The official Le Mans Series test, which was held at the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit on 2 and 3 march, was supposed to be the first outing of the new GT2 contender: the Laviolette GT2R.
The development of this new car was a low key effort untill the refinancing of the Spyker company was completed. Than development was put in full gear. Unfortunately, the car was not ready for the LMS test, and therefore a 2007 chassis (#098) was used for this test. Speedy Racing Team and Spyker Squadron jointly tested some new components on this car for the 2008 season as well as numerous Speedy racing Team drivers. Sadly enough, the times of the 2007 test at the same circuit were not bettered, but more bad news was on it's way...
On the second day, the Spyker was losing oil caused by engine damage. The team told Andrea Chiesa, who was at the wheel when disaster struck, to put the car on the grass. But the oil reached the rearwheels and the car spun on it's own oil, and even worse the oil came in contact with the hot exaustpipes and within seconds the car was engulfed with fire. Luckily Chiesa got out of the car in time with a smoke blackened face. The Spyker wasn't that lucky:
The fire marshals could not save her and the car burned down to the ground...
More on this subject: http://www.spykerowner.com/forum/rac...quadron-5.html
Copyright pictures: 1, 2 - unknown, 3 - Motorsport.com, 4 - Planetlemans.com - Marcel ten Caat, 5 and 6 - Richard de Klerk
The development of this new car was a low key effort untill the refinancing of the Spyker company was completed. Than development was put in full gear. Unfortunately, the car was not ready for the LMS test, and therefore a 2007 chassis (#098) was used for this test. Speedy Racing Team and Spyker Squadron jointly tested some new components on this car for the 2008 season as well as numerous Speedy racing Team drivers. Sadly enough, the times of the 2007 test at the same circuit were not bettered, but more bad news was on it's way...
On the second day, the Spyker was losing oil caused by engine damage. The team told Andrea Chiesa, who was at the wheel when disaster struck, to put the car on the grass. But the oil reached the rearwheels and the car spun on it's own oil, and even worse the oil came in contact with the hot exaustpipes and within seconds the car was engulfed with fire. Luckily Chiesa got out of the car in time with a smoke blackened face. The Spyker wasn't that lucky:
The fire marshals could not save her and the car burned down to the ground...
More on this subject: http://www.spykerowner.com/forum/rac...quadron-5.html
Copyright pictures: 1, 2 - unknown, 3 - Motorsport.com, 4 - Planetlemans.com - Marcel ten Caat, 5 and 6 - Richard de Klerk
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