Race News

[WizzyThaMan]

Any news on racing can be posted here. I saw the forums lacked a topic like this and thought it might be interesting to share some news about the races.

Has anyone heard about Duval crashing his Audi at the Le Mans 24h training session?
Its a horrific crash, totally destroying the car, but luckily he just got away with minor bruises and scratches. How on earth is that possible!
Check the video here!

http://www.zie.nl/video/sport/Training- ... qzz00femjo

[Dragawn]

Hmm, odd, the vid doesnt display for me.

[adamd]

Bloody impressive he walked away from that relatively unharmed. A testament to how far safety has come, it's not that many years ago that would have had a very different outcome.

[Leonardo9613]

That was a huge crash, but sometimes the most impressive looking crashes, those with bits of car flying everywhere, cause less harm than a crash that causes a very sudden stop (Kubica's crash in Canada compared with Schumacher's crash in 99). But, yeah, safety for racing cars have come a long way.

One thing, does Audi have a backup chassi or something, or does that mean that the number 1 car won't race?

[adamd]

They were allowed to bring in another chassis without penalty and have rebuilt it up, as far as I know.

[WizzyThaMan]

They completely rebuild the car in 1 night.

[Jakgoe]

They completely rebuild the car in 1 night.

Not necessarily... as far as I know, they used a different chassis. So not completely rebuilt. That would be a miracle.

[Leonardo9613]

After a major crash like that they have to replace the carbon structure, even if it looks normal. It can cause some small cracks in the chassi, which would decrease the rigidity and therefore safety.

[WizzyThaMan]

Yeah they rebuilt the car, I didnt say they did from the parts the car crashed with (I think thats just scrapped) But they really rebuilt it overnight. I read that in an article.

[strop]

Damn that thing looks like a complete wipeout. Isn't that the same corner where Allan Simonsen (may he rest in peace) crashed last year?

[WizzyThaMan]

No, I think its right before the Pit lane entry.
Simmonsens crash was really bad yeah, but looked less fatal than this and still killed him.

[strop]

I think it's because the barriers then were right next to the trees. It was effectively the same as running straight into the tree, that'd be why the Vantage frame was so badly buckled. I hear that the barrier's finally been moved closer to the track this year.

[adamd]

Yeah, I think that's what did it, he took the tree to the side of the car.

What teams are you guys cheering this year? Surprisingly I'll be going with Toyota

[Jakgoe]

I'll be rooting for Audi, but expecting Toyota to win.

[WizzyThaMan]

Audi and Aston deserve it, imo. Especially Aston, because of Simonsen