Safety car usage at Le Mans

[oldtimer]

Had it existed he could have written his comments on his much favoured 'moaning minnies' board then 

[dks240]

This is the 24hrs of Le Mans.... I was totally bemused at the side of the track when the first safety car was deployed just because it was raining... It is supposed to be a test of endurance.

Like many have said, let the teams decide what tyres they want and if needs be get the car in a make atlerations to the set up.

And then again at the end of the race. Actions like this erode what the entire event is all about. They raced as normal in torrential rain at the Nurburgring 24hrs. It did get stopped though for a while due to heavy fog.

I think the race should just run its own course. Of course if there are other hazards on the track then deploy the safety car, but not just because of rain.

[Piglet]

I've watched some of the footage from Motors and the first safety car period is very strange as their doesn't seem to be a reason for it.  BUT my recollection from the media centre is that there was a reason for each of the safety car periods (the last one being to allow Peugeot to finish...) - The Radical is shown on the footage as being trashed back and front just before the first safety car period and I wonder whether it did some barrier damage which was being fixed.  I really can't see why otherwise the safty cars would have been deployed?

What is amazing watching the footage is how long it takes to get a barrier crew out to the barrier after Mike Rockenfeller's crash - it must be 15-20 minutes at best!   That seems an incredible amount of time to get to something that was always likely to happen. 

[Andy Zarse]

I've watched some of the footage from Motors and the first safety car period is very strange as their doesn't seem to be a reason for it.  BUT my recollection from the media centre is that there was a reason for each of the safety car periods (the last one being to allow Peugeot to finish...)

Piglet, I take it you've now had opportunity to read Jox Jottings 2 for confirmation that you were correct in your summary? I think Jock  sums it up pretty well. No doubt he also incites accusations of anti-French bigotry from others with his comments about the actions of the ACO.

[Piglet]

In fairness though Andy,  there isn't much more room up on this soapbox that Jock and I currently inhabit    So the fact that he and I agree shouldn't be taken as meaning very much, we have a fairly long history of being wrong together 

It does make me cross though, write regs and run to them otherwise you have no certainty and anarchy... 

[Andy Zarse]

Very interesting Nordic.  A big Yaa Boo then to everybody who immediately blames the poor French for anything that they don't like about the race before checking their facts.  Pah.

On the other hand, I see the actions of the Race Director as a typically French reaction i.e. complete surrender! 

So the ACO are approached "mob handed" by the Team Managers and rather than standing firm and reading them the riot act, the ACO simply toss their principles into the dustbin like so much poubelle and back down to the perceived aggression. Bloody French..... 

If you dislike the French so much why do you bother going to Le Mans?

 

To watch a motor race. Why, what had you in mind?

Fortunately, due to the proximity of Le Mans to the coast, I am able to conduct my affairs in "splendid isolation" surrounded only by wholsome English people. Therefore I don't have to mix with foreign races like the Dutch or Germans, or heaven forbid, the wretched French. I find I rarely have to speak to a French person other than for the purposes of shopping, ordering their nasty foreign food, doling out helpful advice on personal hygene and/or the provision of gratuitous insults to Johnny Garlic.  

[Andy Zarse]

It does make me cross though, write regs and run to them otherwise you have no certainty and anarchy... 

Anarchy was invented in France and I blame that Jean-Paul Sartre, he started it all. 

[LangTall]

Very interesting Nordic.  A big Yaa Boo then to everybody who immediately blames the poor French for anything that they don't like about the race before checking their facts.  Pah.

On the other hand, I see the actions of the Race Director as a typically French reaction i.e. complete surrender! 

So the ACO are approached "mob handed" by the Team Managers and rather than standing firm and reading them the riot act, the ACO simply toss their principles into the dustbin like so much poubelle and back down to the perceived aggression. Bloody French..... 

If you dislike the French so much why do you bother going to Le Mans?

 

To watch a motor race. Why, what had you in mind?

Fortunately, due to the proximity of Le Mans to the coast, I am able to conduct my affairs in "splendid isolation" surrounded only by wholsome English people. Therefore I don't have to mix with foreign races like the Dutch or Germans, or heaven forbid, the wretched French. I find I rarely have to speak to a French person other than for the purposes of shopping, ordering their nasty foreign food, doling out helpful advice on personal hygene and/or the provision of gratuitous insults to Johnny Garlic. 

Errr yes. The whole DfH group is all for sudden British Andy? (we had 1 American, 2 Canadians, 4 Germans and 24 Dutchies in our group this year, no British whatsoever )