Just woke up, what happened to Magnussen Vette?
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Just woke up, what happened to Magnussen Vette?
[quote=Matra et Alpine;969464]All if the iffs and buts dont matter in an accident. it is an accident. With the fence as you describe it may well have a different consequence ! No guarantee better :([/quote]
You are absolutely correct. An accident that takes a long time to happen, as this one did, is easier on the driver and the more forward placement of the fence would have very likely resulted in a much faster stop.
The gravel trap did not appear to slow the car greatly, which is to be expected as the up-slope on the side of the floor allowed it to skid easily, without getting any bite to slow it down. This bite may have well tipped the car and have taken it back into the spectacular flip scenario.
It does seem that the awful-looking board/fin on the back of the LMPs is working.
Can't believe the ACO punished Peugeot with a stop/go for a mechanic failing to wear goggles. I thought that was usually only reserved for non-French teams :)
Also I think they are maybe afraid of Audi ... TWO overtakes by going off the circuit is worthy of a reprimand, but nothing ? DID make great racing footage though adn I leapt off my seat in fright at his bravery/stupidity !!
The discussion in the pressroom on the two accidents reached the following conclusions:
McNish did something silly, he should have seen that Bernard was slowing down because of car in front of him. That car reckened that Bernard stayed behind him, and therefore kept his line, which McNish then tried to take.
Rockefeller tried to overtake a Ferrari on the narrow part of the track (the raceline that is). The subsequent disqualification of Kaufmann was fully unjustified. During the driver meeting the GT drivers and especially the rookies were told to keep their lane in case of a prototype (recognisabel from its white lights) came behind them and that the prototype drivers are responsilbe for finding a solution if they want to overtake. Kaufmann kept his line.
There was a general agreement that if the Audi had been the R15, the consequences could have been very grave. The R18 has a tub, which includes the window frame and the rollbar.
The Magnussen incident was a freak one, the two cars were next to each other before the Ford chicane, and for no visible reason the Corvette veered to the right, straight into the Felbermayer Porsche. I have not heard any further explanation.
The race itself was fantastic, hats off for Audi that turned a obviously lost cause into a memorable win. (15 seconds on 24 hours is really a very small margin). Extensive safety car periods may have influenced the result, but to what extent will need some further analysis.
First we need to sort out what we got, and then give a further visible account of the race. Hearing the 787B running in anger was one of the highlights of the week.
For now it is time to sleep....
While I think you are right that the slower car is supposed to stay on their own line, he has no need to move across the track to "apex" the racing line. It was the kink going towards Indianapolis (close to where the CLR flipped in 1999, if not exactly where it was, as the camera shot looks identical). If he had held his path (which was already in the middle of the track), Rocky would not veered onto the grass that ultimately spun him out(probably bottomed out and lost downforce)....The Ferrari definitely saw Audi, you can't miss it with the bright light, knows he is there he could at least avoid shifting "lane" even if he does not out right move out of the way...
I still find it amazing that no one got hurt in the McNish crash in the crowd or the photog area....that was an awful lot of fast moving R18 pieces....
BTW, what a win by Audi, close race through out, but the Super GT/DTM trio pull through delivering some pretty crazy lap time(3:25 race lap, that was quali time....) to hold off the F1/openwheel contingent of the Peugeot team....For once Audi had a genuinely fast car over Peugeot....Their pace advantage is not insignificant since for most of the race the Peugeot was able to do one more lap than Audi...Speed coverage elluded to something interesting though, as the stationary nozzle time by Audi was consistently a few sec faster than Peugeot, suggesting either their "filler to tank" flow is less restrictive due to design, or Audi was short filling the car since they can't quite stretch 12 laps(until the end when the pace was slowed by the drizzle) they just fill it to a safe 11 lap....
And a great win by the Corvette team. For work now we work with the people at Pratt & Miller and they run a tight ship over there on a variety of projects outside of their racing operation. Its good to see them return to their winning ways. Hearing that they are able to drill their tire change sequence to be consistently 4-5 sec faster than Schnitzer operation was amazing. And was cool seeing them do a brake caliper change(in lieu of a straight pad swap) in ~ 1 min in the pit lane instead of the full service crew of inside the garage was pretty impressive.
Sucks for my friend working at Wirth and was on the crew of Strakka....
[quote=RacingManiac;969511]While I think you are right that the slower car is supposed to stay on their own line, he has no need to move across the track to "apex" the racing line. It was the kink going towards Indianapolis (close to where the CLR flipped in 1999, if not exactly where it was, as the camera shot looks identical). If he had held his path (which was already in the middle of the track), Rocky would not veered onto the grass that ultimately spun him out(probably bottomed out and lost downforce)....The Ferrari definitely saw Audi, you can't miss it with the bright light, knows he is there he could at least avoid shifting "lane" even if he does not out right move out of the way...
I still find it amazing that no one got hurt in the McNish crash in the crowd or the photog area....that was an awful lot of fast moving R18 pieces....[/quote]
I hope you realise that also the slower cars will look for the race line, .....and at the kink, there is only one, so he was not shifting lane, but he was keeping the raceline, which they are fully entitled to do. (and it is not a place where you can easily move out of the way, I was standing there shooting at sunset on saturday, and just when we arrived back in the paddock, the Audi had crashed there).
That was a kink, but it was not a real corner, not even for a GT car. If the car is in Porsche curve or Dunlop or any other "corners" where the car is loaded up and tires are at the limit, I am 100% agree with you that the slow car should hold their line and fast car has to drive around. They don't have the grip and downforce and thus they can't move around at the limit. But where they were, with long warning as he would've seen the Audi coming, slow car can and should move out of the way....
ahem :) Speed RM :) That's a corner that has to be taken with the same respect as any other in the 24hours :(
Also, think about the number of tyre changes at Le Mans. All that worn rubber is SOMEWHERE .... and that somewhere is just off the "racing line". NOT unreasonable then that the suggestion is that the slower car keeps to the racing line and the approaching car overtakes SAFELY. On top of that it's near impossoible to judge distance based on blinding lights in a rear view mirror at speed :( I woudl suggest they have a rule about WHEN to flash lights or have an additional light to indicate to a slower car when a fast car is within say 100m and approaching fast ( ie here in 1second )
[quote=RacingManiac;969558]That was a kink, but it was not a real corner, not even for a GT car. If the car is in Porsche curve or Dunlop or any other "corners" where the car is loaded up and tires are at the limit, I am 100% agree with you that the slow car should hold their line and fast car has to drive around. They don't have the grip and downforce and thus they can't move around at the limit. But where they were, with long warning as he would've seen the Audi coming, slow car can and should move out of the way....[/quote]
it was THE kink, and at that point they go faster than at the Mulsanne straight.
I should check this forum more often. I completely missed this race. Damnit..
[quote=Rockefella;969585]I should check this forum more often. I completely missed this race. Damnit..[/quote]
This will help: [url="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/event/281/2011-24-Hours-of-Le-Mans.html"]2011 24 Hours of Le Mans - Report and Slideshow[/url]
[quote=henk4;969571]it was THE kink, and at that point they go faster than at the Mulsanne straight.[/quote]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMxRvEQnzaI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMxRvEQnzaI[/ame]
I am not even sure if Mike had a choice to go around the outside....
The Ferrari was CLEARLY in the left lane as Rocky drove up to him, probably going 30+mph faster. By the time he was committed to passing the Ferrari on the inside the Ferrari started to move over the centerline....the onboard shot was pretty clear.....being in Rockenfeller's shoe there was no reason to suspect the Ferrari will move over when he did...since the whole approach up to him he was over to the left....
Not to make light of it too much, but the view looked remarkably similar to on the road here the other day when some lady in a Jeep Commander decided last minute to move into my lane when I am already half a car length along side her, had to drove onto the island to avoid being hit....soft road curb saved my wheels from being bent....granted this was at 10mph....people driving SUVs and talking on the phone are f-ing retards....
The video perfectly shows that the Ferrari kept the race line, as the slower drivers were told to do during the drivers meeting. It is the responsibility of the quicker driver to perform a safe overtaking manoeuver. I am sure Mike knows exactly were the raceline is at that point, so he could have expected the Ferrari to stay there.
After the 'Vette crashing out of the class lead last year due to moving off the racing line while an LMP shoved past I can certainly see why they'd make that ruling. Also, from what I understand the GT cars are actually more affected by being on the marbles due to the much lower downforce. If the Ferrari moved out of the line through that kink, it'd've been in the gravel trap in short order.