2008 24H of Le Mans official thread !!!

[nemanjas]

Clearly the regulated underbody chamfer is not enough to prevent this potentially lethal type of accident. I hope a car never gets into a spectator area as the results would not bear thinking about. I wonder is this spate of accidents is ringing alarm bells within the FIA. If not I think it should be.

I agree. I think they should limit prototype speed to 60kmh. There is no need to go this fast in populated areas.

[shazbot]

I agree. I think they should limit prototype speed to 60kmh. There is no need to go this fast in populated areas.

Thanks for that intelligent contribution to the thread.

[GF350]

Maybe this should be a topic for a thread all on its own, but it is very concerning that these cars have such a propensity to take off when they go sideways. Clearly the regulated underbody chamfer is not enough to prevent this potentially lethal type of accident. I hope a car never gets into a spectator area as the results would not bear thinking about. I wonder is this spate of accidents is ringing alarm bells within the FIA. If not I think it should be.

Due to the nature of closed wheel cars it's tricky to see what a solution may be without radically altering the rules/pre-conceived idea of what an LMP car is. I don't remember the last time I saw an F1 car take off in similar circumstances, so as unpalatable as it may be to some maybe that is the direction to go - less floor area.

Looking at the video, it looks like the first impact on the barrier caused the lifting of the side of the car and the speed just carried it on, not the same thing as the Mercedes incident where it did it all on its own.

I wouldnt say theres much you can do to design that sort of behaviout out, the only solution would be bigger run off areas and gravel traps.

A F1 car would have behaved differently as the wheels came off but it's difficult to say which would have handled it better.

The point here is that Gene escaped almost unharmed from what was a bad accident, so the safety regulations work.

[Breeze]

Not so unharmed after all, as he's pretty banged up right now. Hopeful to be well enough to drive Le Mans, but not yet definite. Could have been worse, for sure, so he's lucky in that.

[MrJan]

It was a scary accident that Gene had and I think that rather than aero or speed it is down to the weight of the car.

As for Nemanjas comment, are you just fishing for a reaction? Why don't we just run old ladies on those little scooters for the handicaped, unless of course they are too fast for you?

[SEATFreak]

Anyone else into Le Mans? The big race is on Saturday at 3pm.

Again the Aston Martin 009 team looked good in Free Practice. The team of David Brabham, Antonio Garcia and Darren Turner.

In the first they came in their class (LMGT1) third they came third with a time of 4:01.404 and in the second they topped their class with a time of 3:53.531. But their main rivals in the GT1 class are #53 Labre Competition Saleens of Christophe Bouchut, Partrick Bornhauser and David Smet (who topped session one) and both Corvette Racing teams. The #63 team of Ron Fellows, Jan Magnussen and Johnny O'Connell and the #64 team of Olivier Papis, Oliver Gavin and Massimiliano Pappis. The former came 4th in both sessions and the latter came 2nd in the first and 3rd in the second.

Elsewhere and in the GT2 class BMS Scuderia Italia drivers of Matteo Malucelli, Paolo Rubertini and Fabia Babini topped the first session with a time of 4:11.429 and in the second the session was topped by Risi Competizione of Jaime Melo Jnr., Gianmaria Bruni and Mika Salo.

And in the LM P1 class in both sessions the top top places were dominated by the same team. In the first by the #3 Audi Sport Joest of Lucas Luhr, Alexandre Premat and Mike Rockenfeller and the #2 Audi Sport cars of Rinaldo Capello, Alan McNish and Tom Kristiensen. And in the second by the #8 Peugeot Sport drivers of Pedro Lamy, Stephane Sarrazin and Alexander Wurz and the 9# Peugeot Sport drivers of Franck Montagny, Ricardo Zonta and Christian Klien.

I look forward to the race. Top drivers from F1 and Touring Cars througout. But of course I will be pulling for DT in the #009 Aston Martin with David Brabham and Antonio Garcia.

[Rudy Tamasz]

What's the story with LMP 2? Who's on top? I notice they get little attention.

[MrJan]

I quite like the event and I think ITV4 are showing something (they had the test day last weekend) so might watch a bit if possible. Personally I'm more excited about the Classic Le Mans which I'm going to next month, loving it

[AndyRAC]

Hope it doesn't turn into another Audi benefit. Just hope the Peugeot's are reliable. And fast.

[Tom206wrc]

Superb pics of this week's scruteneering !!!!

http://www.passionautomoto.fr/index....pper&Itemid=89

Today evening(7.00pm gmt+2)start the qualifying practices...I bet Sarrazin will be the fastest overall :

Excellent news to add !!!! The 2nd Epsilon Euksadi coupé will run the Le Mans race too, with Jean-Marc Gounon, Stefan Johansson and Shinji Nakano as great line-up

Unfortuneately the italian LMP1 Lucchini-Judd of Racing Box has been forfeit...explaining the new arrival in the last moment yesterday

Another great news, the 908 #7 has been successfuly rebuild in less than a week and Marc Gené is 95% fit(he complains of very light pain in back and neck only)

Can't wait for this evening now !!!!