Le Mans 1999 - Race Part 3/6 Mercedes CLR Onboard and Crash

[RidgeRacerLord]

"Mercedes' big year"

Oh, you guys at Mercedes wanted a big year but I bet you never expected THIS.

[kingpest13]

@quadrant nice spoiler :-(

[kingpest13]

@gerson425 apparently they already do.

[AlexGRFan97]

Webber was just practicing for Valencia 2010 :D

[monkeymarine291]

I feel like I'm playing Gran Turismo 4 doing an endurance race!

[sonicadx]

Watching videos like this makes you feel GT5 needs more cars...

[didlay]

youhouuuu

[smasila]

Holy shit…that onboard on the Benz really puts into perspective how slow road cars are.

[mburleigh8]

great classic video

[nickofzo]

whatever happened, mercedes should make le mans cars again cause they are soo cool

[gerson425]

Mercedes should start making planes XD

[conorolled]

all lemans drivers go oon 2 f1, heidfield and webber

[Samtheawesomelol]

wreck begins at 7:44 if you're lazy

[Nskawtea1]

Damn, that really sucks

[sysrq120]

Light car too fast,crap aero dynamics?Anyone know?

[boostincoyote]

@sysrq120 its not crap aero dynamics or too light. Its what happens when you are just at the perfect distance from the car in front where you get "dirty" air and not enough air hitting your car to produce the sufficient downforce at that speed

[clarktista1]

is circuit de la sarthe no chicane i know this from gt5

[mb013962]

@clarktista1 it has the chicane

GT5 is awesome!

[clarktista1]

@mb013962 year mann im in Lvl32 :D

[muulka]

Lol very rapid German lady >.<

[MultiSuwarno1]

awesomeee brooo

[hereHehereHE]

whats the difference between the clk gtr and this clr?

what race league is this?

[muulka]

@hereHehereHE It's the le mans 24 hours. Search it on Wikipedia lol. I think that the clk gtr raced in 1998, but wasn't as competitive as this particular one, the CLR. Confusing lol

[19Karoll95]

I Love Le Mans

!

[FrodothePuppet]

Amusing to see Nick Heidfeld at just 22! 11 years later, he is reunited with Mercedes as Mercedes Grand Prix's official reserve driver.

Heidfeld would again be Mark Webber's team mate in 2005 driving the Williams FW27. One can't make these things up!

[StickyBadger]

@FrodothePuppet No you can make that up.

[Marcus666Sund]

Damn, Did he win a X-games medal for that double backflip`? :D

[15SecondsToFreedom]

@Marcus666Sund lol no he messed up the landing

[quasiphatpaul]

I once while driving this track in an 06 renault f1 car playing rfactor lost my front wing and had this same thing happen to me cresting the same hill. Just a game but it shows that lack of front downforce and the right top speed makes this a fairly predictable outcome.

[Marcus666Sund]

7.47 - V1, rotate  LMAO!

[17drw]

my little boy watched this with me, even he was gob smacked, this is an amazing piece of footage.

[TheDanishHardstyle]

This video is just epic! Legendary clip when the merc flips into the forrest, and god it is good they closed it for public during races !

[Quadrant14]

And poor Mark Webber had 2 of these flips in 2 days with his Mercedes, what a mess it was, Though I wished the Toyota did not get that punture in the last 45 min which I believ cost it the race

[mczaga]

is the Pilot died?

[houyt69]

no, it happened to two separate drivers, both of whom lived. one of them, mark webber, still races in F1

[WSBT960]

@mczaga Dumbreck believe it or not escaped with only a concussion.

[rowleyac]

you said onboard? must be american!

[Osierus]

The Officials should have banned this CLR's from entering after the first 2 previous flips, or atleast Mercedes should have showed some intelligence and pulled the cars out themselves but instead chose to put the drivers and spectators at risk. Idiots!

[alxcsb]

They should have made some changes to the cars, at least.

[xj220se]

Amazing video.. I still can't believe all this really happened, but oo well, I still love that damn car lol.. I think that that Merc could've won that race easy if only it managed to stay on the ground. A lotta things were up against the CLR: the supposedly 'aerodynamic flaw,' the crests, the lack of downforce on the front end because of the Toyota.. Im glad the drivers were okay but i'm real disappointed at Mercedes for letting this same thing happen so many times (qualifying, warm-up, race) =/

[ratzinator1]

@xj220se

Yeah, that was a hell of a flip - what a lift that thing took

[Zsombeeking]

at 7:49 listen the commentator.OMG

[mczaga]

the Pilot has been died?

[18PacWest]

Dumbreck walked away unscathed after the horrific incident.

[scook120]

That Mercedes has to be one of the most beautiful sounding cars I've ever heard.

[18PacWest]

A bit like the 1997 IRL engines.

[Christoffski]

Thanks for uploading this. It's my favourite Le Mans. I just wish the TS020 had won!

[sleanss]

07:48 they killed kenny! you bastards!

[Marcus666Sund]

@sleanss LMAO!

[NikoPDR]

too much red bull

[bobflyer]

it took off like a plane without wings

[fangeo]

But a plane without wings wouldn't take off! I know what you mean though ;)

[3000ST1]

Until you see the on-board footage you don't realise how much front end bounce there is on the Merc. Someone got their sums wrong somewhere.

[xXRocketToUranusXx]

Croup C in le mans in the 80's 400+km'h

[A7V2]

Yer, den dey put chicanes along mulsane

[1994impalaxxxLOVA]

What is this race called

[DAN28289]

Le Mans 24 Hour

[xavi26691]

its amazing to see a 900kg car flying in the air like a piece of paper does...

[cnycarnut]

F1 car 2009=appx.190mph *lose

GTLM circa 99 Le Mans=220mph *win+30mph

[Miskojones]

thats it man, 2009 LMP1 gets 315 kms on le mans straight...

1999 f1 Mclaren Mercedes mark 354 kms per hour in hockenheim and monza. while 340 on lemans.

[AudiR10Guy]

what if there was an onboard of that flip

[FormulaOneSpy]

there probably - at least - was, but I'd bet Mercedes has burned that tape long time ago... :D

[Monopoly909]

The Mercedes flips at 7:30

what was funny is that the commentators were all talking calm, and I was all like whatever. When the car flipped me and the commentator were like OMG!

[amjan]

Anybody knows how those cars' speed compared to F1 cars??

[SuckMyMuffler]

only seen sarthe on GT4. the real one is amazing!

[mosportkarting6]

its amazing that peter dumbreck is still driving in the alms... well he was in 2007!

[AudiR10Guy]

in whose car?

[nowootno]

Not the CLR, I'll tell you that.

[blubuddha13]

I can remember watching this live and thinking "did I just see...." and the next shot was the CLR in full flight. I got a chill when I saw how quickly Merc pulled in the second car and closed the door - they knew it was a design flaw.

From what I've heard Dumbreck was already out of the car and smoking a cigarette when the first marshall came on the scene - begs the question, did he drive with a pack, or did he mooch one from the first spectator he found

[madworkzer]

Nice!

[danno700]

LOL

[Shadowaloner]

that was fucked crazy.

[GhostCell07]

That was scary poor CLR. That caught me off guard. Especially after part 2/6 of these vidoes.

[shazmeister2005]

this is a rip of the hightlights video, i have the video well i used to anyway, the footage is from eurosport, i dunno if this guy did the live commentery or if he is just commentating the highlights

[gino800]

its live but someone edited the footage themselves to only show the lmp1 stuff

[AudiR10Guy]

my god that car sound so awesome from the inside, why couldn't they have that camera on when it blew over?

[liobeking]

Here's your captain speaking, thanks for flying Mercedes 747 on a beautiful sunny day like this. Please brace as we might have a rough landing.

I have seen 3-point unlimited hydroplanes more stable than this Mercedes, LOL.

[sluttybuttfuckincunt]

lol because it happened at 7:47

[liobeking]

:)

You are really sharp.

[alzenporsche93]

the suond is the best ever

[Valah3]

I don't care if the merc CLR flied, it looks and sounds amazing, one of the most sexy racing cars ever.

When will i see anybody make cars like that? I think never.

[LexSullivan]

ladies and gentlemens welcome to CLaiR flight number 5, please buckle up and prepare for take off! XD

[thevmanvj]

Certainly Dumbreck getting into the dirty air of another car along with that tricky crest going through the 2nd dog-leg heading into Indianapolis didn't help much.But,I can't ignore the fact that the Mercedes CLR's had 3 blowovers in one weekend.Chris Webber had two; one during qualifying,the other during the Morning Warm-up. I can only conclude that the incidents were more than coincidental.Mercedes withdrew after Dumbreck joined "The Blowover Club". They weren't about to take any more chances.

[shazmeister2005]

Mercedes knew there was a problem, you see the 2 little wings on each side of the front of the 5 & 6 cars they added for the race. As well as this the drivers were instructed not to follow people directly over the bumps, if you look at the Mercedes cars all through the race you will notice that a Mercedes never follows a car directly over the Mulsanne hump e.t.c, i presume Dumbreck thought he was far enough back from the Toyota to be safe keeping his line but alas.

[elmoemilio6969]

lucky he didnt hit the sign

[jraybay]

pierre luigi martini XD

[tubing1988]

did the mercedes' driver die? The crush seemed really bad...

[ricktrick77]

nah he was fine , the mercs flipped alot and no ever died from it , not even bad injuries either

[tubing1988]

thanks

[thevmanvj]

The worst motor racing disaster took place at Le Mans took place in 1955.Pierre Levegh lost his life in an accident driving a Mercedes.Upon impact,the car disintegrated in flames sending the engine as well as other debris from the front-end of the car into the stands. 80 spectators also perished.

[06kohlert]

this is why the swiss have had a ban on motorsport in their country since then! and hence, bugger all decent swiss race drivers!

[thevmanvj]

According to the Hospital report Peter Dumbreck "was no more than bruised". If the car landed windscreen down, the results may have been very different. He landed whells down and probably saved his life.

[06kohlert]

well, 50/50 chance then i guess!

[BrnoutJerzey]

nope, all the drivers that flipped were ok

[LeMansIndy500]

That was actually the 9th year the chicanes were used on the Mulsanne Straight. Not about the 15th like the commentator said

[LB1973]

10th, they were put in for the 1990 race. Minor technicality though.

[lloydgarnett]

so do you know what happened to the #6 mercedes cause i never did figure out what happened did the park it or did it like the other 2 cars

[DarthWillie]

Mercedes retired the #6 car immediately after Dumbrecks crash.

[astonmartin06]

The #6 car had been sold to a private race-car collecter and is now at some show-room

It would be nice to know where it is and could we see it again.

[SynysterToken]

i would still drive the #6, even after watching this vid

[FormulaOneSpy]

This is one the best onboard I've seen. Right beside Depailler @ Montreal wet F1 '78 and Porsche 956 @ Le Mans '84.

Not yet this traction control crap, just look at the amount of steering corrections he has to make. And he is really really pushing hard even that it's a 24 hour race.

Gives me goosebumps when they get to the main straight and passes the GT-One.

[saatanasyopaas]

bad aerodynamic:(

[mclarenhonda123]

great racing

[fordrule888]

LOL the lap before the commentator said "the Mercedes flying through here" he says at the same place as they crash

[kocko67]

The Mercedes CLR isnt one of my favorite cars, but this cars sound will stay in my heart forever !!!

[panzr]

Man, those Mercedes sound mean

[Princegto]

It is a beautiful video

[KCclegg01]

At Le Mans in 1999, you had BMW, Toyota, Mercedes & Audi battling for victory, 4 different makes of car.

In recent years manufacturer's pulled out and Audi have dominated, simply because they had no serious opposition.

Now in 2008 with the return of Peugeot Le Mans is set to become exciting once again with the Peugeot v Audi battle.

[khrisinfo]

the mercedes vs bmw vs toyota and audi in 1999

the race of the lmp900 cars at 24hours.

[ScarfaceHood]

The CLR got to much air under the car cause of that he took off.

And helly yeah Le Mans in the 90 was great. I remember the times with the great Porsche 911 GT1 and Mercedes CLR. Damn i wish those times would come back.

[macmacmacdre650]

lol this guy said the chicanes had been for more than 15 years, it wasn't even 10 back in 1999

[turboplus]

Lemans was great in the 90's...

[thekingoffutbol]

the toyota gt1 can win the race because are racing two toyota gt1,s and they are 1 and 2 pos.

[jitterball]

well bmw got it!

[BHDSS]

Que vacilo!

[BornInBiH90]

omg, that Mercedes is very fast...and the crash...unbeliveble...like a airplane

[CyborgAkuma20022]

Lol thats the best announcement I've heard an announcer say. Lol that accent was hella funny. Oh my god!! oh myyy goodd!!

[ZildjianDrummer244]

I love Le Mans!! Amazing sport!...

[paperchizzle]

it used to be amazing now its boring. they need 2 take off the chicanes and remove all the regulation, same goes for F1. i still motorsport though

[ZildjianDrummer244]

Yeah... It' used to be the greatest thing ever... My favorite is the Panoz car can't remember but my uncle sponsors him.

[deggis4]

I hate when all European tracks are becoming airfields with tarmac run off areas, so I dont like that kind of safety shit but did you forgot they already hit 400 km/h on the Mulsanne in 1987-89? Think how fast modern protos could go. That would be seriously nuts.

[classicf1]

Probably not that fast since they are now built to go 330kph and not as fast as possible. But i agree with the safety it is great and i wouldn't get into one of the cars without it but compared to the 80s its is not where near as good to watch.

[deggis4]

...well for mostly for the reason that the chicanes are there. High top speed is still important but it has limits obviously.

If the chicanes weren't there I bet we would see cars going near 400 km/h. Easily. And that would be nuts... think about getting airborne like we have now seen several times this year... Ortelli in Monza, Walter-Cambpell in Monza, Pug & Gene in Le Mans testing...

[thevmanvj]

The two (2) chicanes were added to the 3.2-mile long Mulsanne Straight because the FIA would no longer sanction a race track that had a straightaway longer than two kilometers. Before they were added, the prototype GT-1 cars were blowing through there at 240-250 mph!Unfortunately,in the case of the Mercedes CLR's, the "blowovers" or flips were clearly caused by a design flaw.

[BrnoutJerzey]

?

design flaw? Any prototype that lightweight and enough rear weight(vs front), that will happen.

The car pulled into the slipstream of the Toyota- which means less air resistance.. You combine that with a crest and it can happen.

[Tactical300]

Yes but it is more prevalent on such a car as the CLR because it's also a closed top car, which means that the air pressure of the flow traveling over the top of the car was reduced even further than an open cockpit prototype. Couple that with the pressure differential inside the cockpit and the critical difference that rake angles make on such a vehicle, you have a side effect due to the design of the vehicle. In other words, a design flaw. It should have been considered during its conception

[shazmeister2005]

no it was a design fault, the car was shaped too much like an aeroplane wing, a racing car needs to be like this to make it as aerodynamic as possible but too much so and it becomes nose-light at speed. there is a compromise to be made. in turbulent air following a car this problem is accentuated and combined with the natural nose going light over a crest it spells distster for a car like this because instead of "jumping" like e.g. a rally car does its wing shape basically makes it take off

[walther0939]

弩磋語島歩宇尾後ロ裳さ恕れ

とこ

[walther0939]

誤具と

[LolaJudd]

i talked with peter dumbreck at the 2007 Laguna Seca ALMS race. He said he had a bruise or two and headheaches.

[SynysterToken]

awesome. i didnt know he was there and i went to that race :/

[KeithRichards07]

Mercedes did bad work...they did not learn after qualifying...I saw them driving there.. Toyota drove like a Railroad-Train: just smooth... what did Mercedes after loosing? They blamed ACO and said they´ll never come back... they are no good loosers...

[lunchsalamimeat]

wut do u expect them to say?

we r stupid nd cant make a good car

ofcourse they r not goin to say that

[KorusakiUchiha]

Cirque De La Sarthe What a track!

[stu22aus]

Yeah there's your problem....

[DimeMan123]

is this on Sarthe Circuit??

[Porsche911GT1]

yes

[drummerboycraig]

yeah, and holy shit i remember this, i was like 4 yrs old and i saw this replay on tv once. jeez this is bringing back memories

[chadfulmersonjumbo]

unbelievable, i didnt believe my mate when he told me, all that physics stuff n that, its simple 200mph over a crest, coming out of a slipstream facing upwards = flying car

[Mclarensenna]

Thats unbelievable.

[schotsman]

These old GT1's/GTP's all took off behind another car LMP1/GTP. The nose needs air presure to stay on the ground, because the wing takes presure from above and the undertray on de front takes air from beneath. Basically, when the airpressure from the nose is altured because a car in front, they fly.

[vikirad]

A Porsche 911-GT1 took off at an endurance race somewhere in the USA while slipstreaming behind another car and over the top of a bump. But these cars also have an overall profile that resembles a wing, and at times this turns the ground effect downforce into lift.

[ooklutz]

THat was at road atlanta at the petite le mans race for the american le mans series.

[farmhousejp]

cool

[jonnyspa27]

I know that part of the issue was the fact that the general shape of the CLR was more like a normal airplane wing. e.g. more surface area on the top of the car as opposed to the bottom. This and the fact Dumbreck was quite close to the rear of the GT-One Toyota perhaps took a bit of air off the front of the car on that 2nd kink leading to Indianapolis. Thoughts?

[FlamerK6]

sounds pretty logic imo

[flashganargerbarben]

of course its logical retard

[FlamerK6]

urgh go fuck yourself

[Troggle84]

I'm not sure, but in addition to what you previously said, Dumbreck might have clipped the curb and gotten the right front corner of the Mercedes just slightly off the ground. And at those speeds, it doesn't take much.

[kabuto865]

the incident looks much scarier when it's not in slow motion. Glad the driver was okay.