Even after modifications had been made to the Circuit de la Sarthe after 1955, Louis Hry was killed on his own just a year later. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. In the background are the pit stalls for the racers. Browse 305 le mans 1955 stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. ". Fitch explained that he only got an idea of how bad things were when he overheard a journalist friend of his reporting news that some 65 people were reported dead. The Mercedes' body was partially made of a magnesium alloy. Extricating the Dead and Dying. [14][9] As a result, the car burned for several hours. Modern race cars have fuel cells which keep fuel from spreading as it did here, and they don't use magnesium like they did then, either. Indeed, the German company withdrew from all motor racing at the end of that season and did not return until 1987. The importance of the crash is not how two cars crashed into each other. The official inquiry cleared all drivers of any fault. The car, lying on the track, was then hit by the Ferrari of, As the car was thrown off balance over the hump on the. Last edited on 19 February 2023, at 23:30, "Historic Motor Racing - historicracing.com", "Lucien Bianchi Profile - Drivers - GP Encyclopedia - F1 History on Grandprix.com", "Race Car Driver Deaths: The Medical Causes of Racing Deaths w Examples", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_24_Hours_of_Le_Mans_fatalities&oldid=1140404005, Guilbert was making his way to the circuit during the morning of the race in his Ravel, a car designed by. The wreckage was examined and tested and, finally, returned to Mercedes-Benz nearly 12 months after the catastrophe. Fast forward two hours and 26 minutes later, and disaster struck. Le Mans, France: The wreckage of the death car and bodies of some of the victims felled by the explosion on Saturday. [8] Coming out of the Maison Blanche portion of the course, he rapidly caught Lance Macklin in his Austin Healey 100S, who had seen him and moved over to the right to let him pass. Life reported that it was days before drivers put together exactly what happened and the public at large learned the gravity of the crash. They suggested that Mercedes-Benz had tampered with the official fuel-supply with an explosive additive, but the intensity of the fire was due instead to the magnesium-alloy construction of the chassis. During preliminary tests on a wet track on Saturday morning, April 2, 1966 he lost control and drove down an escape road. Simplifiez votre flux de travail avec notre systme de gestion des fichiers numriques. [2] Marius Mestivier was the first race fatality, occurring only a few hours after Guilbert's death. Showing Editorial results for le mans 1955. Catastrophe aux 24 heures du Mans en 1955 (France 3 Ouest, 2008), Apokalypse in Le Mans Das Rennen in den Tod (2010), Deadliest Crash: the Le Mans 1955 Disaster (Programme Website), "Crash and carnage at 150 mph This is how the worst racing accident happened", "1955 24 Hours of Le Mans - History, Profile, Information and Photos", "Mike Hawthorn & the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans: The Cause and the Effect", "BBC Four - The Deadliest Crash: the Le Mans 1955 Disaster", "1956 Sebring 12 Hours Grand Prix - Race Photos, History, Profile", "Switzerland Officially Lifts 67-Year Ban On Circuit Racing", "Sir Jackie Stewart and Halo: No stranger to F1 safety ridicule", "Historic Austin-Healey car in Le Mans disaster to fetch '1m at auction", "1953 Austin-Healey has been restored to its former glory", Le Mans 1955 from The Mike Hawthorn Tribute Site, Newsreel footage of the 1955 race and crash, Life Magazine report of the 1955 Le Mans Disaster, 1955 Le Mans Disaster depicted and analyzed in depth by a witness (currently available only in French), Deadliest Crash: The Le Mans 1955 Disaster, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1955_Le_Mans_disaster&oldid=1142738568, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2017, Articles with French-language sources (fr), Wikipedia articles needing clarification from March 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, that if the huge crowd of spectators had tried to leave, that firms participating in the race could have sued the race organizers for huge sums of money, that "the rough law of sport dictates that the race shall go on"; Faroux specifically pointing to the, that he did not, in fact, have the authority to stop the race at all, and that, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 02:57. Much recrimination was directed at Hawthorn, saying that he had suddenly cut in front of Macklin and slammed on the brakes near the entrance to the pits, forcing Macklin to take desperate evasive action into the path of Levegh. In 1957, D-Types were placed 1-2-3-4-6, with only a solitary Ferrari in 5th spoiling the parade. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. Three drivers were involved in the incident: Mike Hawthorne (Jaguar D Type), Lance Macklin (Austin Healey 100s), and Pierre Levegh (Mercedes 300SLR). Levegh crashed into the back of the Austin-Healey. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The 1955 Le Mans disaster occurred during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race, when a crash caused large fragments of racing car debris to fly into the crowd. The Ferraris, current champions at the time, were very fast but fragile and prone to mechanical failure. Shortly before he died, he wrote of the race: "It was as though we were at the point where a great rock had been hurled into a pond, sending out waves of shock and horror and indignation which would later flow back, bringing consequences which no one could foresee. He took the racing name Pierre Levegh [lvk] in memory of his uncle, a pioneering driver who died in 1904. Macklin swerved out from behind the slowing Jaguar into the path of Levegh, who was passing on the left in his much faster Elektron magnesium-alloy bodied Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. There was the inevitable finger-pointing as to whose fault this event was, but everyone was absolved of blame after a thorough investigation. "[16] Spectators who had climbed onto ladders and scaffolding to get a better view of the track, and those crowding to use the underpass to get to the pits, found themselves in the path of the lethal debris. Macklin claimed that Hawthorns move to the pits was sudden, causing an emergency that led him to swerve into Leveghs path. The Lola was completely destroyed, debris from the car were all around the forest, Bonnier had been killed upon impact. Levegh would die before sunset. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. It was only ten years after the end of WWII, and dead bodies in the French countryside was fresh in everyone's memory. Hawthorn!")[28][3]. France kept the ban until they they made safety improvements to the tracks, such as breaking down the grandstands at the crash site. The dead and dying were everywhere; the cries of pain, anguish, and despair screamed catastrophe. Pierre Levegh, in a Mercedes Benz, was next on the scene. At a gathering for his 92nd birthday, Mercedes driver John Fitch explained just how little the drivers knew. A large tree behind the Armco has been considered to be an integral part of the impact, causing an aortal separation in the driver's chest. The car landed on the earthen embankment between the spectators and the track, bounced, then slammed into a concrete stairwell structure and disintegrated. Dveloppez votre marque de manire authentique en partageant son contenu avec tous les crateurs Internet. Hawthorn and Bueb won the race by a margin of five laps from Aston Martin. 24 Hours du Mans (in French), held at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Northern France, a 24 hours' endurance-focused sports car race that started in 1923. World Sports Car Championship.During the race, Pierre Levegh crashed into a crowd of spectators, killing 84 (including himself) and injuring 120 in the deadliest accident in motor racing history. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is safer, much safer, than it was in 1955, but it is still a deadly track. Pierre Eugne Alfred Bouillin (22 December 1905 - 11 June 1955) was a French sportsman and racing driver. [2] Sixteen during the race itself, five during pre-race practice and testing sessions, and one en route to the race. The behemoths of sports racing all featured their sports cars with their respective drivers for another car racing festival. In picture, car numbered '17' (Equipe Los Amigos, XKD 513, 'short-nose') was third at Le Mans in 1957. "He pulled across in front of me, and then I remember being surprised to see his brake lights come on. On the 11th of June 1955, about 300,000 spectators gathered at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Northern France for another endurance car race event. When the rest of Levegh's car landed on the embankment, the rear-mounted fuel tank exploded. With Levegh dead, Macklin presumed that Hawthorn's implication was that he (Macklin) had been responsible, and he began a libel action. Also, there is the small matter of unconventional circuits, which unlike other competition which is held on private roads (which are consistently maintained), the Le Mans were held on long stretches of a public highway. Select from premium Le Mans Disaster of the highest quality. 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A special mass was held in the morning in the Le Mans Cathedral for the first funerals of the victims. (AP Photo/Jacques Marqueton), Spectators flee the searing flames of a smashed Mercedes racing car after an accident at Le Mans, France, endurance race which killed more than 80 persons, June 11, 1955. This was indeed one of the most terrible accidents in the early decades of motorsports. Instead it pointed the finger of blame at the track layout which was deemed unsuitable for such high- speed racing. In picture, shown on Finishing Straight, car numbered '25' (Jaguar Works, XKD 605, 'long-nose') was 6th at Le Mans in 1956. As a contemporary issue of LIFE states, it was to signal to Fangio behind him to slow down. "It's a most extraordinary sensation," Macklin said when recalling an incident that spun his car around and sent it skittling down the track backward. "I believe he wanted to turn the car over at his stop, still in the lead. 2023 Getty Images. It was Hawthorn's Jaguar that started the whole incident, after all.
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