http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/68235
Le Mans organiser the ACO has vowed to make changes to the car regulations for 2009 following the number of aerial crashes that have occurred in recent months. Hideki Noda suffered the sixth aerial accident for a prototype car since March during Wednesday's qualifying session, and the ACO believes that reducing corner speeds will solve the problem.
"(Aerial accidents) are a new phenomenon, as the regulations have not changed for this year," said ACO sporting director Daniel Poissenot.
"But I think we will have a different position for next year given the urgency of this. We will examine it.
"We need to look at the performance of the cars. We want to reduce downforce, which in turn will reduce corner speeds. All aero devices on the bottom of the cars will be banned for 2009."
The organisers of the race also outlined more plans to reduce the speed of the cars over the next couple of years with further aerodynamics reductions for 2010.
Poissenot added: "We saw in qualifying a 3:18 lap (by Peugeot). We are going to restrict the performance of the cars, but we will take the race times into account as qualifying can be inaccurate.
"We will do a lot of work for 2010 over the winter, but we want stability of three or four years, so there are no bad surprises for anyone. Current cars will still be allowed, but we will work to balance their performance with the new ones."
Plans for the future regulations also include the use of energy recovery systems, and increased lateral protection for drivers to improve the safety of the cars.
Le Mans organiser the ACO has vowed to make changes to the car regulations for 2009 following the number of aerial crashes that have occurred in recent months. Hideki Noda suffered the sixth aerial accident for a prototype car since March during Wednesday's qualifying session, and the ACO believes that reducing corner speeds will solve the problem.
"(Aerial accidents) are a new phenomenon, as the regulations have not changed for this year," said ACO sporting director Daniel Poissenot.
"But I think we will have a different position for next year given the urgency of this. We will examine it.
"We need to look at the performance of the cars. We want to reduce downforce, which in turn will reduce corner speeds. All aero devices on the bottom of the cars will be banned for 2009."
The organisers of the race also outlined more plans to reduce the speed of the cars over the next couple of years with further aerodynamics reductions for 2010.
Poissenot added: "We saw in qualifying a 3:18 lap (by Peugeot). We are going to restrict the performance of the cars, but we will take the race times into account as qualifying can be inaccurate.
"We will do a lot of work for 2010 over the winter, but we want stability of three or four years, so there are no bad surprises for anyone. Current cars will still be allowed, but we will work to balance their performance with the new ones."
Plans for the future regulations also include the use of energy recovery systems, and increased lateral protection for drivers to improve the safety of the cars.