The images may be black and white but even the faded frames of a tragedy 65 years ago still pack a powerful punch. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options await you. Accdez au meilleur de Getty Images avec un simple abonnement. The race authorities never called the race off. Behind these fleeing spectators is the scene where many were killed when hit by flying pieces of the racer which exploded after crashing into a retaining wall. Mercedes team manager Alfred Neubauer assembled a multinational team for the race: pairing his two best drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss in the lead car, 1952 race-winner Karl Kling with Frenchman Andr Simon (both also in the current F1 team) and American John Fitch with one of the elder statesmen of French motor-racing, Pierre Levegh. Flying metal following the explosion killed some 80 and injured many spectators. Macklin also decided to retire after being involved in another fatal crash, during the 1955 RAC Tourist Trophy race at Dundrod Circuit. Levegh crashed into the back of the Austin-Healey. Fifty-nine years ago, the 1955 Le Mans 24-hour race started like any other. 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. Collect, curate and comment on your files. The importance of the crash is not how two cars crashed into each other. 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 images may be black and white but even the faded frames of a tragedy 65 years ago still pack a powerful punch. But you quickly start to see people running towards the smoldering wreck, hoping to rescue anyone still alive. Rassembler, slectionner et commenter vos fichiers. In the United States, the American Automobile Association (AAA) dissolved their Contest Board that had been the primary sanctioning body for motorsport in the U.S. (including the Indianapolis 500) since 1904. 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. (AP Photo/Jimmy Prickett). - Levegh had no time to evade, and with possibly his last action, raised his hand, warning Fangio, thereby probably saving Fangio's life. One marshal tried to douse the burning wreckage with water and sent huge bursts of white hot fire into the crowd, killing more as this recent history explains. June 11, 1955: 83 People Were Killed at the Le Mans 24 Hour Race. It's The behemoths of sports racing all featured their sports cars with their respective drivers for another car racing festival. When Mercedes pulled out, they approached the Jaguar team. Showing Editorial results for le mans 1955. Registered in Ireland: 523712. Mike Hawthorn celebrating the 1955 Le Mans victory despite causing the deadliest accident in history of racing. In 1969, it was bought for 155 (equivalent to 2,714 in 2021). It was Hawthorn's Jaguar that started the whole incident, after all. [15][8] The Jaguar team in turn questioned the fitness and competence of Macklin and Levegh as drivers. My instant reaction when he did it was, 'Bloody Mike Hawthorn, he must be out of his mind!' Life reported that it was days before drivers put together exactly what happened and the public at large learned the gravity of the crash. An American soldier at the race, Jimmy Prickett, was at the scene and took pictures immediately following the crash. The dead and dying were everywhere; the cries of pain, anguish, and despair screamed catastrophe. 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. It ended with the usual champagne, as well. After his victory, Hawthorn celebrated with champagne. 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. Even at the scene, it doesn't look like anyone knows what's going on. Even then, it took hours for that Mercedes boss to reach his superiors and get their approval to withdraw their cars. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. Cole was killed when his Ferrari left the road, impacting one of several farm houses lining the road at Maison Blanche. The crash started when Jaguar driver Mike Hawthorn pulled to the right side of the track in front of Austin-Healey driver Lance Macklin and started braking for his pit stop. [3], The 1955 race began at 4pm on Saturday, and, as predicted, the lead cars of Eugenio Castellotti (Ferrari), Hawthorn (Jaguar), and Fangio (Mercedes-Benz) were at the head of the field in the first hour. Neubauer limited himself to suggesting improvements to the pit straight and making pit-stops safer. When he finally made it into the pits again, past what was then the scene of the crash, tears were streaming down his face. Both Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz issued official statements, mainly in self-defense against the accusations leveled against them and their drivers. Hawthorn retired from motorsport soon after but was ironically killed when overtaking a Mercedes on a slippery road near his Surrey home in 1959. [14] Levegh's lifeless body, severely burned, lay in full view on the pavement until a gendarme hauled down a banner to cover it. 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. He recalled: "The scene on the other side of the road was indescribable. . "He pulled across in front of me, and then I remember being surprised to see his brake lights come on. In the history of racing disasters, the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans tragedy still exists in a category of . The Jaguar team in turn questioned the fitness and competence of Macklin and Levegh as drivers. The body fell one way, the engine broke free and shot off, and the hood and front axle flew further. '"[6][7] The lap before, Hawthorn's pit crew had signalled for him to come in the next lap. The fuel fire raised the temperature of the remaining Elektron bodywork past its ignition temperature, which was lower than that of other metal alloys due to its high magnesium content. Le Mans, France: Rescue workers pursue the grim task of . Levegh was killed outright as he was flung from the car and thrown onto the track. 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. The other team cars were being kept on tighter leashes to conserve the cars, but still racing in the top ten. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. Browse 305 le mans 1955 stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. 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. Le Mans, France: The wreckage of the death car and bodies of some of the victims felled by the explosion on Saturday. The Austin-Healey spun into the wall, killing one spectator but leaving its driver unharmed. Browse 63 1955 le mans disaster stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Here you can see the damage it took and how it could've acted like a ramp. On the one hand: worst accident in autoracing so far, with one dead pilot and about 80 dead spectators. . The investigation zeroed in on Hawthorns attempt to overtake British driver Lance Macklins Austin Healey and a sudden catastrophic decision to pit. A special mass was held in the morning in the Le Mans Cathedral for the first funerals of the victims. Large pieces of debris flew into the crowd, killing 83 spectators and French driver Pierre Levegh, and injuring nearly 180 more. 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. 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). The investigations and reviews of the accident continued for a year and a half afterwards. 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. 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. By year [ edit] References [ edit] ^ a b 24 FACTS ABOUT LE MANS' 24 HOURS 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. (AP Photo/Jimmy Prickett), A man holds a child in the left background while a woman bends over a lifeless body following the racing car crash and explosion during the 24 hour endurance race at Le Mans, France, June 11, 1955. If you had panned in your camera on Jaguar driver Mike Hawthorne drinking from the fizz of the victor's champagne bottle and ignoring the happenings at the Le Mans circuit, you would have been forgiven to think that it was another victor's dance at the podium. Here's What Happened At The Tragic 1955 Le Mans Disaster - HotCars 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. 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. List of 24 Hours of Le Mans fatalities - Wikipedia Search instead in Creative? [25][26] Their retirement was briefly announced over the public address system. Police managed to drag the Austin-Healey to the other side of the track. Select from premium Le Mans Disaster of the highest quality. 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. One spectator actually recorded the crash head-on. One of the major news stories after the 1955 Le Mans disaster was the retirement of Mercedes-Benz from future races. This became the semi-official pronouncement of the Mercedes team and Macklin's story. It smacked the barrier and the road shoulder rolling at hurtling speeds through 85 yards and over a further 100 yards, the engine, radiator, and suspension already ablaze were flung through a cluster of spectators destroying everything and anything in its part. By 1955, top speeds for the leading cars were over 270km/h (170mph). With the Mercedes-Benz team withdrawn and the Ferraris all broken, Jaguars main competition had gone. The death toll led to an immediate temporary ban on motorsports in France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, and other nations, until the racetracks could be brought to a higher safety standard. RELATED: These Le Mans Racers Dominated The Worlds Most Famous Race. As a result, Macklin's car veered across to the centre of the track, apparently briefly out of control. 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. A photographer captured Hawthorn slugging from the customary bottle of champagne presented to the victory - just over 20 hours after the tragedy. 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. It turned friends into enemies, fans into critics, and winners into losers. [3] Levegh was thrown out of his tumbling car and hit the ground, crushing his skull upon impact and killing him instantly. The engine and front axle cut a swath like an artillery barrage. There had been claims that when Lafosse attempted to make up for lost time, either suspension or tyre failure caused the car to veer off suddenly into the barrier.[2][30][31]. He took the racing name Pierre Levegh [lvk] in memory of his uncle, a pioneering driver who died in 1904. The main aim of the competition is basically to test the endurance of sports cars. The pits complex was pulled down and rebuilt, giving more room to the teams, but thereby limiting spaces to only 52 starters rather than the previous 60. The action was still unresolved when Hawthorn was killed in a non-racing crash on the Guildford bypass in 1959, ironically while overtaking a Mercedes-Benz in his Jaguar. During the closing period of the preliminary practice session, Weber took an unscheduled lap of the circuit. There was also the criticism of the winner Mike Hawthorne for celebrating excessively, but he pushed back, saying it was no fault of his. Le Mans 1955 - the deadliest crash in motor sports history Being 98 years old, it is the oldest endurance racing event. [36] Tertre Rouge was moved about 200m and new tyre barriers were installed at the exit in 2014.
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