2012 Petit LeMans *****Spoilers*****

PLM is coming up this weekend, test days are already concluded and support races start tomorrow!

One of my favorite events of the racing calendar, this year the absence of the WEC cars (in particular the Audi and Toyota diesels) is somewhat made up by the American racing debut of the Delta Wing-it will be interesting to see that car come bombing down the hill in T12.

The great P2 battle between Conquest Racing and Level 5 went nuclear when Level 5 hired not one but TWO Franchittis to drive for them

the usual epic GT battle will be in effect once again, with reigning Indycar champ Ryan Hunter Reay joining the Viper squad.

and ESM has painted their 458 to promote a Vodka brand owned by Patron....shiny

looking forward to a great week/weekend of racing! anyone going to be there live?
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looks like the DW had significant contact with a GTC car and ended up on its roll hoop

not sure what that means for the car entering the race.
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more DW pics (courtesy Bruno Junquiera's twitter feed).

lots of damage to the back of the car...
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looks like the hot dog will be repaired for the race, so a little humor is in order
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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW7qaG9K2_c[/ame]

 

Why are they still bothering with the DW? ... absolute waste of time as already proven at Le Mans.
Pete

 

did his helmet hit the ground or not?

he claims no. sure as hell looks like it did in that video.

 

There are many reasons why a driver would say they didn't have helmet, but if there aren't any marks on it, who's to argue?

 

have you seen pics of the helmet post accident?

I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or saying what he wants people to think helmet to ground contact at that speed is probably automatic trip home (or to a CAT scan), I'd think.

 

Nope, but I'm willing to bet it was inspected.

As for the ESM "paint", it ain't paint:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUM06nDkG04[/ame]

 

has he been cleared to drive?

LOL, yeah I think that's fairly obvious

 

I think his helmet may have hit the ground a bit while the car was on the grass; it didn't look like it ever hit the pavement.

While the accident was (to me) clearly the Porsche's fault, the Delta Wing people are doing themselves no favors by painting the car black. It is clearly smaller (and thus probably harder to see) than most prototypes, and should be painted a bright and visible color.

 

I agree, watching almost frame by frame, I don't think it hit cement but did hit the grass.

as to the contact, the GTC car was pretty sideways out of the corner and I think he just slid into the DW. I don't think it was a visibility problem, it was a lack of control problem

and I also don't think a P1/P2/PC prototype with a normal front track would have flipped that easily; however it probably would have spun nose first into the tire wall. pick your poison...

 

You are correct, sir. To the layman, it looks like a visibility issue, but the GTC driver was heading towards the DW whether he saw it or not.

 

and IIRC that's not the first time a Green Hornet GTC car has taken out a prototype

 

It was DEFINITELY the Porsche drivers fault...BUT...and I have raced and won at RA many times....that is NOT the safest place to pass someone

 

That was what I was thinking when I saw the video. A car with a normal front end would not have been upside down.

 

prototypes pass there all the time....they have to, otherwise they get stuck behind a MUCH slower car down T12 and lose a ****load of time.

I sat/stood in that corner for 2 hours at last year's Petit and watched all sorts of passes in that area.

 

Wouldn't know. The only ALMS race I watched was the one I attended while racing at Mosport that weekend.

Since they killed ALMS on TV here, I can't seem to keep up on live or delayed coverage.

 

watch them on the interwebs, yo.

 

What's that?

 

it's a series of tubes.

 

Um, yup. For the last 42 years...

 

Car is just to small to race with full bodied cars

 

I disagree, maybe the full bodied cars did not expect the DW to be so damn fast??

Looking forward to the race though.