Le Mans 24 hours 2009

Please discuss here all your remarks and pose your questions about all racing series, except Formula One. Both technical and other questions about GP2, Touring cars, IRL, LMS, ...
dumrick
dumrick
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Joined: 19 Jan 2004, 13:36
Location: Portugal

Re: Le Mans 24 hours 2009

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Video of the elimination of the #72 Corvette driven by Patrice Goueslard, that only gave a 4 minute penalty to Darren Turner:

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

Is the lack of TV images the reason he got away this lighly? It's hardly understandable how less serious is this behaviour, compared to Stuart Hall's elimination of the Radical, that even had the excuse of poor lateral vision and being under pressure from an Audi. In a race that mixes gentlemen and professional drivers, it's hardly understandable how the worst examples of brainless driving came from two professional Brits...

In this case, the accident happens at Tertre Rouge, just before the Hunaudières straight, a turn where, throughout the all race, the prototypes just stayed behind the GT's, waiting for a pass at the straight. Actually, only on the Porsche turns you could really see the top drivers make moves in turns, and that's because, between the entrance of the Porsches and the exit of the Virage du Karting there is no clear overtaking zone.
In this video, you can clearly hear the clash between the cars, as well as see Turner's difficulties in making the turn, even after the touching and leaning on the Corvette.

The Corvette chassis will have to be repaired at Pratt & Miller, being still unclear how will it after Luc Alphand's team season.

RacingManiac
RacingManiac
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Joined: 22 Nov 2004, 02:29

Re: Le Mans 24 hours 2009

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About the Corvette wheel, the C6.R had those OZ to start(hence the press shot before), they ran it in 2006 or 2007 season. This is having switched from BBS during the latter part of the C5-R days. BBS approached them about redesigning the wheels for them(lighter and stiffer, apparently), and Corvette thus switched back to BBS in the last couple of seasons...

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greenpower dude reloaded
6
Joined: 29 Dec 2005, 20:03
Location: Portsmouth, UK

Re: Le Mans 24 hours 2009

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A little bit of a sidenote, I saw the aston in the pit stop appear to "switch on" its numbers, it looked REALLY COOL!! I always assumed they were just reflective, any idea just how they do that?
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modbaraban
modbaraban
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Joined: 05 Apr 2007, 17:44
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine

Re: Le Mans 24 hours 2009

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There more similar examples with lesser outcome though. The Jetalliance DBR9 was pushed out into the gravel in Dunlop py a prototype. Then one of the works Peugeots pushed the 997 RSR out of the track in the braking zone (any penalty at all?).

I see the Darren Turner case as the worst. That was a seriously big mistake. The Stuart Hall's exclusion is way too harsh, imo. There was a slight move and a difficult sutuation with the Audi swerving around in the mirrors. The contact was tiny but the outcome was huge. That should have been a penalty.

Penalties shouldn't be related to the repair costs in any way.

guy
guy
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Joined: 19 Apr 2009, 13:33

Re: Le Mans 24 hours 2009

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I've found the clip about the crash of Pescarolo Peugeot at night... amazing!![youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6upFvKLkDw[/youtube]