Holy crap, I think I can speak for a legion of fans when I say I'm glad he walked away from this incident. Those were some serious bounces on the pavement, helmet or not.
When I saw the news elsewhere I was sad, now I'm grateful for decent engineering and protection.
All that said, I think they'll want to address this issue, both the apparent 'low visibility' of the Deltawing, and the awareness of the GTC drivers. This isn't the first time, nor the last, a faster prototype-class car has been taken out by a much heavier GT(C). Ant's upside-down crash at LM24 (and the last time the DW was taken out at LM24) should serve as decent warnings if things are left the way they are.
One wonders, though...Gunnar was slicing through that traffic PDQ, I mean, he was flying. What IS he expectation from GT class drivers in these situations?
Looked like the GTC Porsche was a little wide and lost the back end trying to get back on the pavement proper and off the curb when he clipped the Delta. It does look like the Gunnar was really quick and I am sure the rules makers are still trying to sort out all the ramifications of the lightweight machine and how it falls in amongst the other classes. Glad he is okay and hope they can get the car fixed. As an engineer myself I find it an interesting design brief and direction with the car. I certainly think there is a need for lighter and smaller displacement machines fro racing.
The problem is that the DeltaWing, at least the one that raced at LeMans, is not the same lightweight car presented a year ago at Road Atlanta. That cassis did not pass the crash tests so the current (Le Mans) car is apparently made with the tub from the failed Aston Martin AM-one / pescarolo 03 and was some 3 feet shorter than the original.
The fault doesn't lie with the DeltaWing, the Porsche driver simply lost control of his car and hit him. Both of the accidents it's been in during its competitive lifetime were caused by inattentive drivers, or simple stupid mistakes. They raced many laps around Le Mans without incident until Kaz put the Hasan Chop on it and took it out of the race. Not only did LeSaffre make a stupid mistake and crash the DW, he gave him the finger when Gunnar put his hands up in a "WTF?" gesture. Real class LeSaffre has.
The accident is not the DW s fault except maybe for the low visibility issue. Gunnar's description of how he was " following the GTC car through two corners " is a bit misleading in light of the video. He was behind him in a second! This was practice so I'm guessing the other guy thought that was maybe too aggressive a move? In any case, a car that is not a trike would not have gone over so easily, that's the scary part
There is no DW visibility problem, there's a Peter LeSaffre problem. He hit yet another car on raceday and almost took it out as well. The DW is fine as long as LeSaffre isn't around.
Not crazy about the Delta Wing. See it as more of a gimmick marketing ploy than sound automotive science. Perhaps I'm stick in the mud, but a good friend's recent reference of Top Gear's bit on the Reliant Robin is kind of hard to ignore after watching this clip
Holy crap, I think I can speak for a legion of fans when I say I'm glad he walked away from this incident. Those were some serious bounces on the pavement, helmet or not.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the news elsewhere I was sad, now I'm grateful for decent engineering and protection.
All that said, I think they'll want to address this issue, both the apparent 'low visibility' of the Deltawing, and the awareness of the GTC drivers. This isn't the first time, nor the last, a faster prototype-class car has been taken out by a much heavier GT(C). Ant's upside-down crash at LM24 (and the last time the DW was taken out at LM24) should serve as decent warnings if things are left the way they are.
One wonders, though...Gunnar was slicing through that traffic PDQ, I mean, he was flying. What IS he expectation from GT class drivers in these situations?
Holy cow!
ReplyDelete-Freep
Looked like the GTC Porsche was a little wide and lost the back end trying to get back on the pavement proper and off the curb when he clipped the Delta. It does look like the Gunnar was really quick and I am sure the rules makers are still trying to sort out all the ramifications of the lightweight machine and how it falls in amongst the other classes. Glad he is okay and hope they can get the car fixed. As an engineer myself I find it an interesting design brief and direction with the car. I certainly think there is a need for lighter and smaller displacement machines fro racing.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that the DeltaWing, at least the one that raced at LeMans, is not the same lightweight car presented a year ago at Road Atlanta. That cassis did not pass the crash tests so the current (Le Mans) car is apparently made with the tub from the failed Aston Martin AM-one / pescarolo 03 and was some 3 feet shorter than the original.
DeleteThe fault doesn't lie with the DeltaWing, the Porsche driver simply lost control of his car and hit him. Both of the accidents it's been in during its competitive lifetime were caused by inattentive drivers, or simple stupid mistakes. They raced many laps around Le Mans without incident until Kaz put the Hasan Chop on it and took it out of the race. Not only did LeSaffre make a stupid mistake and crash the DW, he gave him the finger when Gunnar put his hands up in a "WTF?" gesture. Real class LeSaffre has.
Deletehttp://www.highcroftracing.com/picture/2012-10-17%20at%2014-32-48.jpg?pictureId=16615522
The accident is not the DW s fault except maybe for the low visibility issue. Gunnar's description of how he was " following the GTC car through two corners " is a bit misleading in light of the video. He was behind him in a second! This was practice so I'm guessing the other guy thought that was maybe too aggressive a move?
DeleteIn any case, a car that is not a trike would not have gone over so easily, that's the scary part
There is no DW visibility problem, there's a Peter LeSaffre problem. He hit yet another car on raceday and almost took it out as well. The DW is fine as long as LeSaffre isn't around.
DeleteNot crazy about the Delta Wing. See it as more of a gimmick marketing ploy than sound automotive science. Perhaps I'm stick in the mud, but a good friend's recent reference of Top Gear's bit on the Reliant Robin is kind of hard to ignore after watching this clip
ReplyDeleteThat's like saying an F-18 is boring because it has wings like a 747.
DeleteI thought people here were car guys, what happened?