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Video break: Mercedes’ disastrous Le Mans 1999

Video break: Mercedes’ disastrous Le Mans 1999
Maurice Malone
Maurice Malone
@MaloneMaurice

Published on December 8, 2017

Despite a couple of terrifying warnings, Mercedes decided to go ahead and start the 1999 Le Mans race with its somersaulting CLRs. No-one was surprised when it happened again.

Oh no. Here we go. Peter Dumbreck's Mercedes CLR was embarking on a series of terrifying flips, his launch speed well over 300km/h. As the silver Merc hit a crest on the approach to Indianapolis while slipstreaming one of the Toyotas, air got under the nose, and off it went. This was roughly six hours into the race. The car landed among tree stumps; one of which ruptured the chassis between the driver's seat and fuel tank. Somehow, Dumbreck was fine.

The thing is, this wasn't the first time that this had happened, nor even the second. On Thursday evening AND Saturday morning, poor Mark Webber was a helpless passenger when his CLR decided that it wanted to take to the skies.

Incredibly, there was no video or photographic evidence of the first incident, so the team simply refused to believe the Aussie, despite the telemetry data indicating that something had indeed gone very awry. On Saturday however, cameras captured the aftermath, and there was no escaping the fact that Mercedes had a big problem. Mark was severely shaken, and extremely lucky not to have been hurt or worse in either crash.

Winglets appeared on the front corners of the remaining CLRs, the team claiming that an extra 25 per cent of downforce had been found, and the two cars lined up on the startline. A few hours later, the shutters were down on the Merc garage, the Stuttgart outfit now the attention of the world's media, and vowing never to return to Le Mans.

This video is a graphic demonstration of how tight margins can be at the very top level of motorsport. Mercedes didn't set out to build a dangerous car, but in the quest for speed, something was overlooked. That the CLR didn't take the lives of two young men is nothing short of a miracle.