When did they put that stupid bend in the track?

[DavidsDad]

Please excuse my ignorance gentlemen (and ladies), but I think the last time I went to the great race was in 2000.  (That's why I was looking forward to going again this year so much, it's been too long!)

I remember it was hot, really hot, and the awesome noise of the Astons and the Panoz, like the much-amplified sound of someone ripping carpet still rings in my ears.... (The Wailers lived up to their name on the stage )

At the risk of getting ridiculed for being nostalgic my most vivid memory is of my brother and I drinking beers into the night, sitting on the banking at the inside of Terte Rouge.  We could hear the cars weave through the chicane at the end of the start/finish straight before they came into view on the skyline at the top of the hill beneath the Dunlop bridge, and hurtled down towards us under maximum acceleration before breaking so hard that the discs glowed red hot to take the left-right combination just in front of us, and away, and listened to their gearchanges as they went round towards the Mulsanne....

OK, yeah yeah, nostalgia isn't what it used to be, but when did they lose the straight?  I haven't noticed it before on the various maps, but there's a daft wiggly bit  there now!  

When I do eventually get to the circuit I'm sure I'll see many differences, but why mend what isn't broken?  The experience of seeing the drivers charging through that short section of the track is something I'll never forget.  

Don't get me wrong, I'm not being maudlin', and I'm not against progress, but I am relatively new to this august forum, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be interested to hear what changes the more regular and more experienced frequenters of the circuit  have seen over the years.

Answers on a postcard to....

[Chris24]

Firstly there were no Aston's in 2000 !
Secondly, it was the "Esses" that you were sat watching at. Terte Rouge is further round (the next bend).

If I am not mistaken, the new section has been there for the last two races.

[Fax]

Davids Dad,
Sorry but yes you are going to be ridiculed.  Don't follow racing racing much huh?  The stupid curve you refer to has been there since 2002, was placed there to re-profile the turn off onto the Bugatti circut from the La Chapelle corner.  This moonscape as I love to refer to it, since its about as evocative as the lunar landscape, gravel, dusty and dull, is the latest in a long line of very French and very stupid modifications to this joke of a once mighty circut.  To be honest, I'm not sure why anyone would actually go there to try and watch motor racing.  Great piss-up but the circut is now a steaming pile of sh*t.  And as Chris said, there were no Aston's there in 2000.
Fax

[Snoring Rhino]

Fax, your not impressed then! I first went in 2000 as well, and I dont think there is a more evocative site than watching the cars coming through the Esses at 1 o'clock in the morning. The vast "moonscape" as you term it is a great setting to watch the cars in all their glory of red hot brakes and flaming exhusts. Not so spectactular in the day light though agreed.
No there were no Astons in 2000 - But there will be this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait

[jpchenet]

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

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

[DavidsDad]

Like I said, I thought it was 2000, but it may have been 1999, I'm not sure.  I don't care when it was , my question relates to the straight being removed, and now I know it happened a couple of years ago.  

I've only been 3 times, the first was probably late 80's, and OK the Astons weren't there in 2000.   Jeeeeez, I thought I'd get ribbed for the nostalgia!!!

[Steve Pyro]

I thought the Wailers were there in 1999?

[Robbo SPS]

Fax,    Soapbox     La Sarthe


I actually like the new section, and you get a great view from Chapelle campsite as they come over the top and under the Dunlop bridge. One of my favourite dusk watching areas.

[Paddy_NL]

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

[tink]

i got to see the race once before they put the esses in and i think i prefferedit like it was. it was great seeing the cars hurlte down towards tetre rouge.

the new section is ok and provides quite good photo opportunities but other than that i think it was another pointless modification. if they wanted to make the track easier to race around they could just iron out the corners and make it a straight drag race

[Abs]

if they wanted to make the track easier to race around they could just iron out the corners and make it a straight drag race

Could be interesting can't imagine a straight 3200 miles long though  

[rcutler]

The ESSES were re-designed due to the Bugatti circuit having to qualify with the FIAA regulations on run off areas. The only way the bend could accomodate the correct run off areas was to re model it!

[Fax]

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

[Lorry]

I know that motor racing can be dangerous and this is the site of the biggest ever accident, but I do hate being behing all the wire and concrete.  I'd rather take my chances.

As for photographs, you could take pictures from the Jaguar stand 5 or more years ago untill they put a bigger fence there, and it is now almost impossible to get any good shots of the cars.

As for safety, the Mulsanne chicanes only increase wear and tear on the brakes chassis angine and drivers, and have probably increased the number of accidents.

I would have scrapped the Buggatti circuit, or started again

[Steve Pyro]

Truck, as I discovered this spring, to see unobscured, clear, close views of the racing and to be able to take quality photographs, you can't beat Sebring Raceway.

I know of a couple of areas at Le Mans where I can take good photographs, from behind the fence, but without the fencing in the way - but if I told you where, I'd have to kill you.

Have a saunter through my uploaded Sebring, Le Mans and other photos at http://community.webshots.com/user/route66weasel