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| The '''] CLR''' was a ] racing car created for the 1999 race. | The '''] CLR''' was a ] ] racing car created for the 1999 race. It became infamous for spetacular crashes | ||
| ==Racing History== | ==Racing History== | ||
| ] |
] in the warmup to the 1999 ], above its sister cars, a ] and a Viper ]] | ||
| In April ] Mercedes launched the new Mercedes CLR which would take part in the upcoming ]. |
In April ] Mercedes launched the new Mercedes CLR as successor to the ] GT championship-winning ] which would take part in the upcoming ]. With tens of thousands of miles been spent in testing on smooth race tracks, Mercedes felt that the car was quick enough to win the race, despite the short time spend testing in ]s. | ||
| Three cars were entered, numbered #4, #5, #6, each driven by a German, a French and an English speaking pilot to allow efficient international marketing. The major competition of ], ], ] and ] all entered two, three or even four cars, making the 1999 LM one of the thoughest ever. And there were smaller private teams like ]. Only ] was missing. | |||
| However Mercedes' Le Mans campaign came to an abrupt end when the #5 CLR, driven at the time by ], became airborne, landing over the barriers into the trees. Nobody was injured. ]'s #4 had already taken off twice during qualifying and the warm-up. Some aerodynamic changes had been made to the #5 and the #6 cars which went on to race, but these were clearly not enough to prevent Dumbreck's aerodynamic induced back flip. | |||
| However, ]'s #4 became airborne at ''Indianapolis'' during Thursday night qualifying session. The car was rebuild from scratch on Friday, modified for more downforce at the front, and entered in the Saturday morning warm-up. This time, ] did only make it to the ''Mulsanne'' kink were the car back-flipped in a spectacular way, this time caught in mid-air on photos. Luckily, Webber nor others were injured on neither occasion. | |||
| ⚫ | The flying Mercedes at Le Mans brought the almost immediate cancellation of the project and the planned participation in the ] series. The |
||
| Despite the 2nd incident and teh awareness of teh 1955 Mercedes' ] decided to go ahead and enter the other two cars in the afternoon, with additional modifications and instructions to the drivers not to follow others cars closely over humps. | |||
| ⚫ | ==Specifications== | ||
| ⚫ | |||
| Despite this, after over 4 hours, driven at the time by ], the #5 CLR chased a ]-One and became airborne at ''Indianapolis'', somersaulting and landing over the barriers into the trees, all on world-wide live TV coverage. The crowd on the Le Mans grandstands was mortified, seeing the pictures without hearing any comment for a long time. Luckly it turn out later that nobody was injured. At that time, the race was under yellow flags, and the remaining #6 car driven by ] had already been retired. | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | The flying Mercedes at Le Mans brought the almost immediate cancellation of the CLR project and the planned participation in the ] and the ] series. The surviving #6 car was never raced again nor shown at the ], but sold to a private collector. | ||
| ⚫ | |||
| Mercedes blamed the humps at Le Mans, which had to be lowered later. At ] in 1998, a ]-98 had also backflipped, and a ]LMR did so again in 2000. Yet, these cars won a Le Mans without incidents. | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | ==Specifications== | ||
| ''Rear suspension: Double wishbones with push rod activation of the spring and shock absorber suspension units, attached directly to gearbox casing with pick-ups.'' | |||
| ⚫ | *Mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, carbon fiber and aluminium honeycomb monocoque | ||
| ⚫ | *Mercedes-Benz V8 (GT 108 C) engine, 5721 cc, electronically controlled ignition and injection system (Bosch Motronic)* | ||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | *X-Trac, unsynchronised, six-speed gearbox with magnesium casing | ||
| ⚫ | *Front & Rear suspension: Double wishbones with push rod activation of the spring and shock absorber suspension units, attached directly to monocoque with pick-ups | ||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | *18" diameter undivided magnesium wheels | ||
| ⚫ | *Bridgestone Potenza Tires | ||
| ''Length: 4893 mm, Width: 1999 mm, Height: 1012 mm, Wheelbase: 2670 mm, Weight: 921 kg'' | |||
| *Length: 4893 mm | |||
| *Width: 1999 mm | |||
| *Height: 1012 mm | |||
| *Wheelbase: 2670 mm | |||
| *Weight: 921 kg | |||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | |||
Revision as of 02:02, 16 December 2005
The Mercedes-Benz CLR was a Le Mans Prototype GT racing car created for the 1999 race. It became infamous for spetacular crashes
Racing History
In April 1999 Mercedes launched the new Mercedes CLR as successor to the FIA GT championship-winning Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR which would take part in the upcoming Le Mans 24 Hours. With tens of thousands of miles been spent in testing on smooth race tracks, Mercedes felt that the car was quick enough to win the race, despite the short time spend testing in wind tunnels.
Three cars were entered, numbered #4, #5, #6, each driven by a German, a French and an English speaking pilot to allow efficient international marketing. The major competition of Audi, BMW, Cadillac and Toyota all entered two, three or even four cars, making the 1999 LM one of the thoughest ever. And there were smaller private teams like Panoz. Only Porsche was missing.
However, Mark Webber's #4 became airborne at Indianapolis during Thursday night qualifying session. The car was rebuild from scratch on Friday, modified for more downforce at the front, and entered in the Saturday morning warm-up. This time, Mark Webber did only make it to the Mulsanne kink were the car back-flipped in a spectacular way, this time caught in mid-air on photos. Luckily, Webber nor others were injured on neither occasion.
Despite the 2nd incident and teh awareness of teh 1955 Mercedes' Norbert Haug decided to go ahead and enter the other two cars in the afternoon, with additional modifications and instructions to the drivers not to follow others cars closely over humps.
Despite this, after over 4 hours, driven at the time by Peter Dumbreck, the #5 CLR chased a Toyota GT-One and became airborne at Indianapolis, somersaulting and landing over the barriers into the trees, all on world-wide live TV coverage. The crowd on the Le Mans grandstands was mortified, seeing the pictures without hearing any comment for a long time. Luckly it turn out later that nobody was injured. At that time, the race was under yellow flags, and the remaining #6 car driven by Bernd Schneider had already been retired.
The flying Mercedes at Le Mans brought the almost immediate cancellation of the CLR project and the planned participation in the Norisring and the ALMS series. The surviving #6 car was never raced again nor shown at the Mercedes-Benz Museum, but sold to a private collector.
Mercedes blamed the humps at Le Mans, which had to be lowered later. At Road Atlanta in 1998, a Porsche 911 GT1-98 had also backflipped, and a BMW V12LMR did so again in 2000. Yet, these cars won a Le Mans without incidents.
Specifications
- Mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, carbon fiber and aluminium honeycomb monocoque
- Mercedes-Benz V8 (GT 108 C) engine, 5721 cc, electronically controlled ignition and injection system (Bosch Motronic)*
- X-Trac, unsynchronised, six-speed gearbox with magnesium casing
- Front & Rear suspension: Double wishbones with push rod activation of the spring and shock absorber suspension units, attached directly to monocoque with pick-ups
- 18" diameter undivided magnesium wheels
- Bridgestone Potenza Tires
- Length: 4893 mm
- Width: 1999 mm
- Height: 1012 mm
- Wheelbase: 2670 mm
- Weight: 921 kg