[chernaudi]

LMP1 diesels have had 680mm diameter tires since the first days of the Audi R10, so they've had the taller tires for a while.

In the R18, the drivers sit lower in the car than in the earlier open cars to have a lower roofline. The windscreen seems to be wider than the 908, but that could be the effect of if appearing "squished" because of the anti-glare strip on the upper section and it being curved more than the 908's.

If there's a way for the drivers to sit higher in the R18 without huge modifications to the tub, that might cure the issues at least to an extent. The taller tires have been around for quite a while, but the drivers have never had a roof over their heads, a smallish windscreen, a lower sitting position, and tires and wheels about 1 inch or so wider than on the previous open cars.

Also, McNish wrote a piece for his website and was also posted on Speed.com. In it, he doesn't blame Bell for the incident, and he doesn't see the logic in him being penalized and thought that a one minute stop and hold was definitely excessive. Allan also talked about the incident with Rob, and Rob said that he couldn't see Allan because the Ferrari's rear view camera had a blindspot where Allan was. If Rob knew that Allan was there, he'd have stayed off to the side.

I will say this, if the vision out of the R18 or the new 908 isn't anything to write home about, the vision out of most GT cars has to be equally as appalling, especially on mid engined cars. And the seat's head/neck protection and the HANS doesn't help much, either.

It seems that as long as car designers are pushing for performance and onboard safety equipment, incidents like this will happen. And there enters a question of how safe may be "too" safe, as far as being protected in an accident as opposed to not getting into one in the first place? There has to be a balance somewhere without entailing excessive compromise on either count.