GT1 flips at Road Atlanta

[herr_oberst]

[jyl]

Need some wings.

[masraum]

We didn't have the market cornered on flight back in the day.

[Noah930]

Don't forget the Nissan GTP crash (John Morton?) at Lime Rock during practice in 1988 or so. Caught some air IIRC on the short uphill chute on the backside of the course (where there is now the chicane for the faster cars/classes), and took off, cartwheeling.

[Flieger]

[LeeH]

I was on the infield at Road Atlanta when that happened. I was driving the VIP van for the Atlanta Region PCA when bunches of spectators took off running to my right. I looked up at the JumboTron they had set up along there and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Amazing stroke of luck that the driver was able to walk away from that one.

[motion]

Its pretty surprising that flips like that still happen.

Another recent crash:

[Flieger]

^^^^Holy crap! How was he going so fast on the cool down lap? throttle stuck?

[A930Rocket]

Talk about flashbacks. Those videos are OLD, but cool to watch...

[rattlsnak]

Originally Posted by LeeH

I was on the infield at Road Atlanta when that happened. I was driving the VIP van for the Atlanta Region PCA when bunches of spectators took off running to my right. I looked up at the JumboTron they had set up along there and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Amazing stroke of luck that the driver was able to walk away from that one.

I was there and saw it happen. Crazy. What were you doing in ATL?

[Outback Porsche]

Happens here too.

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

I was there and saw it happen. Crazy. What were you doing in ATL?

I was born and raised there. Only moved to PHX in 1999.

[gorthar]

Another wild one at Road Atlanta that effectively ended the racing career of Jeremy Dale.

[stuttgart46]

That in car from Dale's car still gives me chills when I see it.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by stuttgart46

That in car from Dale's car still gives me chills when I see it.

Yeah, that is brutal.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Flieger

I was at the track that day... as usual parked on the back stretch with my dad's stake bed backed up to the fence... there was a hill between the crash and us... I saw the car fly up in the air.

[daepp]

Wow - both the corner worker and the driver survived that 458 crash fairly well.

[Head416]

So why did the car in the first vid flip? I understand that once it has started you have the combination of downforce on the rear and air flowing under the front, but what was the trigger that started the process? Usually you see some type of contact that lifts the front end and triggers a flip. Was the aero so bad on this thing that it is perpetually on the verge of flipping? That doesn't seem likely.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Head416

So why did the car in the first vid flip?

Disturbed aero from the car in front, combined with a slight lip/rise in the track surface that allowed (enough) air under the front.

IIRC that's a similar explanation to what happened to the silver Mercedes. Just a little rise in the track, while (semi-) following another car.

[gorthar]

Originally Posted by Head416

So why did the car in the first vid flip? I understand that once it has started you have the combination of downforce on the rear and air flowing under the front, but what was the trigger that started the process? Usually you see some type of contact that lifts the front end and triggers a flip. Was the aero so bad on this thing that it is perpetually on the verge of flipping? That doesn't seem likely.

There is a pretty good technical article on this on Mulsanne Mike's website. The article deals with the CLR specifically but the end result is the same.

Mulsanne's Corner: Mercedes CLR Flip at Le Mans