Mercedes Benz CLR 1999 Le Mans flip

This is one of the special menouvres that were performed by the Mercedes CLR's a number of times at Le Mans in '99 It was an experiment by the Mercedes race team HWA, which involved overtaking by going over competitiors instead of risking a collision by going around them This manouvre was intended to be undertaken only at the end of the Mulsanne straight Although a pre-race attempt by Australian driver Mark Webber failed, the team considered the manouvre risky but worth an in race attempt The HWA Mercedes teams aero-dynamisists had determined that the turbulance created by any car in front would create a stabilising flow of air over the CLR's preventing them from over-lifting Unfortunately the Toyota GT1 TS020 that was in front was believed to be so aerodynamiclly efficient it didn't provide sufficient disturbance of the surrounding air to stabilise the CLR This lack of stabilising air over the upper surface of the CLR caused over-rotation at the top of the cars lift height and meant the vehicle would never land at the required angle, which would have trapped a cushioning body of air under the car for a safe landing The other in-race incident was caused by a stray cricket that wandered onto the circuit and was struck but the CLR's front airdam causing it to flip uncontrollably in a display the Blue Angels would be proud of