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Post by René on Aug 26, 2020 15:33:24 GMT
Amateur footage, as if you were there. Put the volume up!  |
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Post by Carl on Aug 26, 2020 16:58:32 GMT
Amateur footage, as if you were there. Put the volume up! Super cool sights and sounds! 1988 was a great year at LeMans, still no chicanes to tamp down the awesome top speeds. Is the small house featured the famous White House?
I assume the gendarmes appeared later in the morning when the snack bars had no more doughnuts.  |
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Post by charleselan on Aug 26, 2020 18:45:01 GMT
Good little amateur film from back in those times, really impressive seeing and hearing the sound of those Group C cars at full blast on the scary Mulsanne Straight. The gendarme are ever present at Le Mans, very good crowd marshals in fact.
The sound of the TWR Jaguar V12's are awesome.
Also just imagine what could be achieved today with a smart phone recording the film, but you cannot get near to the track like that now.
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Post by chrisb on Aug 27, 2020 6:52:48 GMT
oh my word, that is beautiful, although I suspect my neighbours aren't as enthusiastic as I,
not sure Carl,
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Post by charleselan on Aug 27, 2020 15:51:21 GMT
The noise is one thing, and it is fantastic in this film clip. The other aspect would have been the air blast, almost like a shock wave as the cars went past at that speed and how close the spectators were at that point. It was interesting too ee that the film broke up at times as a car went past, I wonder if this was due to some effect.
I always remember that when at Donington Park for some races in the early 1980's, we as press photographers could position ourselves on the outside of the track as the cars braked down for the original chicane after the long straight. All that was between us and the cars was the armco barrier, you could quite literally have reached over and touched the cars they were that close. At this location you could feel the draught as the cars passed, especially the Formula Two cars of that period, an amazing sensation and place to take photographs.
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Post by mikael on Aug 27, 2020 16:27:42 GMT
Just checked that, up to (and including) 1989, the Mulsanne Straight was 6 km long (it still is, but from 1990, it has chicanes). So this means that, even the fastest cars would run at full throttle for a little over a minute. (At 360 km/h, it takes exactly one minute to cover 6 km.)
Full throttle for one full minute (at least) - that's a very hard test indeed for a racing engine. And to think, then, that this was repeated more than 350 times(*) during the 24 hours. Just amazing ...
((*) The 1988 winner completed 394 laps.)
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Post by chrisb on Aug 28, 2020 6:45:11 GMT
wasn't that one of its original targets Mikael? a test of endurance and speed, in MS this month, whilst not its best month it has an article on Le Mans, and a number of drivers such as Andy Wallace, Derek Bell talk of their feelings of the original Mulsanne, for instance Derek used to take both hands off the steering wheel and steer by his knees, but as they discussed the scariest bit was the slower cars - sometimes the difference was about 70mph [about 112 kph] and at night pre-coded lights that must have been very attention grabbing
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Post by mikael on Aug 28, 2020 9:18:10 GMT
wasn't that one of its original targets Mikael? a test of endurance and speed It's true Chris. Still, I think that, engine-wise, that long straight must have been a real "killer". I imagine that the present chicanes make a big difference in terms of engine loading. |
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Post by René on Aug 28, 2020 9:33:00 GMT
The noise is one thing, and it is fantastic in this film clip. The other aspect would have been the air blast, almost like a shock wave as the cars went past at that speed and how close the spectators were at that point. It was interesting too ee that the film broke up at times as a car went past, I wonder if this was due to some effect. I always remember that when at Donington Park for some races in the early 1980's, we as press photographers could position ourselves on the outside of the track as the cars braked down for the original chicane after the long straight. All that was between us and the cars was the armco barrier, you could quite literally have reached over and touched the cars they were that close. At this location you could feel the draught as the cars passed, especially the Formula Two cars of that period, an amazing sensation and place to take photographs. Oh yes, the air blast! I remember a racing festival at Spa ones where I was allowed to stand at the 'old' pitwall where the cars pass very close to the wall downhill on their way to Eau Rouge and sometimes you could also feel the air moving. That combined with the noise is just sensational and the cars where going nowhere as fast as the Le Mans cars in that clip. |
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Post by René on Aug 28, 2020 9:36:58 GMT
Just checked that, up to (and including) 1989, the Mulsanne Straight was 6 km long (it still is, but from 1990, it has chicanes). So this means that, even the fastest cars would run at full throttle for a little over a minute. (At 360 km/h, it takes exactly one minute to cover 6 km.)
Full throttle for one full minute (at least) - that's a very hard test indeed for a racing engine. And to think, then, that this was repeated more than 350 times(*) during the 24 hours. Just amazing ... ((*) The 1988 winner completed 394 laps.)
Mikael, most of the Group C cars in that clip are going even faster than 360 km/h. The reason they introduced the chicanes was that the Group C cars of the late eighties where touching and passing the 400 km/h barrier regularly. Insanely fast of course but so spectacular! |
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Post by chrisb on Aug 28, 2020 9:43:02 GMT
Silverstone was pretty good for that, the sheer speed down the Hangar and the change of gear into Stowe was musically heaven, gosh how fortunate we were, those mighty Group C cars and then of course the noise at Brands in the little amphitheatre was another joy, I always had the policy of walking around the circuit for a Group C race and that was healthy it was also a good way of seeing where was good to spectate, oh good days - packed lunch, binoculars -poor camera
always wishing on the Jags and the Nimrod Aston, hoping they could take on the Mercs and Porsche, then the beautiful Lancia's and the C2's screaming along, so many great cars and engines.
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Post by Carl on Aug 28, 2020 16:45:33 GMT
Silverstone was pretty good for that, the sheer speed down the Hangar and the change of gear into Stowe was musically heaven, gosh how fortunate we were, those mighty Group C cars and then of course the noise at Brands in the little amphitheatre was another joy, I always had the policy of walking around the circuit for a Group C race and that was healthy it was also a good way of seeing where was good to spectate, oh good days - packed lunch, binoculars -poor camera always wishing on the Jags and the Nimrod Aston, hoping they could take on the Mercs and Porsche, then the beautiful Lancia's and the C2's screaming along, so many great cars and engines. The sounds of F5000 V8 engines in Long Beach, echoing off the narrow confines of Pine Avenue as drivers gave full throttle toward Ocean Boulevard, were awesome. The smaller, less brutal but more sophisticated Formula One engines were a wonderful symphony angry octaves higher, most wonderful the 12 cylinders, most angry the Matras! The amplified echoes were magical as you watched (and listened) from the bottom of the steep hill.
The platform on top of the Champion bridge crossing the one mile back straight at Riverside was restricted, but I gained access several times by casually climbing the ladder with feigned authority. As Can-Am cars passed underneath at 190 mph, the air blast would lift the heavy and well secured platform an inch or two, always taking newcomers by surprise. Some must have reached for the railing when George Follmer's 917-10 passed underneath at 219 mph in 1972.
The most impressive air blast I experienced was when I accepted a friendly challenge and stood with another boy very close to the track as the Illinois Central Railroad's City of New Orleans blasted through the small town where my mother was born.
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Post by charleselan on Aug 28, 2020 18:41:49 GMT
It also comes back into my memory banks that the air blast was also warm even on a somewhat brisk day, such are things that we experience in life that maybe others never have.
The engine sounds are something else, as are the renounces that accompany them. In the heyday of Group C the Aston Martin AMR1's were thunderous machines with their Calloway V8 engines. They quite literally shook the ground as they passed by, standing on the inside of Redgate Corner at Donington the Astons were a Tsunami of sound as they echoed off the pit buildings on the main straight.
I did not experience the sound of the real Can_Am cars in full flight but that must have been something, and a real privilege for those that did.
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Post by Carl on Aug 28, 2020 21:22:42 GMT
It also comes back into my memory banks that the air blast was also warm even on a somewhat brisk day, such are things that we experience in life that maybe others never have. The engine sounds are something else, as are the renounces that accompany them. In the heyday of Group C the Aston Martin AMR1's were thunderous machines with their Calloway V8 engines. They quite literally shook the ground as they passed by, standing on the inside of Redgate Corner at Donington the Astons were a Tsunami of sound as they echoed off the pit buildings on the main straight. I did not experience the sound of the real Can_Am cars in full flight but that must have been something, and a real privilege for those that did. John Charles, It's no wonder the Aston Martin AMR1 shook the ground, with its Calloway engine producing as much as 720 bhp. As the ground beneath you shook at Donington, you surely experienced the same thunder as a Can-Am car. Here's a recent lap of Laguna Seca with the great Brian Redman |
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Post by robmarsh on Aug 31, 2020 8:44:58 GMT
The sounds of F5000 V8 engines in Long Beach, echoing off the narrow confines of Pine Avenue as drivers gave full throttle toward Ocean Boulevard, were awesome. The smaller, less brutal but more sophisticated Formula One engines were a wonderful symphony angry octaves higher, most wonderful the 12 cylinders, most angry the Matras! The amplified echoes were magical as you watched (and listened) from the bottom of the steep hill.
Carl, what a wonderfully descriptive paragraph. Pete Lyons better look out.
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