I'll take 3 patches please.

We proudly used to fly ours at our camp at Maison Blanche, but we now fly it at our new encampment at Terte Rouge after being moved out of Maison Blanche by the Porsche Centre.  On behalf of Team Booze 'n Tabs, we will have a new one to fly alongside our trusty old one 

40 minutes until the other members of Team Booze 'n Tabs pick me up, then Offski!  Have a good trip to all those that are going, and have a good session in front of the TV for those remaining at home.

Rhino and I used to watch dawn on the Mulsanne from the Cafehalfway down the straight.  That was fantastic, but of course the fun police have stopped you spectating from there now, so as Rhino says, watch the pits just before dawn and Dunlop Curve for sunrise.  Have a great time.

So you don't think racing cars with trailers will catch on eh?  They allowed that "racing car" the DeltaWing on the track, so why not.  FIA World Caravan Championship.  It has a certain elegance to it.......  

Thanks for the info GF, I have wondered for years who he was.  You are correct though, his knowledge of the race is vast, but his delivery is straight from the 1950,s, but he is part of the whole Le Mans experience.  I have been going for 30 years, and we used to rely on him back in the days before Radio Le Mans.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you Phil.  Looking forward to seeing you again in 'our' corner of France next year.

The project is being run by Colin Kolles, and the construction of the chassis was supposed to have been started back at the beginning of November, with the crash test scheduled for 10 December.  I know that was the plan, but have yet to hear if it has actually happened.  Watch this space......

Team Booze 'n Tabs will be in attendance for our 30th anniversary, hopefully arriving on Wednesday to camp on Maison Blanche.  With the 90th anniversary of the race itself, 30th anniversary for Team Booze 'n Tabs and 10th anniversary for DfH, maybe we should have a beer or possibly two to celebrate 

I would second Rhinos suggestion of The Anglesey Arms at Halnaker.  It is easily within walking distance, the food is excellent as are the ales, and they do Leffe on tap, even served in the correct glasses.  Myself and Sceetum stopped there only for one drink while cycling home a few years ago after the festival, and eventually had to be picked up by his wife.  We collected the bikes fairly late the next morning......

Have a look at their website: http://www.angleseyarms.co.uk/

I am very shocked and saddened by this news.  Although I haven't heard any news about Janice in the last few years, as I arrive at Le Mans every June and turn on Radio Le Mans, the memories of those early years of her commentary come flooding back.  The Radio Le Mans team back in those days were great fun, and changed the Le Mans spectating experience for the better forever.  Farewell Janice, in body only, as happily, you will live forever in our minds and thoughts.

Thank you Brad.  I agree with you, and you make the point that I was trying to make.  The chassis is an ex LMP 1 chassis, and therefore has gone through the mandatory FIA crash test, and as I explained, it exceeded the roll structure test by a long way, and of course the DW is lighter than an LMP 1, so overall is a safe car.  What I meant regarding the rad ducts, is that they are a substantial structure, usually with 3 plys of carbon either side of core, and are fixed to the side of the chassis very securely.  You correctly say that they are not part of the crash test, and they are not a regulation crash structure,  but do offer energy absorption in the event of a side impact.


On an F1 car, as Rhino correctly points out, there are two crash tubes bonded to the side of the chassis for energy absorption.  Overall, the point I was trying to make is that the car is as safe as any other car on the track in the event of an accident, but as we have debated before, the car should not be out there in its own invented class, and is quite frankly dangerous as shown at Atlanta.

A couple of good points made by Fax and Rhino.  As we know, the DW is made from one of the four redundant AMR One chassis.  These chassis are constructed with 1" thick high density aluminium core in the drivers side to aid in a side impact.  The original car was designed to have the regulation flat floor that would have been protruding from the side of the car, and structural radiator ducts on the side of the chassis, and a side pod outer, all of which would help to dissipate the energy in a side impact.  The DW has none of these of course, apart from the 1" thick core which is part of the chassis.  This will make it more vulnerable than an LMP1 or 2 car in a side impact.  In the rollover that the DW car suffered at Atlanta however, it will have fared better than an LMP car.  The roll hoop structure that is an integral part of the chassis withstood more than 12 tons of pressure during the mandatory FIA crash test before deforming at all.  Obviously the DW is lighter than an LMP car, so the roll hoop structure should be able to cope with any roll over the DW may suffer.  From the photos I have seen of the DW after its Atlanta crash, it appears to have worn off part of the roll hoop as it has skidded down the track upside down. The top 30mm of the roll hoop is solid carbon fibre, therefore a simple repair at the track should have involved bonding on some solid carbon to the top of the roll hoop.

Therefore, the modified chassis that the DW runs is good for safety in some areas, but seriously lacking in safety in other areas.  To be fair, if Ben Bowlby were allowed to design a purpose built chassis to his way of thinking, I am sure he would be able to build in the necessary safety structures.

Having said that, I still would be very scared to see a full field of 33 of these heading towards turn one at The Brickyard at 230mph......

Yes Brad, you may think that this looks wrong in a million different ways.  Just think, this car is now the DeltaWing.  How about we make that wrong in a million and one different ways.......

A few people have raised some interesting points here. 

Brad Z states that the 5th place at Petit Le Mans "should really shut the doubters up", and "is faster on the back straight than an LMP1"  Well I think not I am afraid.  I am not going to criticise the design of the car, because clearly Ben is a very clever man, and has come up with a very clever design that works, but what is it for?  I have always been sceptical of the DW, simply because I could not see what it was for and what it was trying to achieve.  A 5th place at Petit is great if you were an underdog or small private team running in LMP1 or 2, to the same rules that everybody else is running to , but to invent your own class and then say how well you are doing against everybody else does not bear comparison.  How about if we were to invent another class for F1 cars, and then how many people would shout about how much grip they had in the corners?  If a 500kg class were to be introduced, with more open rules than we have at the moment where designers were allowed more scope for development, I am sure we could see other designs embracing new technology, as the DW does not use new technology, it is a new concept using current technology in a new way.  Remember, this is one of the four Aston Martin AMR One chassis that didn't work in LMP1 last year.

I do agree with GF that the design of the DW has challenged the accepted philosophy of how a car should work.  However, in racing, you design a car to the published regulations, and the DW car is not designed to any regulations.  Again, if you gave a blank sheet of paper to all the current sportscar designers, and you were allowed to make up your own rules and regs, you would see some pretty weird and wonderful designs appear on track.

Sorry Robbo, but the thought of 33 DW's starting at Indy is very scary, and should never be allowed to happen.  We can argue till the cows come home about the performance of this car on track, and how it defies conventional thinking, but the simple fact that it (as Fax said) rolled like a beer keg after getting tagged on the rear, which would normally only send a car into a spin, not a roll, surely is enough evidence to suggest that the car can lap quickly, but in the heat of battle with other cars, is quite frankly dangerous.

As far as a more open design 500kg class is concerned, this is more appealing, and is possibly the way to go, rather than that of the DW.