Club Arnage

Another great edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring - had a little bit of a late start Saturday and didn't get to the track until gone 10.00am - so overflow parking was where we ended-up.
The race was won by the quietest race car I've ever witnessed. It was ridiculously silent - just wafting around (quick - but singularly undramatic - it didn't sound like a diesel at all).
Aston Martin/Corvette battle was as intense as usual and really was the race to watch. The new Porsche looked and sounded great - and clearly has a very well sorted chassis. The drive they were achieving out of the hairpin was noticeably superior to everything else - 1st race glitches aside - it will be formidable when the creases have been ironed-out.
I must also doff my (Dutch?) cap to the Spyker Squadron - who kept both cars going for the duration.
Thanks to the fellows of Turn 10 for the viewing facilities and friendship. I hope the quart of Jack didn't go the same way as our 2 cases of safety Bud - we looked like we weren't going to stretch the Guinness out to the end - and some git(s) pinched our reserve supplies. Oh well.
Mid-Ohio sprint in May up next. Regards to all - and nice to meet a couple of new CA faces (Martini and Doris).

Can't wait to see/hear the Audi's in action at La Sarthe.  You can't help but wonder if the lack of noise will take something away from the experience.  There's nothing quite like the shriek of a NA big V8 hurtling down the Mulsanne in the middle of the night!

When one of the Audis got into trouble, there was an interview with one of the drivers and the subject came up.  No motor noise to tell you what's going on is a problem that the drivers are having to deal with.  One of the major sensory monitors during a race is absent.  They may open up some exhaust noise to not only help the drivers but please the complaining fans.

Evening All,
Well done to everyone at Sebring.  Matt & Dave, you guys are like brothers and had a blast as always this weekend, Seth being a fine addition to our little mob.  Randy, Lee, John, etc., Big thanks to all the gang out at Turn 10 for the viewing and the sh**ts & giggles.  Great to see Phil, Smoker, Steve, Chris again. Rick, Martin & Doris, great to finally meet you and put a face & voice on our banter, hope you enjoyed America's great sportscar tradition.
As Matt said, the Audi's are fricking bizarre to watch and hear, or should I say not hear.  Just a slight woosh when it goes past, no glowing brake rotors at night, way too stealthy.  The new Porsche's are a highlight for me, they look & sound the part with a ripping bark from the exhaust.  This car will be perfect for some the tighter ALMS venues where shear grunt is less important than handling and ability to change direction quickly.  Terrific fight between Aston and Vette as expected.  And just when you think you've seen everything, a marshal getting stuck upside down in a tire barrier to bring out a full course caution!  Its supposed to snow tonight, why the hell did I come home?!
Fax

Are you sure ? They have to run the exhaust gases through the turbos and the exhaust filters. I don't see it happen. Would be nice, though.

I read about it and was afraid it was something serious. Now I just laugh, what happened exactly ?  ;D

Excuse me big stupid moment here!

Are the Audis that will be at LeMans this year going to be Diesel?  We saw a Very fast Diesel VW Bora at Nurburg last September and I know what you meen about the noise they are bloody quick but all you hear is a big woosh and whistle as they speed past.

I can't imagine driving a Diesel on a track I have a Turbo D, and there just isn't a big enough rev range to make cornering really fun, hats of to any driver who can make a go of that..

Yep, two R10's both diesel powered will be there this year. (assuming the ACO give them an entry, as if there is any doubt)

Next year Peugeot will joing the LMP1 series also with a diesel.

I heard on TV, that the Audis don't need the filters as the Shell fuel is specially produced for them and very clean to start with.

Pull the other one, this is some form of rocket fuel.

Can/will the ACO handicappers penalise the Audis as they have the Corvettes

Good point, what will happen to the "stock" regulation fuel ???

Top weekend indeed!

My first Sebring experience and despite the small entry and the lack of sound from the Audis it was a marvellous experience.

Thanks to all my new buddies for making me feel so welcome!

Now suffering heavily with a stinker of a cold which is making the "back to work" feeling even worse than ever!

Took about 2,500 photos over the weekend, will share some when i finally get my broadband back at home!

Rick :O)

With 1100Nm of torque and a weight of 950 Kg cornering isn't really an issue.  ;D

Great weekend!

Cheers to those of you I was able to meet, and to those I didn't, hopefully I'll have the chance in June.

Again - extra thanks to Steve Brown for hiking my t-shirt over.  Between you and jpchenet, just let me know the cooler situation and I'll bring over whatever is required.

Sincerely,

chop456
Beeramid Laborer - 2nd Class

Totaly follow the power these cars put out is awesome, but all the road going oil burners I have driven dump the power on big, hard and quick.  In a petrol car you can enjoy about 5/6k of usable revs on diesels you tend to get 3k revs to play with.

I was listening on Globcast when they bought the Saftey car out and said the issue was at turn 10, but that was it. Had visions of the scafolding tipping the Turn 10 crew over the edge! anybody get any pictures of the unfortunate marshal?

The marshal was walking along the top of the barrier when he tripped and fell face first into a stack of tires with his arms pinned at his sides, feet sticking up in the air flailing away.  When Lee asked asked one of the other marshals at turn ten if he was okay, he replied "physically he's fine, but his dignity is another matter"
Don't know anyone has a pic of it but I'm sure the poor guys hoping not.
Fax

 ;D ;D ;D

The bizarre incident that befell this hapless corner-man did remind me of a 'potential situation' we created at Le Mans back in the early 90's.  During that era we used to take a fairly big motorhome and park it on Chapelle. At the time there were no toilets on this small site and therefore nowhere for us to empty the quite voluminous toilet cassette that our vehicle was equipped with. So just like the set of absolute bastards that we are, we tipped our 'out of body experiences' into the tyre barriers lining the Bugatti Circuit. I did worry what would happen if some errant open cockpit driver ever hit that section of tyre wall.....
Had an unfortunate ACO corner workerhad the same tumble as the guy at Sebring, he would have ended-up head first in ourbog-chems, piss and rectum rockets. A perplexing thought...

Just got back in from sebring so need sleep. The corner worker dropped something down the tyres so stood on top of them learning down to try and pick it out. He lost his balance and went arse over tit, head first down the middle of the tyres and all that was left sticking out was his foot ! ;D

The other marshal then went running over and was stood there holding his foot with one hand and trying to wave for attention with the other.

You can't see the marshal, but I did take a picture of the scene.

Well I have let it go long enough...just wondering if anyone has ACTUALLY picked up on the tile of this thread... I am sure it was not a mistake... humour... I laughed.

It was meant wasn't it Matt, of course it was don't be stupid Mart... nice one Matt...


Martini...

Martin
My rapier-like wit is lost on most of the plebs on this site - I really don't know why I bother sometimes.
I'm so funny, I kill me.

I know -  plebs indeed.

But, don't you spell "lambs" with a "B" ?

Picky, I know.

It was great to shake the hands (and one wanking claw) of all, new and familiar!

I must say that the TDI was very interesting to see, but certainly not inspiring as a fan.  From a fan's perspective, motoracing is massively about atmosphere.  Visual AND audible - and I guess the smell and feeling of the event too - racing fuel and the chest thump of screaming and rumbling engines alike.  The Audi really was as close to an electric sounding car as it could be right now.  Nothing exciting, nothing memorable, and a field of them (the way it's going I fear - with Pug ramping-up for their LM effort - and God knows who else to follow) would be a very dull to spectate.

Le Mans and other events are about atmosphere - and given that so many of us sit in a field and get sh*t faced for large periods of the event bathed in the wails and growls from the Mulsanne, Pit Straight and Esses to name a few, it would be pretty odd sitting there with no sound at all - which is essentially what a lot of future diesels would bring to the event.

Motoracing has evolved and should evolve - but would you go to an electric car race?

Well I guess I can answer YES as I do most weeks ! ;D

http://www.rmscc.fsnet.co.uk/

Well Chris, enough said.

Dave H, I could not agree with you more, you really do need the AUDIble racing of the Aston, Corvette etc, althogh in saying that there is something rather aloof about the sound of the Audi.

Good to meet you (mine wasn't the claw)

Martini...

Absolutly Dave,
I love to see the Astons for their agressive looks, but there's nothing quite like the sound of the vettes stoming through, waking up on sunday morning and listning for them to come through is what its all about. The best bit of most races is the start, when all are grouped togther and the creshendo of noise is why I go, same with Drag racing, get your eye balls rattleing, take it away and half the excitment away.

More on the inverted marshal/Turn 10 crew:

http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1557517&postcount=17

Quote:
Originally Posted by The STIG
Why on earth did they want a tow truck?


...because the 'Invertee' marshal was somewhat portly.

Theres a bit more to the story (isn't there always?). According to the 'official' report, the trapped marshall stated that he went 'tire diving' because he had dropped his radio scanner into the stack.

As related in a follow-up briefing on the incident by the marshal-colleague who first responded on scene however, the following was reported:

1. The guy dropped his IMSA pen (a 29-cent item) into the stack.

2. When initially bending down to retrieve the pen, his credential (SCCA hard card) broke free from its tether and also fell in (raising the stakes significantly!).

3. Now truly motivated, the marshal more aggressively wiggled himself further in, in the forlorn attempt to reach the ground inside the stack where the pen AND credential now rested, ultimately tipping himself in, and upside down with one arm extended into the stack trying to grasp the lost items, and his other pinned tightly at his side and behind him. (all this while the top competitors negotiated the turn at ~130 mph).

4. The first responder-marshal was about 100 yds away on the same side of the course when the incident first developed, and looking up track, away from his mate. He was finally signalled by the cross-track corner captain ('Observer' to those elsewhere), and his attention drawn to the plight of the 'stuck marshal' - it was later estimated at about 2 minutes between the incident time and when the would-be rescuer reached the scene.

5. Upon his arrival, the rescuer reported that he heard 'intense but muffled mumbling' from within the tire wall (apparently loud enough to be heard OVER race engine noise!), and found the precise location due the violent 'peddling' of the 'trapee's' legs in the air.

6. It was immediately realized that the victim's stomach had effectively sealed him into the tire stack, and he was therefore deprived of oxygen. One can imagine it was rather dark in there too, not to mention thoughts of the sorts of creepy stuff which might dwell inside.

7. Picture this: According to the account, the rescuer climbed on top of the tire stack and placed the victims ankles on his shoulders, and pulled on the victims belt in an initial vain attempt to extract him, but he succeed only in slipping off the victims trousers (another point in favor of coveralls?).

8. At this point,the rescuing marshall realized that he was not equal to the task of effecting a rescue single-handed, but was able to 'break the seal' of the victims belly around the top tire, thereby admitting at lease some fresh air to the invertee's 'Tire Chamber'.

9. The victim and responding marshall remained in this position until Emergency Vehicles arrived on scene, a period of several more minutes.

...now to the initial report of a lost radio. Wouldn't YOU report that you risked your life over the loss of something of value vs a worthless bauble - the pen? Can't say I blamed the guy.

There is talk of creating a worker trophy with a statuette of the two marshalls atop the tire stack at its pinnacle.

Yes, this turns out to have been an amusing anecdote to add to the annals of Sebring Race history. However, I'm sure no one feels worse about the incident than the victim, and the outcome could have been truly tragic - we are all grateful that our brother worker ended up ok.

Still looking for photos - TV cameras covered the scene,and there were dozens of spectators with cameras nearby, so remain hopeful. Turn 10 (the incident location) at Sebring has a very strong group of spirited spectators from around the world who have camped together for years,and set up a temporary community. In fact, the previous night, several of us accepted an invitation from the denizens of Turn 10 to attend their annual slide show, which was a real treat - many pix of last year's event..plenty of good beer, and attracive women, one of whom found it useful to announce the show's intermission by standing in front of the screen and exposing her (well-proportioned) bare chest - I did mention that the Turn 10 group was 'spirited', didn't I?

Can't wait for next year's slide show!

That was a hoot chop456, The picture you drew in my mind was priceless.  A great big belly laugh for a Friday morning.  Well done, it couldn't have been more funny if it were fiction.

The story is hilarious.  ;D

Are there any pics around of this unintentional act of comedy ?