When did they put that stupid bend in the track?

[Nordic]

If I may bore you with some more pictures to show how things have changed.

http://rupert8766.fotopic.net/p7266191.html

1979 Essex 936's pre Dunlop chicane.

http://rupert8766.fotopic.net/p11518768.html

1981 Renault 5 turbos pre Dunlop Chicane looking back towards the start. Imagine the start of the 24hrs, 935's vs M1's, 936's and DFV specials powering up the hill.

http://rupert8766.fotopic.net/p2780294.html

1982 and a 956 on the run up to the Dunlop Bridge.

http://rupert8766.fotopic.net/p2976877.html

And the pits used to be alot more open, this is the Frings Chevy Camero form 81

[Snoring Rhino]

Did we mention that we've seen the Astons already........In Sebring!!!  

Are you coming to see them at Silverstone this weekend??

I think you and a certan number of other people might have mentioned you went to SEBRING at some stage and had a particuarly awsome time.
I am tempted to come up to Siverstone , not sure what the orders are at present though.

[Snoring Rhino]

IRW,
Impressed with the event? Yes, very much so.  I'm a racing purist and it remains one of the great motor racing spectacles.  That said, I think the circut sucks now.  Its all point & squirt, mickey mouse stuff and the paying punter is a mile from the action having to look through fencing and over cement walls and razor wire....No, that doesn't impress me at all.
Fax

I agree Fax, but unfortunatly we live in a nanny state and this will always be the future. Still a fantastic event, as you say, hope it stays that way.

[Nordic]

As Steve Brown has said on another thread, it's 50 years since the horrific crash.
This link gives you some info and pictures.

It may help explain why safety fences appear.

http://chbastin.free.fr/dossiers/1955_accident/1955_accident.htm#accident-eng

[Lorry]

Its all bolting the stable door after the horse has fled.  There was a bad accident in 1990 a little further up towards dunlop, where a Toyota cut up the leading Nissan and was barged into the armco at something near 200mph.  I think the driver was slightly injured.  Things have come a long was since then (no magnesium fires recently) and since 1955, and a decent Mercedes is still going to fly over the highest fence.

You can't prevent the unpredictable.  And Sebring seems exempt from the "lets stick concrete and wire everywhere" mentality.

[Nordic]

Agreed, a massive shunt like 55 is not going to be prevented or the crowd protected by a wire mesh fence. It would however help in the event of a loose wheel or body work flying in the crowd.

In the world we live in where people can sue for the slightest injury to do nothing is no longer an option. I would imagine Sebring and will suffer the same blight in years to come. Insurance companies and risk assements dictate how most things are done today, regardless of there effectiveness.

[Gilles]

I presume you mean the N138, Davidsdad. Leads from Tetre Rouge to Mulsanne.

The chicanes there were built after Peugeot set the fastest speed ever. I believe officially it was 412 kmph, set somewhere 2001 (?). That way the French will always have the speed record in their own hands

Not 2001 for the fastest speed ever but 1992 (or 1996) with the WR Peugeot. Then the ACO erected the both chicanes.

BTW the fastetst point of the track isn't the Mulsanne striaght but the section from Mulsanne corner to Indianapolis Corner.

[Fax]

Gilles, fastest speed ever recorded was in 1988 on the pre-chicane Mulsanne at 250 MPH by the Roger Dorchy WM-Peugeot.  There seems to be a slightly different attitude toward debris fencing here in North America vs Europe.  At circuts Like Sebring, Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio, Mosport, Laguna Seca. etc.  there is fencing but only where its absolutely necessary, I can't speak for the rest of the Euro circuts, LeMans being my only experience of them, but at Le Mans debris fencing seems to have been erected just for the sake of putting it up.  I mean there are places on the circut where the cars are crawling and and they've got two layers of fencing, what the hell for?
Fax

[Lorry]

This is the Roger Dorchy who is famous for being a frenchman in  a french car leading the race, who then turned left at Mulsanne corner, much to the delight of the rest of the world.

I thought the americans were more litigious than the europeans, but there is a risk that the insurance companies don't care

[Steve Pyro]

Whilst the photos of the 1955 Mercedes incident are very sobering, imagine the same scenario if the more recent flying Mercedes incidents hadn't happened on the sparsely populated Mulsanne / Indianapolis sections but on the start / finish straight.

The Mark Webber / Peter Dunbreck 'flights' were as dramatic and, potentially, lethal - any amount of catch fencing would have had a hard job preventing many spectator deaths.

[tink]

seeing as we're all discussing it, heres a link to said flying mercedes:

http://www.uselessjunk.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1695