The momentum of the heaviest components of the car the engine block, radiator, and front suspension hurtled straight on into the crowd for almost 100 metres (330ft), crushing all in their path. Browse 312 le mans 1955 stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. With two other drivers still in the race, Mercedes-Benz continued, but after so many calls for them to abandon the meeting and with the desire to avoid a PR disaster, they pulled out of the race in the wee hours of the morning and went home. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. [14][18] When he got to the media centre to use a telephone, he got his first inkling of the sheer enormity of the disaster, overhearing a reporter filing that 48 deaths were already confirmed. 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. Fast forward two hours and 26 minutes later, and disaster struck. The official inquiry cleared all drivers of any fault. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. 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. One newsreel, minutes after describing the crash, goes on to talk about a car getting stuck in a sandy embankment. The engine and front axle cut a swath like an artillery barrage. Two hours after the start, 77 were killed and another 77 injured when Pierre Le Veghs Mercedes somersaulted into the crowd. 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. I am including all of his pictures preserved by the AP, as well as all of the photographs taken by the AP itself. Registered in Ireland: 523712. Irish Examiner Ltd, Linn Dubh, Assumption Road, Blackpool, Cork. Other pictures show them dragging his body to the pits. It was only ten years after the end of WWII, and dead bodies in the French countryside was fresh in everyone's memory. The car split into three pieces. The shadow of World War Two crept over the race. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. Leveghs car, which was estimated to be travelling at over 150mph (240khm), flipped over and flew on before slamming into the bank by the spectator enclosure. Cole was killed when his Ferrari left the road, impacting one of several farm houses lining the road at Maison Blanche. As his, Woolfe had purchased one of the new and high-powered Porsche 917s, and Porsche's own, RD140 (between Mulsanne and Indianapolis). Behind them were two Mercedes: Levegh ahead of Fangio. The accident reportedly occurred in heavy fog. Pierre Eugne Alfred Bouillin (22 December 1905 - 11 June 1955) was a French sportsman and racing driver. Le Mans Motor Racing Disaster (1955) | British Path Watch on At least 83 spectators were killed and over a hundred more injured in the 1955 Le Mans Disaster. [14][3][18], Hawthorn had overshot his pits and stopped. So abruptly that he ended up missing his garage space and was ordered to do another lap to make it back around since backing up wasn't allowed. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. Going into the second hour, Castellotti started dropping back, but Hawthorn and Fangio continued the duel, swapping the lead and dropping the lap record further and further, lapping most of the field.[4][5]. 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. 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. So what are we, in 2014, left with? Macklin also decided to retire after being involved in another fatal crash, during the 1955 RAC Tourist Trophy race at Dundrod Circuit. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. "He pulled across in front of me, and then I remember being surprised to see his brake lights come on. One British race report praised the variety of the field representing "a United Nations of motor racing." The behemoths of sports racing all featured their sports cars with their respective drivers for another car racing festival.
Le mans 1955 hi-res stock photography and images - Alamy Hawthorn!")[28][3]. In his biography, Hawthorn said he was "momentarily mesmerized by the legend of the Mercedes superiority Then I came to my senses and thought Damn it, why should a German car beat a British car. It ended with the usual champagne, as well. 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. Browse 63 1955 le mans disaster stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. France and Switzerland both banned motor racing after Le Mans. That was my first thought. Levegh and competitor Mike Hawthorn were running near each other at the beginning of the pit lane when Hawthorn slowed for a pit stop. [43] It was then restored to its original condition.[44]. The Mercedes' body was partially made of a magnesium alloy. There was also the criticism of the winner Mike Hawthorne for celebrating excessively, but he pushed back, saying it was no fault of his. The protagonists were Pierre Levegh representing Mercedes, Mike Hawthorn driving for Jaguar, and Lance Macklin of the Austin-Healey team.
Le Mans 1955 Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Le Mans, France: The wreckage of the death car and bodies of some of the victims felled by the explosion on Saturday. As the Austin-Healey moved across the road, Levegh raised his hand. However, a press photograph showed Hawthorn smiling on the podium drinking from the victor's bottle of champagne. That said, many contemporary race reports treat the crash unbelievably mildly. 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. . As a contemporary issue of LIFE states, it was to signal to Fangio behind him to slow down. [25] Additional details emerged when the stills reviewed by Frre were converted to video form. Showing Editorial results for le mans 1955. The announcer claims that the sand trap has "claimed another victim." He tried to avoid a collision with Macklin but he was too close and too fast. This put him into the path of Levegh's Mercedes, closing in at over 200km/h (120mph), intent on doing another lap and in front of Fangio, who was patiently waiting to pass. 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. "The man was not injured by the flying debris, but his son was killed. 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. You have accepted push notifications for this content. 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. When he finally made it into the pits again, past what was then the scene of the crash, tears were streaming down his face. At the time, it took over six hours for the team to withdraw its cars.
Le Mans Disaster 11th June 1955 - 84 Killed | Belfast Child 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 French magazine L'Auto-Journal published it with the sarcastic caption, " votre sant, Monsieur Hawthorn!" 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. [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.