During the first lap of Haller's stint (and his second participation) at 9 pm, his, Near the end of his driving stint and half an hour after the green flag came out, the Rondeau of Lafosse, who was lying in seventh place at 5:03 pm, was approaching the Lola T600 of, At 12:40 pm, part of the rear bodywork of Enjolras's WM came loose at Arnage, causing the car to go airborne over the safety barriers. The pieces of the Mercedes ripped through the crowd, crushing and decapitating. An initial news report claims 82 spectators killed, some decapitated by a flying hood "like a guillotine." They argued that if the accident was announced, panic might sweep through the spectators and flood the streets, and that will make crowd control extreme and might have made rescue efforts very difficult. In total, two drivers died in the 1920s, another two in the 1930s, one in the 1940s, five in the 1950s, six in the 1960s, two in the 1970s, two in the 1980s, one in the 1990s, none in the 2000s, and one in the 2010s. 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. Last year, Aston Martin GT driver Allan Simonsen died when he crashed into an insufficiently protected tree. The 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 23rd 24 Hours of Le Mans and took place on 11 and 12 June 1955 on Circuit de la Sarthe.It was also the fourth round of the F.I.A. Here, a man holds the body of a child. [25][26] Their retirement was briefly announced over the public address system. We may earn a commission from links on this page. "[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. Just behind Hawthorn was a much slower Austin-Healey, actually a lap down on Hawthorn. Hawthorn and Bueb won the race by an easy margin of five laps from Aston Martin. [39], Fitch became a major safety advocate and began active development of safer road cars and racing circuits. By year [ edit] References [ edit] ^ a b 24 FACTS ABOUT LE MANS' 24 HOURS A special Mass was held in the morning in the Le Mans Cathedral for the first funerals of the victims. This was indeed one of the most terrible accidents in the early decades of motorsports. Here he is, still in his car after crossing the finish line, reaching up for a kiss from a local girl. Neubauer limited himself to suggesting improvements to the pit straight and making pit-stops safer. Look at how dense the crowd was. The French magazine L'Auto-Journal published it with the sarcastic caption, " votre sant, Monsieur Hawthorn!" These were the days of patriots racing Red, Blue, Green, White and Silver cars for the national glory of their country. 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. Browse 63 1955 le mans disaster stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Your brain acts so fast you can see everything, and I can remember as I was spinning I saw the timekeepers watching me from their booth. On the one hand: worst accident in autoracing so far, with one dead pilot and about 80 dead spectators. The media also speculated on the violent fire that engulfed the wreck, which intensified when fire marshals poured their water-based extinguishers on the flames. Macklin, on reading Hawthorns 1958 autobiography, Challenge Me the Race, was embittered when he found that Hawthorn now disclaimed all responsibility for the crash without identifying who had caused it. It commemorates the deadliest accident in motorsport history, which took place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race on June 11, 1955. . Le Mans, France: Rescue workers pursue the grim task of extricating . In total, two drivers died in the 1920s, another two in the 1930s, one in the 1940s, five in the 1950s, six in the 1960s, two in the 1970s, two in the 1980s, one in the 1990s, none in the 2000s, and one in the 2010s. In picture, shown on Finishing Straight, car numbered '25' (Jaguar Works, XKD 605, 'long-nose') was 6th at Le Mans in 1956. "He pulled across in front of me, and then I remember being surprised to see his brake lights come on. Its sloping back acted like a ramp for Levegh's Mercedes, however, which flew into the air. He lost control of the car three hours later in the early morning whilst approaching the Arnage esses and veered off the track on the left side and collided with an oak tree, killing the driver almost instantly with massive head and chest injuries. I've seen many shots of the '55 disaster, but never all of them in one place outside of the AP archives. Browse 265 le mans 1955 stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. They saw the whole catastrophe unfold. Aside from two layout changes to make the circuit shorter, the Circuit de la Sarthe was largely unaltered since the inception of the race in 1923, when top speeds of cars were typically in the region of 100km/h (60mph). One British race report praised the variety of the field representing "a United Nations of motor racing." Macklin claimed that Hawthorns move to the pits was sudden, causing an emergency that led him to swerve into Leveghs path. With the Mercedes team withdrawn and the Ferraris all out of commission, Jaguar's main competition had gone. The healthy carry bodies away from the wreckage. France in particular, as the host of Le Mans, lifted their complete ban on 14 September 1955. Documentary about the 1955 Le Mans 24-hour race in which Pierre Levegh's Mercedes went into the crowd killing 83 and injuring 120, the worst disaster in motor racing history. Bueb in particular was very reluctant, but given Hawthorn's condition had no choice, as Dewis firmly pointed out to him.[3]. Le Mans, France: The wreckage of the death car and bodies of some of the victims felled by the explosion on Saturday. - 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. Bodies were strewn throughout the stands The majority of the dead were French, with the numbers injured running into the hundreds. French magazin L'Auto-Journal published the image with the sarcastic laden caption, votre sant, Monsieur Hawthorn. ("To your health, Mr Hawthorn."). One spectator actually recorded the crash head-on. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. Bianchi decided to start early as organisers were speculating a wet session later in the day. The French magazine LAuto-Journal published it with the sarcastic caption, votre sant, Monsieur Hawthorn! (In English, To your health (Cheers), Mr. Hawthorn!). Copyright 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes, 40 Amazing Photos of 17th and 18th Century Buildings in Eastern Massachusetts, Historys Oldest Color Photos Show How The World Looked Like A Century Ago, Jean Harlow in Publicity Portraits for Hells Angels, Taken Late 1929. 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 grandstand was demolished and rebuilt with new spectator terraces and a wide ditch between them and the racetrack. "I felt the heat of his exhaust as he went by me, no more than three feet over my shoulder. [Warning: graphic content]. The driver (Pierre Levegh) was killed, as were 83 spectators. Le Mans, France: The wreckage of the death car and bodies of some of the victims felled by the explosion on Saturday. The Ferraris, current champions at the time, were very fast but fragile and prone to mechanical failure. Eighty-three spectators and driver Pierre Levegh died and 120 more were injured in the most catastrophic accident in motorsport history. It became part of the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012 after previous stints in the Sportscar Championship and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Levegh had no time to evade, and with possibly his last action, raised his hand, warning Fangio, thereby probably saving Fangio's life. [25][16][29][3] It has remained the most catastrophic crash in motorsport history. 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. 2023 Getty Images. That was the exact number of spectators killed during the Le Mans disaster. 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. The cars had no seat belts; the drivers reasoned that it was preferable to be thrown clear in a collision rather than be crushed or trapped in a burning car. It might have been the case that determined who was at fault once and for all, but Hawthorn died before the case could be resolved. Macklin's car hit the unprotected pit-wall, just short of the Cunningham and Mercedes-Benz pits where Shell and Lockheed equipment were stationed, running down a policeman, a photographer and two officials (all seriously injured), then rebounded back across the track again to end up skating down the left-side fence for a second time. [15] The initial media accounts were wildly inaccurate, as shown by subsequent analysis of photographic evidence conducted by Road & Track editor (and 1955 second-place finisher) Paul Frre in 1975. The pits and grandstands had been reconstructed, but there were no barriers between the pit lane and the racing line, and only a 4ft (1.2m) earthen bank between the track and the spectators. When he pit stopped during the next lap, he staggered out of the car completely distraught, adamant that he had caused the catastrophe. Fifty-nine years ago, the 1955 Le Mans 24-hour race started like any other. There were two key factors regarding the track layout at that time first, there was no designated deceleration lane for cars coming into the pits, and second, that just before the main straight, there was a very slight right-hand kink in the road just after which Hawthorn started braking. [32][33] In 2015, the ban was relaxed for electric vehicles only, such as cars involved in Formula E electric racing. Macklin is startled at not having the more technologically advanced disc brakes as the Jaguar, which leads him to move to the right, kicking up dirt before veering towards the center of the track. [36] Tertre Rouge was moved about 200m and new tyre barriers were installed at the exit in 2014. Hawthorn retired from motorsport soon after but was ironically killed when overtaking a Mercedes on a slippery road near his Surrey home in 1959. During trials the veteran. Meanwhile, Macklin's car, heavily damaged, rammed the left-side barrier, then veered to the right of the track into the pit lane, narrowly missing Kling's Mercedes-Benz, Roberto Mieres's Maserati, and Don Beauman's Jaguar, all of which were already in the pits refuelling before the accident. In 1955 Mercedes offered Levegh the opportunity to race with John Fitch in their 300SLR sports car. 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. The next round of the World Sportscar Championship at the Nrburgring was cancelled, as was the non-championship Carrera Panamericana. With the Mercedes-Benz team withdrawn and the Ferraris all broken, Jaguars main competition had gone. Le Mans, France: Rescue workers pursue the grim task of extricating . It's important to look at why so many people died that medical attention was so poor, that the Mercedes so easily split into multiple parts and sprayed out its fuel, that the crowd was so poorly protected. Search instead in Creative? Organisez, contrlez, distribuez et mesurez tous vos contenus digitaux. There was the inevitable finger-pointing as to whose fault this event was, but everyone was absolved of blame after a thorough investigation. Registered in Ireland: 523712. [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. In the current world of social distancing, it is hard to imagine the crowd of spectators who had squeezed into Le Mans on the afternoon of June 11, 1955. An estimated attendance of between 250,000 and 300,000 crammed together to witness one of the most spectacular driver line ups ever assembled to contest the venue's iconic 24-Hour race. [25], Opinions differed widely amongst the other drivers as to who was directly to blame for the crash, and such differences remain even today. In all, a total of 22 drivers have died in and around the Circuit de la Sarthe,[1] with more than half occurring along the circuit's Mulsanne Straight. [25][3] Tony Rolt and other drivers had been raising concerns about the pit straight since 1953. NOJ393 after its restoration by Steve Pike and before its sale at auction by Bonhams. The 300 SLR featured a body made of an ultra-lightweight magnesium alloy called Elektron. . All he did was turn in abruptly. The Worst Accident in Motorsports History (1955 Le Mans Disaster) - YouTube 0:00 / 2:27 Sign in to confirm your age This video may be inappropriate for some users. The action was still unresolved when Hawthorn was killed in a non-racing crash on the Guildford bypass in 1959, coincidentally while overtaking a Mercedes-Benz in his Jaguar. So what are we, in 2014, left with? What stands out in these pictures is the confusion. Mike-Hawthorn.org.uk hosts right here a 1993 report on the race, and includes a comment from 'Lofty' England, the Jaguar team boss. (AP Photo), 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.