The other team cars were being kept on tighter leashes to conserve the cars, but still racing in the top ten. (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. [36] Tertre Rouge was moved about 200m and new tyre barriers were installed at the exit in 2014. Showing Editorial results for le mans 1955. Other observers estimated the toll to be much higher. The race authorities never called the race off. During trials the veteran. Levegh's Mercedes flipped into the air and struck the sandbank at the side of the track. The shadow of World War Two crept over the race. Neubauer limited himself to suggesting improvements to the pit straight and making pit-stops safer. Only two cars were involved in the disaster. Even at the scene, it doesn't look like anyone knows what's going on. He wrote a book saying so, and Macklin then sued Hawthorn for libel. "I felt the heat of his exhaust as he went by me, no more than three feet over my shoulder. "The man was not injured by the flying debris, but his son was killed. But it's wrong to try and point fingers. Macklin claimed that Hawthorn's move to the pits was sudden, causing an emergency that led him to swerve into Levegh's path. Another 120 were "maimed," according to current writing, though initial news stories estimated around 70. . That said, the circuit had been resurfaced and widened after the Second World War. Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, and Mike Hawthorn were household names in the fifties with the marquee manufacturers of Ferrari, Jaguar along with Mercedes Benz all throwing resources at claiming the crown. One of the major news stories after the 1955 Le Mans disaster was the retirement of Mercedes-Benz from future races. It decided that auto racing detracted from its primary goals, and the United States Automobile Club was formed to take over the race sanctioning and officiating. RELATED: These Le Mans Racers Dominated The Worlds Most Famous Race. (AP Photo/Jimmy Prickett), A few of the living come to the rescue among the dead and injured following the worst tragedy in racing history at Le mans, France, June 11, 1955. In 1957, D-Types were placed 1-2-3-4-6, with only a solitary Ferrari in 5th spoiling the parade. Macklin, who also braked hard, ran off the right-hand edge of the track, throwing up dust. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. With his eyes shut, Fangio with his own quick reflexes squeezed through the carnage and brushed Hawthorn's then-stationary Jaguar in the pits, allowing him to pass unscathed. ". Le Mans, France: The wreckage of the death car and bodies . This race report shows the crash, though the video is curiously backwards. Browse 312 le mans 1955 stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Your email address will not be published. 2023 Getty Images. It exploded like a grenade spewing debris through the grandstand, killing anyone within the blast radius. Showing Editorial results for le mans 1955. Chief engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut had gone to the Jaguar pits to ask if the Jaguar team would respond in kind, out of respect for the crash victims. There was great anticipation for the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, as Ferrari, Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz had all won the race previously and all three automakers had arrived with new and improved cars. Levegh died in the 1955 Le Mans disaster which also killed 83 spectators during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans automobile race. Despite expectations for the race to be red-flagged and stopped entirely, race officials, led by race director Charles Faroux, kept the race running. Sign in The Worst Accident in. Fangio never raced at Le Mans again. He had just lapped Levegh (running sixth) after Arnage (one of the corners of the race track) and was determined to keep Fangio at bay as long as possible. Police managed to drag the Austin-Healey to the other side of the track. It commemorates the deadliest accident in motorsport history, which took place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race on June 11, 1955. Other observers estimated the toll to be much higher. 0. Life reported that it was days before drivers put together exactly what happened and the public at large learned the gravity of the crash. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is safer, much safer, than it was in 1955, but it is still a deadly track. With Levegh dead, Macklin presumed that Hawthorn's implication was that he (Macklin) had been responsible, and he began a libel action. In terms of human toll, it is the most catastrophic accident in motorsports history. The 1955 Le Mans disaster occurred during the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race at Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France on June 11, 1955. The Jaguar boss didn't have to report back to the factory, and when Mercedes came up to him to say they weren't going to finish the race, they asked if he would too. 1950s, accident & disaster, event & history, footage & video, france, Le Mans, sports, vehicles [15][8] The Jaguar team in turn questioned the fitness and competence of Macklin and Levegh as drivers. As Macklin cut towards the middle of the track, Pierre Levegh, a Mercedes-Benz driver, was approaching at a speed of close to 150 mph; Macklin's car acted as a speed ramp for Pierre catapulting the car towards the spectators. The crash happened only a few hours into the race, just as the leaders started making their first pit stops. Everything started when Hawthorn in his Jaguar cut in for the pits. This newsreel without sound shows the crash as it actually happened. It's easy to find reports of the crash today that talk about how desensitized the public was to the crash. I am including all of his pictures preserved by the AP, as well as all of the photographs taken by the AP itself. Eighty-three spectators and driver Pierre Levegh died and 120 more were injured in the most catastrophic accident in motorsport history. The French magazine LAuto-Journal published it with the sarcastic caption, votre sant, Monsieur Hawthorn! (In English, To your health (Cheers), Mr. Hawthorn!). The deadliest crash ever in motor sports history happened in Le Mans, France, on June 12, 1955. French Memorial Site. 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. Most spectators at the race were still oblivious to the accident that just happened. Maybe that's what makes these pictures still so very chilling. They included: After an emergency meeting and vote of Mercedes-Benz company directors by telephone in Stuttgart, West Germany, Neubauer finally got the call approving his team's withdrawal just before midnight. That was my first thought. Indeed, the German company withdrew from all motor racing at the end of that season and did not return until 1987. Levegh crashed into the back of the Austin-Healey. It was Hawthorn's Jaguar that started the whole incident, after all. But after Hawthorne makes the move, he suddenly decides to cut right and breaks very hard to enter his pit area. This is a list of 24 Hours of Le Mans fatal accidents, which consists of all the drivers who have died during a 24 Hours of Le Mans weekend, or in pre-race testing or practice sessions in preparation of the event. [citation needed], Over the next year, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) set about making extensive track improvements and infrastructure changes at the Circuit de la Sarthethe pit straight was redesigned and widened to remove the kink just before the start-finish line, and to give room for a deceleration lane. [14] Half an hour after the crash Fitch realised that news was probably being broadcast on the radio, and he needed to telephone his family to reassure them that he was not the driver of the crashed car. 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. Large pieces of debris, including the Mercedes' engine block, radiator, front suspension, and bonnet (hood), were sent flying into the packed spectator area in front of the grandstand. [36], The official government inquiry into the accident called officials, drivers, and team personnel to be questioned and give evidence. There was the inevitable finger-pointing as to whose fault this event was, but everyone was absolved of blame after a thorough investigation. Just as the race was having the average pedestrian pace for a car race, there was an accident that changed the cause of motorsports history. What stands out in these pictures is the confusion. "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. [14][15], Levegh's front-right wheel rode up onto the rear-left corner of Macklin's car, which acted as a ramp and launched Levegh's car into the air, flying over spectators and rolling end over end for 80 metres (260ft). The cars continued to zoom around the massive 8.383-mile circuit as emergency morgues were set up and ambulances ferried the walking wounded to hospitals. In other racing events where a car's ability is based on how fast it moves and in record time, this is a test of car reliability. In its silence, you sense the horror of what's being recorded. Here, a man holds the body of a child. Cole was thrown from the car and died at the scene. Being 98 years old, it is the oldest endurance racing event. Extricating the Dead and Dying. 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. The death toll led to an immediate temporary ban on motorsports in France, Spain, Switzerland, West Germany, and other nations, until racetracks could be brought to a higher safety standard. My instant reaction when he did it was, 'Bloody Mike Hawthorn, he must be out of his mind!' There is no question that racing cars today are almost infinitely safer than those of 1955. The body fell one way, the engine broke free and shot off, and the hood and front axle flew further. . Mercedes-Benz won both of these events, and was able to secure the constructors championship for the season. Hawthorn retired from motorsport soon after but was ironically killed when overtaking a Mercedes on a slippery road near his Surrey home in 1959. It became part of the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012 after previous stints in the Sportscar Championship and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. You can see a man here, his arms outstretched in shock. Tony Rolt and other drivers had been raising concerns about the pit straight since 1953. Extricating the Dead and Dying. The importance of the crash is not how two cars crashed into each other. [3], Both Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz issued official statements, mainly in self-defense against the accusations leveled against them and their drivers. Pierre Levegh, in a Mercedes Benz, was next on the scene. The 1955 Le Mans disaster of 11th June 1955 during the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race at Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, Sarthe, France. They saw the whole catastrophe unfold. A reporter for Life magazine recounted that: the Mercedes took off like a rocket, struck the embankment beside the track, hurtled end over end and then disintegrated over the crowd. Life in Harlem in 1970 Photographed by Jack Garofalo, The Burning Monk: The Story Behind the Shocking and Iconic Image of Thich Quang Duc Immolating Himself on a Saigon Street, 1963. [31] In contrast, Switzerland's ban, which also extended to the running of timed motorsports such as hillclimbs, was not quickly lifted. 1955 Le Mans Disaster killed 84 people plus nearly 180 injuries when a driver slowed to make a pit stop causing the cars around him to serve. The Ferraris, current champions at the time, were very fast but fragile and prone to mechanical failure. "Then there was a hell of a bang like a bomb had hit.". With the Mercedes-Benz team withdrawn and the Ferraris all broken, Jaguars main competition had gone. Eighty-four. These big wigs included Ferrari, Jaguar, and Mercedes Benz, who were past winners of the competition. The only people on and around the podium that day who had mixed emotions at the race end were either race officials who were trying (and failing) to put on a faade for the camera and were grateful for an end to a disastrous race or other workers at the Le Mans circuit who had no stake in the race. Browse 265 le mans 1955 stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. During preliminary tests on a wet track on Saturday morning, April 2, 1966 he lost control and drove down an escape road. The horror of the crash caused some drivers present, including Americans Fitch (after completing the season with Mercedes), Phil Walters (who had been offered a drive with Ferrari for the rest of the season[2]), and Sherwood Johnston, to retire from racing. A single accident that caused death and destruction on an unprecedented scale. Norman Dewis ventured the opinions that Macklins move around Hawthorn was careless and that Levegh was not competent to meet the demands of driving at the speeds the 300SLR was capable of. Paul Frere - It is completely clear from these photographs that Hawthorn did not make a sudden-brake-and-pull-sharp-right manoeuvre only a short distance from the pits Tony Bailey No use without acknowledgement Plagiarism of this site will NOT be tolerated Home Home 312 Le Mans 1955 Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images EDITORIAL All Sports Entertainment News Archival Browse 312 le mans 1955 stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images.
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