A short documentary about the "flying" CLRs at Le Mans in 1999

[R129 UK]

An interesting video and what looks like a great collection of cars:

The Video

The Museum:

Home - Nationales Automuseum

The museum and the restaurant will be open on the following holidays:May 1, Ascension Day, Pentecost Sunday, Pentecost Monday, and Corpus Christi.

www.nationalesautomuseum.de

The Research Paper:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44686980

If anyone has access to the full paper, I would be very interested to see it.

Thanks

 

[R129 UK]

My eldest downloaded this from her Uni library for me just now.

 

[gsxr]

Great video. Click here for more on the 5.7L GT108C engine used in the CLR. (No, it was not an M119.)

 

[R129 UK]

Great video. Click here for more on the 5.7L GT108C engine used in the CLR. (No, it was not an M119.)

That other thread could really do with some cliff notes.

The Wiki entry for the CLR’s GT108C links to the M119 to add to my confusion…

 

[sheward]

Really enjoyed this video. It cleared up some of the same misconceptions I had about the car as well as showcased that fantastic collection. I saw the Porsche GT198 referenced flip right in front of me at Road Atlanta. I had no idea how radical the CLR really was.

 

[195910]

Thank you for posting. I always wanted to understand what really happened to the CLR. Some stated it was a front down force issue, but this was an incomplete analysis.

This raises a few questions:
1 - Why was the vehicle level and angle not adjusted after the first incident?
2 - Why M-B completely withdrew from competition although the car won other races ?!
3 - 35,000KM of testing and several races prior to LM did not indicate any down force issues ?

"After the dominance of Mercedes, most of the GT1 class competitors chose to not return to the FIA GT Championship for 1999"

 

[gsxr]

This raises a few questions:
1 - Why was the vehicle level and angle not adjusted after the first incident?
2 - Why M-B completely withdrew from competition although the car won other races ?!
3 - 35,000KM of testing and several races prior to LM did not indicate any down force issues ?

Speculative answers / guesses:

1) I think the engineers had not yet figured out the root cause after the 1st (and 2nd) incidents, and did not know what to adjust. Or, they did adjust something but it wasn't enough, or was the wrong thing.

2) Probably trying to save face, or liability maybe? Also could be someone high up in MB corporate already wasn't fond of the $$$ invested in racing, and saw only bad press. No upside, all downside, pull the plug!

3) The 35kkm of testing probably did not have enough (if any) high speed road undulations, or cresting hills, that exacerbated the flaw that sent the cars airborne. This would be particularly true if the CLR had to be closely following another race car in order to achieve liftoff.

 

[R129 UK]

2) Possibly in response to the 1955 Le Mans accident?

 

[weide1]

This is 1988. Lime Rock Park.
Driver John Morton flips his Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo.