Petit LeMans (or) Adventures At Road Atlanta!

["Peter Stuhr" <peterstuhr@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Check out the pics at http://www.petitlemans.com/. They show a series of 
photos I thought everyone would be interested in. The incidents 
mentioned below are shown and happened at the Petit LeMans at Road 
Atlanta this past weekend.

The PTG M3 in the photo attached broke part of the front suspension 
accelerating down turn 12 (which has got to be one of the scariest turns 
of any road course!). The car headed straight into the wall - no 
glancing blow, just straight in. Yikes! Mark Simo was a space cadet for 
a couple of hours, but walked away basically unscathed. Glad he was in a 
BMW!

The winning Porsche GT1 of this year's 24 Hours of LeMans was leading 
the race by 2 laps until he lost it accelerating down the back straight. 
He had just tracked out on turn 7 and was drafting behind one of the 
prototype cars. Just as he crested the small hill after track-out his 
nose lifted, the car took off like a plane in the air, did a complete 
1-and-a-half back flip, landed on the engine (rear of the car), exploded 
in flames, and smashed into the outside wall. Amazingly, the driver 
survived and walked to the ambulance. He remained in severe shock for 
several hours, but was able to interview later in the evening. 
Apparently, the draft creates "dirty air" and causes a loss of 
downforce. As you crest that small hill you need as much downforce as 
possible. He didn't have it and you can see the consequences. The guys 
on TV stated that other GT cars have lost it there as well due to loss 
of downforce. Now that's some serious horsepower and torque!

Another incident not shown - TC Kline also fielded a BMW M3. His driver 
lost control of the car on turn 2 (cresting the hill) and smashed into 
the inside wall. I've always felt uncomfortable cresting that hill into 
turn 3 - the suspension is way too unsettled at speed for the necessary 
turning and braking into turn 3. He was airlifted to a hospital with 
broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Definitely reinforcement for taking it "down a few notches" when running 
at Road Atlanta.

Peter Stuhr
Tarheel Chapter
'95 White M3

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