[LM24] Some fences to be removed at Le Mans !

[PascaLM]

A great news I heard on the "Pays de la Loire" TV channel :
ACO has just decided to remove many fences around the great circuit of La Sarthe !

First of all the fences of the pits straight. Actually, the cars are not very fast on this part, and the danger has vanished for years.
Some good spots are given back to the photos amateurs : Tertre Rouge curve just before the Hunaudières and...Arnage corner !
All these fences will be removed for the race week of june for the pleasure of the crowd !

[Cadete]

Can we cheer about this or is this another hoax?

[vandijk]

In the Netherlands on April 1st everyone tries to fool each other...

Hope its true Fab!

[The Badger]

yeah yeah yeah ..... be cool at Tetre Rouge though !!!

[rdjones]

Fantastic News ! !

[gi_gav]

This would be the most cruel April Fool i could think of! I really, really want this to be true!

[pirenzo]

maybe the April Fool is that they are gonna remove the fences. But replace them with 20ft high concrete walls.
But seriously guys, i very much doubt they'll take those fences away, it's a ludicrously stupid thing to say that "those areas are safer now"
i know the likely hood of crashing on a straight are low, but i think the last thing the ACO would want is to increase the chances of a repeat of 1955 by taking away the debris fencing on the main straight.
Sorry to spoil the party guys.

[Carse]

i really hope the fences in question are removed as you cant crash on a straight, (well hopefully not if your a profesional racing driver!) and arnarge is the slowest corner on the track! its the perfect place for spectating and photo's so hardly any chance of a major crash, just icidents like the dome and the corvette last year, (which i saw!) man that dome sounded nice bouncing off the rev limiter in nuetral!

[Adam43]

Well there have been crashes that have happened on straights in the history of Le Mans. They tend to be the ones were the cars get highest too.

Still, as long as thought has gone into the removal, I am in support of this. *reaches for the camera*

I suspect pirenzo could be closest to the mark...

[PRF]

I hope it's no hoax. I've been going to Le Mans since 1986. Fences were not heard of,wander in the paddocks, no hospitality suites adjacent to the circuit. The good old days. Still 'the place to be though in June.'

PRF

[TimD]

A clear view of Arnage.....

I hope.... I hope.... I hope.... I hope.... I hope.... I hope....

Please let it be true.

[vollpower]

Le Mans " For The Fans "
You must be off yer Rockers

[Karl Kling]

Originally posted by Carse
i really hope the fences in question are removed as you cant crash on a straight, (well hopefully not if your a profesional racing driver!) and arnarge is the slowest corner on the track! its the perfect place for spectating and photo's so hardly any chance of a major crash, just icidents like the dome and the corvette last year, (which i saw!) man that dome sounded nice bouncing off the rev limiter in nuetral!

Yes, you can crash on a straight. Does Mercedes 1999 ring a bell...

[PascaLM]

Originally posted by Karl Kling
Yes, you can crash on a straight. Does Mercedes 1999 ring a bell...

There is a slight right curve where the CLR took off.
But ACO will not remove the fences along fast straight, of course !

[Karl Kling]

Originally posted by PascaLM
There is a slight right curve where the CLR took off.
But ACO will not remove the fences along fast straight, of course !

On second thought i don't think the fences were high enough.

[kdr]

i think the fences on the grandstand straight are as much for keeping the fans from the cars(especially at the end) - as the cars from the fans.

[PascaLM]

Originally posted by Karl Kling
On second thought i don't think the fences were high enough.

There are no fence on the fastest straights.
Indeed, ACO will remove some fences in the public areas.

[PRF]

Originally posted by kdr
i think the fences on the grandstand straight are as much for keeping the fans from the cars(especially at the end) - as the cars from the fans.

Perhaps there should be a further fence to keep the marshalls at bat as well. Look at the debacle last year with Jan Lammers in the Dome and Gounon racing for 6th place. Whilst the race was still in progress the Marshalls invaded the track!!!!!

PRF

[bernard b]

I may be a hoax, but I still think some fences could disappear without danger for spectators:
-right side of the esses
-inside tertre rouge
-inside Dunlop curve

[Adam43]

Originally posted by kdr
i think the fences on the grandstand straight are as much for keeping the fans from the cars(especially at the end) - as the cars from the fans.

I think the deep ditch helps keep us off the track too!

This gap, the wider straight and the fences all might have helped in 1955...

However if safe I do support the removal of soome fences, but I don't think that the ACO will remove any alongside the spectator areas where any decent speeds are reached. It isn't just the rare situation of a car flying, but the more likely situation of debris (body work flying off, etc...).

At the very fastest parts there are no fences, but then there are no spectators either.

[bigh]

ACO considering spectators!? -I think not.
There are walls in fences in parts of the circuit which seem to have been put there just to frustrate the fan.
In reality there is a chance of an accident anywhere on the circuit, but as far as I'm concerned it's a ludicrous policy to put fences and walls everywhere hoping to cover every eventuality. It's strange that it's happened on a French circuit though, after all it's us bureaucratic brits who seem to be overly occupied with Health and Safety. I would say almost every spectator is aware of the risks (as it says on uk race tickets), and almost every spectator would like the viewing improved. It's a statistic thing, we do it every day, otherwise you'd never leave the house.
Sadly, I'm convinced it's an April Fool. If I'm wrong, I'll happily be a June fool, paint my private parts orange, and dance on the embankments...
H

[jph]

I remeber the feeling of horror when I first saw the debris fencing lining the pits straight at Le Mans - early 90s, I guess? As much as we would all like to see it removed, I don't think it will be, at Le Mans or anywhere else. We live in an increasingly litigious age (not to mention things like pan-European arrest warrants) and the consequences of a spectator being injured by flying debris, particularly where fencing might have been removed... well, it hardly bears contemplating.

With my luck, this isn't an April Fool, as I can't go to Le Mans this year.

[Aysedasi]

It is an April Fool.

It has to be.

Accidents can happen on straights - if contact is made between cars - anything is possible.

They won't remove the fencing - as much as it would delight me.

By the way, have you heard the news about the removal of the two chicanes on the Mulsanne.......?

[PascaLM]

Originally posted by Aysedasi
It is an April Fool.

It has to be.

Accidents can happen on straights - if contact is made between cars - anything is possible.

They won't remove the fencing - as much as it would delight me.

By the way, have you heard the news about the removal of the two chicanes on the Mulsanne.......?

I'm sorry for any trouble I made.
I thought about removal of the chicanes but it was too easy.
Finally, the coup of the fences was the better !

[iucrmh]

I was beginning to think that my Pits Grandstand ticket was unnecessary (good clear unimpeded view). Mind you, they could lower the debris fencing on the inside of Tetre Rouge....