There was a MC12 at PIR for the ALMS race a few months ago. It looked pretty cool and the sound was awesome.
The Porsche GT1 (GT1 class) did a backflip during the 1998 Petit LeMans. I tried to find still pictures, but only found links to videos that won't run in Firefox.
for me there are some absolute CLASSIC auto designs: Jag XKE, Lambo Muira and without a doubt the GT40.
Yep they were the same one. #35 I'd post my pictures of it but I dont have a digital camera. There was a silver Saleen S7R at the race too. The sound was amazing.
Basiccally anything goes, as long as it is not an F1 / single seater car, this is just for fun anyway. Open top / fixed foor does not matter
Yep. That was another great site! Sorry, don't mean to hijack the cool thread... Image Unavailable, Please Login
That's "The James Munroe McLaren GT"; do a little Googling and you may find out how you too can finance a year of sportscar racing.........;-) (actually I checked and you can't.....so: www.pkf.co.uk/download/ff5.pdf Paul M
The Toyota 88C-L. Toyota ran the inline four single turbo cars in LeMans of that year because they believed they'd have better reliability. While they weren't right, they were spectacular looking cars. The 88C-V is (V8 twin turbo) is the version you normally see on racing games. Also a great looking car though. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Mercedes started the flip thing in '85 when a Sauber (which had a MB motor and from whence the MB chassis came) did an end over end flip during qualifying. This made a big impression on me at the time - I was in a Spice, stomping on the brakes at the end of the straight, when suddenly the car behind vanished from my mirrors. The next time I glanced in them there were bits raining down, and then the car nosed in, and then took off again! I turned the corner and lost sight of the wreckage. A lap later I saw the driver (a Dane? Neilson??) getting out of the bits - he was O.K. Sauber pulled the cars from the race. I was surprised when, in later years, the same sort of accident kept happening. I later heard that the crash was caused by air getting under the car's nose (there was a bump in the tarmac as you started to brake), the front losing down force and the rear wing, which was behind the rear axle, pushing down so hard it levered the nose right up - which caused the flip.
The shot of the 82 Aston was taken at Silverstone in early season testing I seem to remember. Aston was always running out of loot and couldnt actually get the cars to the circuits come race season. I saw the end of this Aston effort too, through a windscreen! It was a hell of a smash. I think they were called the Aston Martin Nimrod cars. John Sheldon, a dentist and a really nice fellow, piled it up at the kink in the Mulsanne in 84. I remember he burnt his hands and couldnt work for a while. I think the other car, which was being drive by a really nice American - Chris Olsen(?), was also damaged in the bang. That was the end of both chassis. Two more Astons C1 followed, the Cheetah and the EMKA. The EMKA led Le Mans briefly, but that was due to a canny fueling policy that put it out on half a tank at one point, leaving it out of phase with the front runners, and thus able to lead. I raced the car in the Brands endurance that year. Not the nicest car to drive, no front brakes.
Hi, It was indeed Danish driver John Nielsen in the Sauber back in 1985.....the car was thrown 38 metres up in the air before chrashing down, and Nielsen told me that he knew that it was going to say BANG when he would hit the ground, so he used the time in the air preparing himself for the harsh landing by pulling his legs up and putting his head between the legs, and then his arms arround the knees!!! Quite impressive to stay that calm in such situation!!!! In fact John Nielsen won the Le Mans in the Silk Cut Jaguar in 1990! He still drives in the National Danish Touringcar championship serie with some success!!! Best Carsten
Click here to learn more about how and why the Mercedes CLR Flip'd at Le Mans What was amazing about the Merc CLRs was that not one but two of them flipped that weekend! Which is why they were pulled from the race. The other one wound up off the track in the trees. Here's the video of it: http://xrefill.com/mercedes/crash.htm Luckily it landed right side up without hitting any thing or one. All that money spent and they wound up with an inherent high speed instability problem. OOOoops!
But the worst was yet to come... MB claimed the flips were caused by the uneven track top and that the "mulsanne bump" was potentially life threatening. Long debates with the ACO, the organizers of the 24 Hours, and MB makeing a strong case to lower the bump (IMHO one of the best features of the track). Finally the ACO gave in and the bump was lowered... And then? MB withdrew from endurance racing before having covered a single mile on the "new" track with the lowered bump! SHAME!
When Peter Dumbreck had his blowover about 7 or 8 years ago along the Mulsanne straight, and the car landed in the woods, after he climebed out of the car unscathed the French authorities gave him a breathalizer test to see if he was under the influence of alcohol, which they are required to do any thime there is an accident on a French highway, which the Mulsanne is a part of. Peter was quite amazed at this, asking them if they thought he had had a few pints before getting in the car for a stint.
Good to see the Toyota 88CV (the pictured one looks like an '89 actually), but the most beautiful car ever, let alone Group C, hasn't been pictured here yet... Mazda RX-792P http://images.google.com/images?q=rx-792p&hl=en
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My preferences Carol Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Wasn't group C between 1982 and 1993? My choice would be without doubt the Porsche 962. Check out this link for an amazing video of Derek Bell around Le Mans. I have to check my emails later for reference, but the top speed reached was insane. Around 340 km/h.. at times single handed. http://www.viciracing.com/films/porsche962.mpg
