Porsche - At the inaugural 1998 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, a Porsche 911 GT1-98 driven by Yannick Dalmas suffered a spectacular, high-speed backflip on the back straight. While cresting a hill at over 180 mph, the car's front end lost downforce, causing it to soar 25 feet into the air and land upside down. Mercedes - The 1999 Mercedes-Benz CLR flying accidents at the 24 Hours of Le Mans involved three separate, dramatic aerodynamic failures where the prototype race cars lifted off at high speed. Driven by design flaws, the cars somersaulted on the Mulsanne Straight and at Indianapolis, leading to Mercedes-Benz withdrawing from the race and ending its sportscar program BMW LMR V12 - The flying accident involving a BMW V12 LMR occurred during the 2000 Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta. Driver Bill Auberlen was driving the BMW V12 LMR when the car became airborne at the top of a steep rise on the back straight.