ALMS: Petit Le Mans 2009

[Ray]

Chekered flag! After more than three hours of waiting and promises, they decided to spoil the race.

What a shamefull end to a great race! I'm gutted, because I feel now the situation was ok for a restart, and with more than 1 hour to go, it would have been a very hard fight between Mc Nish & Montagny...

Just think about the people who broke their pig and traveled thousand miles to watch their race being cut half distance...

I'm not saying they were wrong to call the red flag, because everyone agrees there was no way they could race in those conditions, but two hours later it was possible IMO. Still a dangerous track, but practiceable.

Now Peugeot, Dyson and Risi can't even be proud of their wins...

Um, the area that track is in has been battered with rain for the past two weeks. There were massive puddles all over the track and McNish himself said they needed to throw the full course caution two hours ago when it had just started raining and it hasn't stopped raining since. When Scott Sharp flipped his car in practice the ground was so soft the rollbars dug in far enough that his helmet touched the grass and it left mud on it. That's plenty enough reason to stop the race. You could wait until tomorrow and the water wouldn't have disappeared. It was the right decision given the circumstances.

[modbaraban]

Have a look at this channel for some vids from the race.

[vyselegend]

Chekered flag! After more than three hours of waiting and promises, they decided to spoil the race.

What a shamefull end to a great race! I'm gutted, because I feel now the situation was ok for a restart, and with more than 1 hour to go, it would have been a very hard fight between Mc Nish & Montagny...

Just think about the people who broke their pig and traveled thousand miles to watch their race being cut half distance...

I'm not saying they were wrong to call the red flag, because everyone agrees there was no way they could race in those conditions, but two hours later it was possible IMO. Still a dangerous track, but practiceable.

Now Peugeot, Dyson and Risi can't even be proud of their wins...

Um, the area that track is in has been battered with rain for the past two weeks. There were massive puddles all over the track and McNish himself said they needed to throw the full course caution two hours ago when it had just started raining and it hasn't stopped raining since. When Scott Sharp flipped his car in practice the ground was so soft the rollbars dug in far enough that his helmet touched the grass and it left mud on it. That's plenty enough reason to stop the race. You could wait until tomorrow and the water wouldn't have disappeared. It was the right decision given the circumstances.

Well, I can understand that. I was just gutted because I had waited up to 2 am (which pissed my wife) for nothing , and PLM was a race I was dreaming of for months, so it turned out to be a disapointment. Let's say it also, the timming of the storm was really bad: It had been a race under Mc Nish & Capello's domination for hours, but we were having a great return of Montagny & Sarrazin which was promising a terrible fight! I know inside of me it would have been very intense.

That's why I felt something was spoiled, has did probably most of the spectators on the track.

Now all I hope is they consider the possibility of this problem happening again, and start investing in a draining system. I know it is a very difficult place for natural draining, with all the elevation changes, but I bet an artificial draining network could do the job. The only question is: Can they afford it?...

[Ray]

The Highcroft team rebuilding the car after Sharps huge crash

[modbaraban]

http://vimeo.com/6761286

[RacingManiac]

Now all I hope is they consider the possibility of this problem happening again, and start investing in a draining system. I know it is a very difficult place for natural draining, with all the elevation changes, but I bet an artificial draining network could do the job. The only question is: Can they afford it?...

Well it has happened to F1(03 Brazil, 09 Malaysia, almost as bad in 07 Fuji too) before and when you hit with a storm like that no draining in the world can save you....

[Ray]

Now all I hope is they consider the possibility of this problem happening again, and start investing in a draining system. I know it is a very difficult place for natural draining, with all the elevation changes, but I bet an artificial draining network could do the job. The only question is: Can they afford it?...

My parents live in northeast Atlanta and the rain gauge in the front yard indicated 16 inches of rain but it measures 5 inches at a time, and that was only being dumped out in between massive rainstorms. There were many many parts on north Georgia that got over 24 inches of rainfall in about 10 days. There was absolutely nothing they could do, no matter what they spend. It's not that big a deal, it was too much rain to be drained off the track. No reason to spend lots of money for something that really gets no real benefit.

[mx_tifoso]

It's extremely depressing that my city only gets about 3-4 inches of rain per year.

And this year has been one of the driest in a while.

[Scotracer]

It's extremely depressing that my city only gets about 3-4 inches of rain per year.

And this year has been one of the driest in a while.

You can have some of mine

[Shrek]

It's been raining like crazy all last week, and i guess some of that went to Georgia

[Ray]

It's been raining like crazy all last week, and i guess some of that went to Georgia

Yep, literally about 2-2.5 feet of it.

[Giblet]

It's extremely depressing that my city only gets about 3-4 inches of rain per year.

And this year has been one of the driest in a while.

You can have some of mine

+1.. The Vancouver rainy season is benging on the door. You can smell the ions, and feel the cool ocean breeze.

Not seeing direct sunlight for more than two weeks at a time is actually pretty depressing, you don't notice your funk until the clouds break and you energize like a solar panel.

[mx_tifoso]

I understand you guys, as neither extreme is welcome. But I sure wouldn't mind some extra few inches of rain per year. And some clouds every now and then would be nice, especially in the summer.

Oddly enough last year was the 10th wettest on record, but this year was the 10th driest on record. I think the same goes for temperature, but I'm not sure about that.

And I should add that we have more than 100 days of 100degree weather a year. But yesterday we finally got down into the 90's, so hopefully it will only go down from now on. *Knock on wood*

[roost89]

And I should add that we have more than 100 days of 100degree weather a year. But yesterday we finally got down into the 90's, so hopefully it will only go down from now on. *Knock on wood*

One hopes you're in farenheit, 'cos if you were in celsius it would be rather dangerous at 100C.

[mx_tifoso]

Of course it's in Fahrenheit.

I live in the US.