10 replies to this topic

[ruther]

WoW!!!!




I have heard it was him above, flying!

[Enkei]

Yup, he landed between the trees with the car upside down iirc. This was the end of the Mercedes Lemans adventure

[ruther]

Originally posted by Enkei
Yup, he landed between the trees with the car upside down iirc. This was the end of the Mercedes Lemans adventure

What did happen?! That was IMPRESSIVE!

[LuckyStrike1]

The car got air underneat and simply just lifted and flew out of the track and into the woods. Amazingly enough Webber escaped without any majoir injuries

That was the second time it happened to one of the Mercedes cars during the weekend so the withdraw from Le Mans after that accident.

(some fun little curiosa: Webber had to take a test for drinking and driving since Le Mans is held on public roads as well and in France you have to take that test after every accident on a public road. He passed ...)

[EnzoHonda]

That's his kangaroo impression.

[f1girl]

I think the picture you have might
be Peter Dumbreck not Webber.
Webber's car did not start LeMan
that year because the same thing
had happened to him the day before.
Luckily no one was hurt in either
accident.
They certainly were dramatic crashes.

[Ray Bell]

f1girl is correct there... I think the pics of Webber's incident look different to that one...

When it happened to Webber they didn't believe it was the car, thought it was his fault... when it happened the second time (in both cases, IIRC, it took place as they closed right on the tail of another car at that point on Mulsanne) they started to take note... and just like 1955, they went home.

Fortunately, there was no tragedy this time.

[Jacaré]

Webber's is the #4 car and that accident happened in the Warmup for the race.

http://www.mulsannes...m/benzCLR1.html

Webber had previously flipped the car on Thursday, wrecking it, but the chassis was repaired.

Dumbreck's car flew in the race
http://www2.raisport.../376419c506925/


http://members.lycos...1/le-mans3.html

In 1999, a whole new car was built from the ground up named the CLR. The car barely bore any resemblance to its predecessor except for its shiny silver arrows paint job. It was coupled with a rumbling V8 and a highly talented driver lineup. Toyota again was the main goal to reach and pole position quickly became priority. Mercedes' return after a humiliating experience the previous year was more than enough to send the media into a frenzy and once again put an enormous amount of financial and performance pressure on Mercedes. Still struggling to keep up with the Toyotas, the CLR's rear wing was lowered to further reduce drag down the long Mulsanne Straight. The downforce was therefore lowered also, making the entire car much more sensitive to aerodynamic forces. It was to proove a costly gamble as the cars exhibited an unforseen tendency to lift their noses off the ground when in 'dirty air' . As a result, when coming over a crest and following in the wake of another car (in which no air is hitting the front equaling no downforce), the Mercedes would take off like an airplane.

In three separate incidences, a CLR blew over and crashed down nearly destroying the car(left). The first occurred during Thursday's qualification session when Mark Webber piloting the No. 4 Mercedes flipped at the second kink in the run between the Mulsanne corner and Indianapolis; a section in which the cars are going as fast as down the Mulsanne straight, a lightning fast 320 kilometers per hour. Webber was thankfully unhurt and the car was towed back to the pits to be repaired but pole position was gone. If the car could be fixed in time for the morning warm up, it would be allowed to take the start.

The next day was a day off for the teams in order to prepare for the race, giving Mercedes time to rebuild the car. Nevertheless, the mechanics must have been up all night fixing the crumbled CLR. But, on Saturday morning, one of the first cars lined up to take to the track for warm up was the No. 4 Mercedes with none other than Mark Webber at the wheel. Near the end of the session, the No. 4 Mercedes was scrapping along the race track on its roof. This time it occurred at the Mulsanne Hump where Webber was following slower traffic when suddenly the nose came up and the car did a flip on to its back. Our friend Mark must have thought to himself when he was in midair, "Not Again!" Needless to say, the No. 4 was out for good and had flipped Webber for the last time. Now it was time for Mercedes team managers to cross their fingers and pray that it was either a problem with only the No. 4 car or that it was a fluke that the air got underneath the car twice in a row and not a fundamental flaw in the design of the CLR as a whole.

Under tremendous pressure, Mercedes opted to keep the Nos. 5 and 6 in the race. This decision proved to be disastrous. At dusk, the No. 5 Mercedes flipped right at the same spot where Webber had flipped the first time. This spectacular crash was caught on film and beamed back live to millions of homes in the world. The now infamous images of the Mercedes flipping end over end like a Matchbox model and landing in the forest after disappearing into the trees have made history and must make Mercedes personnel cringe to think about it. Miraculously the driver, Peter Dumbreck was uninjured in the crash but was now part of the lucky duo who made up the Mercedes Mile High Club. As a result, the No. 6 and sole remaining Mercedes was withdrawn minutes after the incident.

[BMW FW22]

so webber flipped twice and dubrek once ?

[Witt]

Originally posted by BMW FW22
so webber flipped twice and dubrek once ?

yup.

[Nasty McBastard]

Originally posted by Ray Bell


When it happened to Webber they didn't believe it was the car, thought it was his fault...

yeah, coz webber had a habit of pressing that big red button labled "launch mode" accidentaly.

driver error...for **** sake