Anyone else hear this on Radio 4? Fascinating. 'In Living Memory'.
Listen again on Radio 4's home page.
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Is this that horrible one which killed and decaptitated dozens if people when a car lost control at over 200mph?
Facinating maybe. Discussable, no.
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Mike Farrow
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Discussable, no.
Why not? If it's fine with Radio 4 what's the problem?
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People always talk about disasters, for example, Titanic was a good movie that takes it's basis from the deaths of about 1300 people...
Blue
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Mercedes pulled out of Le Mans after the disaster and didn't return until the late 90's. Their bold return with beautiful sleek silver cars also ended in near disaster when one of them took off at 200 mph (doubt if the ill-fated 1955 car was going quite that fast) and did a backflip, rolled over several times and wrecked itself. Luckily neither the driver or anyone else were seriously hurt, but Mercedes gave up Le Mans for good after that.
Cheers, SS
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The Mercedes that crashed at Le Mans in 1955 was driven by a Frenchman who's name escapes me (Pierre Levegh?), he took a last minute dive for the pits and clipped the back of an Austin Healey driven by a brit, Lance Macken I think. IIRC 85 people died including the driver of the Mercedes.
MB returned to Le Mans in the late 80 with the V8 powered Sauber Mercedes cars run the the same Peter Sauber who now runs an F1 team.
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Facinating maybe. Discussable, no.
Discussable yes. It was 50 years ago. It was a major event in motor sport history. Also one of those newsreel images that once seen can always be recalled from the brain.
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It was Pierre Levegh whose car and its debris killed 77 people immediately (plus two more eventually) when he lost control of it at over 150 mph. If I recall correctly, the suggestion (perhaps not conclusion, perhaps not even thrust) of the Radio 4 programme was that the accident happened because of the wild variety of vehicles and driver talents involved -- slow cars driven by amateurs, super-fast cars driven by pros, super-fast cars driven by amateurs . . .) -- and because Mike Hawthorn and Juan Fangio attacked the race in fierce rivalry as if it were a grand prix and not as the duration event that it was and is.
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any video footage?
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I believe Mike Hawthorn was one of the drivers in the winning car and there was some controversy at the time because of his victory celebrations at the end of the race.
Any such a tragedy now would have the race immediatly stopped, but only a decade after the war death on such a scale was not viewed as being in any way remarkable.
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Video footage here on non clickable link. (i get told off when posting BBC links)
www.newssearch.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/storie...2
6000/3726535.stm
copy and paste.
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"any video footage?"
Not of the crash (though I do recall being appalled by seeing film of it when young) but there is some of the race here. Hawthorn, Moss identifiable in distinctive helmets
news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/11/newsid_3726000/3726535.stm
My memory of the film of the crash was of the engine (?) cutting a swathe through the spectators in a grandstand. I also remember Lance Macklin (Austin Healey) getting a lot of blame though he seemed blameless. I have a feeling that Hawthorn was also involved in some way (entering pits?) which baulked Macklin who was slow compared to Levegh (racing under the name Pierre Bouillon?) who clipped Macklin.
This site
www.teamdan.com/archive/wsc/1955/55lemans.html
gives details but conflicts with my memory
eg Accident occurred on lap 34 - I thought it was after Levegh had been driving for many hours and didn't want to hand over to
"an inferior driver" - can't remember who.
Mercedes retired their other cars on laps 130/134 - I thought the race was much further on - well into the Sunday.
Mind you it is 50 years ago, and the memory plays funny tricks and I was very young at the time
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Fuller report here
www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4944962-110875,00....l
My memory is obviously not what it should be!
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is this a late news item ?
John
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The principal story advanced in the BBC R4 piece was that Hawthorn, although due to pit, declined to stay behind the slower Austin Healey for a few seconds so overtook it before braking hard for the pits. The brakes on Hawthorn's Jaguar being better than those of Macklin, Macklin in the AH swerved around Hawthorn and got in the way of the Mercedes. Macklin was heard to blame Hawthorn after the crash but a subsequent enquiry? concluded that he was not to blame.
Allegedly, the Mercedes team was not ordered to withdraw but it was put to them by Stuttgart that in would be inapproriate for them to be swilling champagne the following day if they won, so they packed up and went.
There was a contribution in the program from Stirling who attributed subsequent massive improvements in trackside safety to the accident.
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...which at Le Mans now include very intrusive catch fencing and huge run off areas. The spectator is somewhat remote from the action...
Lucky I don't go for the racing huh? :-)
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I remember that incident well.
Strange how those earlier ones stick in one's mind whereas later ones are easily forgotten.. I also recall John Derry crashing the DH110 into the crowd at the 1952 Farnborough Air Show.
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