Flying
Le Mans Exit for AD Group's CEO Captured on Transvu Mobile CCTV System
Dramatic
in-car CCTV footage from the famous Le Mans 24 Hours race, which has just
been released, demonstrates vividly the moment when AD Group CEO, and
founder of Dedicated Micros, Mike Newton's challenge in the 2008 event
came to an abrupt end as his car left the track and took flight at 270
kph.
Mike Newton, who already has two class wins at Le Mans to his name, had
been driving the powerful RML MG Lola EX264 race car for nearly an hour
- after taking over from his co-driver Brazilian Tommy Erdos - when, 8
hours into the gruelling 24 hour race, disaster struck as he came into
the famous Porsche Curves.
His approach to the sweeping curve was nothing unusual, but the result
was. The car snapped suddenly to the right, side-on to the direction of
travel, and as the air pressure built up under the edge, the car lifted
clear of the ground. It kept on rising, and revolving. ‘I can recall
looking across, and seeing the ground coming in towards me,’ said
Mike Newton, later. Almost at the point when the car was upside down,
the front corner dug in, spinning the car violently back the other way,
until the left rear hit the ground in turn. The car bucked again before
finally settling back on its wheels. Miraculously, Mike was able to bring
the MG slowly back to the pitlane and into the garage.
Thanks to AD Group's CCTV recording technology, installed in the MG Lola
in the form of a racing variant of the award-winning TransVu - the RML
X-PRO Recorder - Mike was able to show Phil Barker, RML Team Manager,
exactly what the car - and driver - had just experienced with the recorded
images linked to all-important telemetry data.
This assisted Barker in directing the team to focus the repair work on
the areas of impact and subsequent damage as the RML pit crew stripped
down the MG and then put it all back together again.
The frantic efforts of the team were also captured in High Definition
thanks to a CamVu 2000 megapixel IP camera and an associated DV-IP HD
unit which was used for storage and replay of the images. Both pieces
of equipment were fitted to Dedicated Micros’ new Demonstration Vehicle
which proved to be an invaluable resource throughout the race weekend,
giving European customers hands-on experience of the company's latest
CCTV solutions. As well as being available in the Demonstration Vehicle,
the High Definition footage of the MG Lola repairs were also streamed
to the corporate hospitality area so guests could have a close-up view
of events as they happened.
Back to the race, when third driver Andy Wallace took the MG Lola EX264
out again he reported problems with the handling and it was soon apparent
that there was additional underlying damage. The team also faced a second
dilemma. In order to achieve a classified finish a car must complete 70%
of the winning car's distance, and time was running out. At 1:58 am on
Sunday morning the decision was reached that the team had done as much
as was humanly possible and the race was over for another year.
With a chance to reflect on the weekend's events, the RML team were certainly
impressed that the ruggedised mobile DVR had been able to survive Mike's
spectacular crash unscathed. The resulting in-car footage took the breath
away of all who saw it in the control room and left Mike Newton pondering
on his lucky escape.
Mike will now have a two month break from motorsport to recuperate before
taking part in the 4th round of the Le Mans Series at Nurburgring in Germany.
For more information on AD Group please visit http://www.ad-group.co.uk,
for TransVu see http://www.transvu.co.uk.For
details on AD Group's involvement in the 2008 Le Mans Series, and corporate
hospitality opportunities, please visit http://www.ad-motorsport.com.
In-depth coverage of events on the track - from qualifying to the race
itself - can be found at http://www.mg-lola.com
