Le Mans must avoid knee-jerk changes

Allan Simonsen's sad death will undoubtedly reopen the safety debate at Le Mans. In fact, it already has: I know drivers who are talking about petitions and such like in the wake of last weekend's 24 Hours.

Yet surely now is not the time for some knee-jerk reaction. A measured approach is required at the same time as a renewed acknowledgement that the Circuit de la Sarthe is always going to be a more dangerous place than your average race track.

It has to be by its very nature. Two thirds of its length is public road and the speeds attained — both on the Mulsanne Straight and in its myriad fast corners — are so much higher than most venues these days.

Yet if the track was just any other racing circuit, would the Le Mans 24 Hours have the same mystic, appeal and cache that it does today? Of course not.

Imagine if the world's premier endurance race had moved away from the Circuit de la Sarthe. And it's not such a preposterous idea: there were real concerns at the Automobile Club de l'Ouest in the 1970s that it would be unable to keep racing on the public roads and was buying up land adjacent to the Mulsanne Straight to cover off that eventuality.

Simonsen and team-mates Christoffer Nygaard and Kristian Poulsen celebrate GTE Am pole earlier in the week © XPB

It is impossible to tell what would have happened if the event had ended up moving to somewhere like Paul Ricard or onto an elongated version of the Le Mans-Bugatti circuit. But it is unlikely that we'd still be calling the Le Mans 24 Hours the biggest motor race in the world.

The challenge of Le Mans is not just about going twice around the clock one weekend in the middle of June. An equal part of the challenge is provided by the 8.47-mile circuit.

The term "endurance classic" is bandied about with abandon by writers like me. We have the tendency to prefix any race with a bit of history that's of a suitable distance with those words. I'm sure, over the years, I've given the tag to the sportscar enduros at Le Mans, Sebring, Daytona, Spa-Francorchamps and the Nurburgring, as well those at Road Atlanta and Watkins Glen.

Yet from those classics, to my mind, the only truly great races are Le Mans and the Sebring 12 Hours, though I reckon I might one day elevate the Nurburgring 24 Hours to greatness. For the moment, though, it is very much the new kid on the block — it's only been around since 1970 for Christ's sake.

Le Mans, Sebring and the Nurburgring-Nordschleife are special tracks that represent a unique challenge in their own individual ways, one that is at odds with the modern world. Spa-Francorchamps, Road Atlanta and Watkins Glen are all good, even fantastic race circuits, but they aren't so far removed from your common-or-garden track. Remember when the Istanbul Otodrom was lauded as the new Spa?

I'm not arguing that Le Mans should remain as some kind of museum piece and that modern advances in safety should not be applied to the place. Nor has that been the case over the past quarter of a century or more: the ACO hasn't turned a blind eye to safety and has constantly evolved the circuit.

Don't forget about safety improvements at the right-hander at Indianapolis through the noughties. Nor should we forget that Tertre Rouge, the scene of poor Allan's accident, was changed in 2007 to allow for more run-off on the entry.

The tree-lined backdrop is a distinctive element of Le Mans © LAT

We don't yet know the exact cause of Simonsen's death, but there is evidence to suggest that he died because his Aston Martin struck the barrier at a point where a tree was more or less abutting up to the safety structure. Corrugated crash barriers are designed to offer a certain amount of give and, in this instance, it seems that they couldn't.

There appears to have been a tragic oversight here. Trees grow and think how much their girth has increased since the three-tier crash barriers were installed on the Mulsanne Straight for 1988.

Whether or not Simonsen's death was caused by the proximity of the trees to the barriers, their positioning at Tertre Rouge and the initial section of the Mulsanne must be re-examined. If the famous line of poplars, which once had white stripes painted on their trunks to help guide the drivers down the straight, have to come down, then so be it.

The ACO needs to examine every weapon in the modern safety armoury. That could mean the addition of more tyre barriers or perhaps the SAFER or Tecpro systems employed elsewhere around the world.

Major revisions aren't required to the layout of the track, just a continuation of the safety improvements that have been ongoing since the 1980s.

I knew one driver who wouldn't have wanted changes to the Circuit de la Sarthe and made no secret of the fact that Le Mans was his favourite circuit. His name was Allan Simonsen.