nils Finderup from the 2003 Le Mans of the winning Bentley
Speed 8 being pelted with stones through the Ford Chicanes just as we see in the image of
the Porsche GTE flying through the traps. Why don't they change the gravel traps to sand or
asphalt?

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/new-safety-car-procedure-slow-zones-for-le-mans-revealed/

BHW

 

Sigh...


From your link:

 

haha!

 

Yeah, I believe in this case, a wave around isn't as we see in NASCAR sanctioned races
where we routinely see the first lapped car in the cue receive the "Lucky Dog" wave
around.

Usually in sports car racing, they will wave cars around that have been unfairly put a lap
down through no fault of their own other than being at the wrong place at the wrong time
on the track during safety car periods.

This was another thing that some teams last year complained about as not only were they
being cut off from their competitors and being shuffled down the order through no fault of
their own, they could not make up the deficit with the field being cut into thirds.

Hopefully, this will all work to plan this year and they can avoid having team's races ruined.

BHW

 

what was determined to be the actual cause of Alan Simonsens death last year? Was it a major frontal impact as the only video shows the car just after the crash coasting

 

The painted curbs on the outside of Tetre Rouge were wet from earlier rain. The car got
fully up on the curbs and the car snapped sideways into the armco barrier passenger side first.

Unfortunately, there was no gravel or tire barrier in front of the armco barrier (some of
which was anchored directly into the trees which were immediately behind the barrier).

The Aston Martin hit full sideways with all its momentum, the armco gave way as it is designed
to do but a tree behind the barrier did not move. As Dorsey Schroeder pointed out at the time,
the car's roof was buckled and appeared twisted suggesting the extreme amount of force the
car endured.

This prompted the ACO to separate the armco barrier from the trees and they've added
a line of tire barriers along with a strip of gravel trap. I believe the COD was attributed to
severe torso and upper body trauma. Such a shame.

The fact that the ACO is still using the armco barriers which date back to the mid-60s and
are there year round really called the safety standards into question. One former driver informed
me that much of the armco is attached to wooden posts which are rotting in
the ground, this and the potato-sized rocks in the gravel traps he attributed to the reasons
he stopped racing there.

BHW

 

Thanks Barton

 

Hopefully, they've learned and we may put it behind us this year.

BHW

 

What actually killed him though? Head injury? Damage to heart due to the impact?

 

The later...

BHW

 

Hope you are right. This is the other part that had me worried...

 

Barton is correct, more info/analysis here: Race Car Driver Deaths: The Medical Causes of Racing Deaths w Examples

 

As soon as I saw how the roof was distorted I figured it was pretty bad. That was a hell of an impact.

 

Frankly, it is lucky that we didn't lose McNish and Rockenfeller in head-on impacts
into the barriers at Le Mans.

Both shunts resembled aircraft crashes with debris from Rockenfeller's shunt spread over
hundreds of yards. Their saving grace was the strength of which Audi builds up their
tubs and the lower COG, amazingly they both walked away from shunts that ten or
twelve years prior would have certainly been fatal.

It proves that the science and technology of building these cars has improved leaps and
bounds but not all of the tracks have followed suit.

The loss of Simonsen was senseless and avoidable which makes it so heartbreaking.

BHW

 

Here is the picture. I believe it's in the same place where Porsche took off!

10256599_10152272184279442_7068610406668416442_o_zpse51f1be9.jpg Photo by Gregory_058 | Photobucket

 

when Tony Renna crashed at Indy, a doctor at Methodist said his injuries were consistent with a plane crash, not a car accident.

agree, Audi could very easily have lost two drivers in that race.

 

They may have to rethink those curbs.

Seems as though in the early 2000s, a Porsche GT car took off across the curbs in the Ford
Chicane, got airborne and flew all the way across the track and into the barriers.

Look at all of those stones too. What a mess.

BHW

 

Yes, really uncomfortable for the drivers and very dangerous.

 

Is this the one with the fly wheels?

 

Is it a movable aerodynamic device?

 

They are going to make Le Mans a 24 hour RalleyCross event..