24h Nürburgring/VLN

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Chiana

How many entries would have been in last weekends first race had the banned classes + lower Porkies not been participating? But counting in SP10 if it's truly back

Just went through the entry list, and we would've had 113 starters. So about one third down.

You'd think that at least some teams and drivers would find themselves rides in the slower classes if the ban was truly upheld through the 24.

[Miguel]

Some small teams are already offering paid rides for drivers who can't race their usual cars.

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

Really sorry to hear that, he wasn't the person that passed away, was he?
If not, I hope his injuries are not too bad - mentally it's probably a completely different ball game... poor dude

Oh no, he's fine, only got hit by some bodywork and didn't need medical attention but obviously could've been much worse if you see how far along the fence the car bounced, is what I meant. I don't know any other people who were there.

[TF110]

Would a higher fence or inner barrier have helped? Or did the Nissan launch more from that impact? I'm thinking Nascar oval style fencing, unless the car jumped completely over and the fence is too far back from the barriers?

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by TF110

Would a higher fence or inner barrier have helped? Or did the Nissan launch more from that impact? I'm thinking Nascar oval style fencing, unless the car jumped completely over and the fence is too far back from the barriers?

Sure, a high enough fence would have helped in this particular place... doesn't tackle the main problem, though.

[Andy77]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Sure, a high enough fence would have helped in this particular place... doesn't tackle the main problem, though.

The fence at Hockenheim in front of the Mercedes grandstand was deemed high enough until a F3 launched almost over it a couple years ago. It was just pure luck it didn't launch off entirely

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by Miguel

Some small teams are already offering paid rides for drivers who can't race their usual cars.


Oh no, he's fine, only got hit by some bodywork and didn't need medical attention but obviously could've been much worse if you see how far along the fence the car bounced, is what I meant. I don't know any other people who were there.

Narrow escape! Glad he's ok.

Btw, read your article/report, excellent piece, keep it on!

[Coach Ep]

No matter how high a fence, eventually a car will clear it...

Gotta stop them taking off.

[Starfish Primer]

A car should never get airborne, is not just an spectator safety feature, is safety for the other drivers and track marshals. Think in Ortelli crash at Monza, he didn´t land over the Audi by pure luck.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Miguel

Some small teams are already offering paid rides for drivers who can't race their usual cars.


Oh no, he's fine, only got hit by some bodywork and didn't need medical attention but obviously could've been much worse if you see how far along the fence the car bounced, is what I meant. I don't know any other people who were there.

Good to hear about your friend

Regarding the drives with the smaller teams I was just wondering about this last night. Sorry but I'm slightly confused, the teams are paying the drivers or wanting the drivers to pay for a seat? I could see it going both ways. A small team would be happy to pay for a very good driver were they able to but on the other hand one could see a team/teams thinking this could be a good way to make cash off drivers who need a seat to qualify for the N24.

[Rodger Davies]

Originally Posted by Miguel

N24Q race is a go anyway, regardless of the ban. Probably for the best, even if it'll be a huge blow for the financial aspect of the race (which is one big joke in itself, but that's not the point).

Do they still have the 'top 10 qualify for the N24 qualy shootout' rule?

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Rodger Davies

Do they still have the 'top 10 qualify for the N24 qualy shootout' rule?

For now, yes... but I guess it depends on the results of next Tuesday's round table. If GT3s are banned for the qualy race, but expected to be cleared for the 24h, you'd think they'd suspend that rule.

[Miguel]

I'm not sure how that qualifying system exactly works anyway. Top 10 qualifies, VLN pole and race winners also qualify? I prefer old school qualifying, but I'm not much for those qualifying shows that you now see in all top class racing anyway.

Originally Posted by rich07

Regarding the drives with the smaller teams I was just wondering about this last night. Sorry but I'm slightly confused, the teams are paying the drivers or wanting the drivers to pay for a seat? I could see it going both ways. A small team would be happy to pay for a very good driver were they able to but on the other hand one could see a team/teams thinking this could be a good way to make cash off drivers who need a seat to qualify for the N24.

Sorry, I meant that SP drivers can buy a ride.

[Holt]

So this is exactly where the spectators were sitting. It looks so safe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIUF3_qjHvU

[Rodger Davies]

Spot on Holt.

And that's exactly why there's no-one to blame here: everyone thought that was safe. It's also worth remembering that the car didn't 'flip over the barrier', but was only able to do so because of the incredibly unfortunate angle the trailing rear clipped the tyre wall.

The cruel irony being that the safety features put in (tyre barrier, catch fencing slightly further forward than the old barrier) resulted in the tragic, yet unforeseeable, outcome.

[Akrapovic]

There appears to be 2 fences. One large catch fence and then a smaller, shoulder-ish height one. Which fence are the spectators meant to be behind? Because they were between the 2 fences.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

There appears to be 2 fences. One large catch fence and then a smaller, shoulder-ish height one. Which fence are the spectators meant to be behind? Because they were between the 2 fences.

The lower one really is of little significance... that's the original fence from before 2009 when they put in the FIA fencing. They just never got around to removing the lower one.

[Andy77]

According to another source the 2nd lower fence marks private property.

[Miguel]

Renger van der Zande, who was actually racing there last weekend, reflects on the accident: http://www.gt-report.com/2015/04/05/...-on-a-tragedy/

The original article is in Dutch, so read that if you want his exact words: http://racexpress.nl/index.php?nav=Artikel&nid=65560

[Miguel]

Also, a couple of other VLN racers have weight in, such as Dale Lomas (http://bridgetogantry.com/2/index.ph...t-it-all-means), Laurens Vanthoor (https://www.facebook.com/laurensvant...129118012933:0) and Jürgen Alzen (https://www.facebook.com/permalink.p...nf&pnref=story).

All pretty good reads. Very honest, especially about the dangers of racing.

[Nick6]

Just to change the subject a bit, what becomes of the VLN and N24 in the future without any sort of fast GT cars?

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Nick6

Just to change the subject a bit, what becomes of the VLN and N24 in the future without any sort of fast GT cars?

Production cars basically. Think GT4 equivalent as top class

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by rich07

Production cars basically. Think GT4 equivalent as top class

Actually, the two-liter turbo charged touring cars would probably be ahead of the GT4s and the production cars. With supposedly lots of manufacturer interest behind the new TCR-rules for just such cars that might actually be a somewhat viable way to go.

I don't think it'll come to that, though. There's just too much money in GT3 right now... I guess we'll know more in a few hours after the conclusion of today's round table at Frankfurt.

[rdjones]

I have just see this on DSC - http://www.dailysportscar.com/2015/0...g-at-ring.html

So it looks like everyone is back in but with these changes.

[Creep89]

- 5% less power
- speed limits (WTF???)
- restrictions for fan access

Are you f*cking kidding me? A speed limit?
http://www.dailysportscar.com/2015/0...g-at-ring.html

[airbusA346]

Originally Posted by Creep89

- 5% less power
- speed limits (WTF???)
- restrictions for fan access

Are you f*cking kidding me? A speed limit?
http://www.dailysportscar.com/2015/0...g-at-ring.html

Probably means similar measures to when they drive through a yellow flag zone.

No more lap records being broken with the 5% power reduction then.