le mans 1955 death pictures
Large pieces of debris flew into the crowd, killing 83 spectators and French driver Pierre Levegh, and injuring nearly 180 more. The protagonists were Pierre Levegh representing Mercedes, Mike Hawthorn driving for Jaguar, and Lance Macklin of the Austin-Healey team. Collect, curate and comment on your files. (AP Photo/Jimmy Prickett). I stood as if in a dream, too horrified to even think. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. At exactly 4:00pm, the race began with the normal pace expected, with some of the big wigs such as Mercedes-Benz having a slow start and falling behind lesser-known names. Fifty-nine years ago, the 1955 Le Mans 24-hour race started like any other. 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. [15][8], Macklin, on reading Hawthorn's 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. A major crash caused large fragments of debris to fly into the crowd, killing 83 spectators and French driver Pierre Bouillin (who raced under the name Pierre Levegh) and injuring nearly 180 more. Hawthorn retired from motorsport soon after but was ironically killed when overtaking a Mercedes on a slippery road near his Surrey home in 1959. [25][16][29][3] It has remained the most catastrophic crash in motorsport history. The final verdict assigned blame to no one. Search instead in. ", Get the latest news from the world of sport along with the best opinion from our outstanding team of sport writers, direct to your inbox every Friday. 776 60 60 comments Best Add a Comment During preliminary tests on a wet track on Saturday morning, April 2, 1966 he lost control and drove down an escape road. They use them to cover one of the bodies in the road. Le Mans, France: Rescue workers pursue the grim task of extricating . 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. It is one part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, including the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix. I've seen many shots of the '55 disaster, but never all of them in one place outside of the AP archives. Macklin survived the incident without serious injury, jumping out of the wreck and over the bank. The rear of Leveghs car landed on the berm and exploded into flames. The disaster at Le Mans heralded a new era for motorsports with more technological innovations to improve sports cars and driver's safety. 1955 - the Le Mans Crash in 90+ pictures from the Mike Hawthorn Tribute Site. From the pits, they couldn't get across to the wreck, and it was hard to tell how bad everything was. 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. When he finally made it into the pits again, past what was then the scene of the crash, tears were streaming down his face. Extricating the Dead and Dying. "The hood decapitated tightly jammed spectators like a guillotine. 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. [8] Coming out of the Maison Blanche portion of the course, he rapidly caught Lance Macklin in his Austin Healey 100S, who had seen him and moved over to the right to let him pass. 312 Le Mans 1955 Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images CREATIVE 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. Other observers estimated the toll to be much higher. 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. It ended with the usual champagne, as well. Jaguar driver Duncan Hamilton, watching from the pit wall, recalled, The scene on the other side of the road was indescribable. 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. One newsreel, minutes after describing the crash, goes on to talk about a car getting stuck in a sandy embankment. Here he is, still in his car after crossing the finish line, reaching up for a kiss from a local girl. 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. The AP reports that they were trying to beat out the flames on Levegh. With Levegh dead, Macklin presumed that Hawthorns implication was that he (Macklin) had been responsible, and he began a libel action. Fitch explained that he only got an idea of how bad things were when he overheard a journalist friend of his reporting news that some 65 people were reported dead. In picture, shown on Finishing Straight, car numbered '25' (Jaguar Works, XKD 605, 'long-nose') was 6th at Le Mans in 1956. Entering the straight, his Matra veered off the inside of the track and exploded into flames. You can see a man here, his arms outstretched in shock. Dveloppez votre marque de manire authentique en partageant son contenu avec tous les crateurs Internet. I stood as if in a dream, too horrified to even think., Mike Hawthorn and the Jaguar team kept racing. This was only a few hours after the crash. [3], Jaguar driver Duncan Hamilton, watching from the pit wall, recalled, "The scene on the other side of the road was indescribable. [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. In the end the enquiry ruled that no specific driver was responsible for the crash, and that it was merely a terrible racing incident. 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. The other team cars were being kept on tighter leashes to conserve the cars, but still racing in the top ten. 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. . 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). 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. . It was only ten years after the end of WWII, and dead bodies in the French countryside was fresh in everyone's memory. I am including all of his pictures preserved by the AP, as well as all of the photographs taken by the AP itself. Showing Editorial results for le mans 1955. A police officer helps carry out an injured man, dazed. Being 98 years old, it is the oldest endurance racing event. Once it was extinguished, there was nothing left but the frame. Show more. Macklin claimed that Hawthorn's move to the pits was sudden, causing an emergency that led him to swerve into Levegh's path. The Le Mans organizers did not actually stop the race. Le Mans, France: Rescue workers pursue the grim task of extricating . 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. Hawthorn and his co-driver Ivor Bueb won the race the next afternoon. Just behind Hawthorn was a much slower Austin-Healey, actually a lap down on Hawthorn. 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. Le Mans, France: Rescue workers pursue the grim task of extricating . That was my first thought. Le Mans, France: The wreckage of the death car and bodies . The healthy carry bodies away from the wreckage. At Arnage during the final hours of the race, Marchal's Aston Martin spun while attempting to pass another competitor. 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. On lap 35, Hawthorn and Fangio were racing as hard as ever. Levegh was thrown from the car and killed, while burning pieces of the car were flung into the crowd and caught fire, killing 83 others. 'The hood decapitated tightly jammed spectators like a guillotine': Le Mans '55 and the worst disaster in motorsports history, Palhinha stunner helps Fulham into FA Cup quarter final, Division Two moving weekend affords Cork chance to right wrongs of recent Clare record, Longstaff bids to fulfil final dream with Magpies after lost years, Ukraine ally Kallas fights for re-election in Estonia vote, Thai cave boys ashes arrive home from UK for final farewell, Chinese defence spending boost to meet complex security challenges, Injuries opening door to Irish team for O'Brien, Cork farmer given less than three weeks to sell 80 animals left in 'chronic neglect', Cork woman Margaret Buttimer jailed for abusing Ukrainian refugees at Bandon hotel, Cork soccer club says CCTV footage shows discrepancies with referee abuse claims. The 1955 Le Mans disaster was a major crash that occurred on 11 June 1955 during the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race at Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, Sarthe, France. Pierre Levegh, in a Mercedes Benz, was next on the scene. 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. In terms of human toll, it is the most catastrophic accident in motorsports history. Extricating the Dead and Dying. "I felt the heat of his exhaust as he went by me, no more than three feet over my shoulder. Neubauer got the French authorities to test residual fuel left in the wreck's fuel injection and the result vindicated the company. What stands out in these pictures is the confusion. 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. Mike Hawthorne, the leader in the Jaguar, was getting close to the pit area as he approached driver Lance Macklin who he would lap. As the Austin-Healey moved across the road, Levegh raised his hand. 2023 Getty Images. 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. 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. The cars touched, Bonnier's was launched over the barriers and ended up in the trees. "As I was rolling along backward I saw Levegh's car following me in the air, with Levegh sort of hunched over in the cockpit. The greatest carmakers in the world were competing, as were the best drivers. As his, Woolfe had purchased one of the new and high-powered Porsche 917s, and Porsche's own, RD140 (between Mulsanne and Indianapolis). Browse 305 le mans 1955 stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. The pieces of the Mercedes ripped through the crowd, crushing and decapitating. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is safer, much safer, than it was in 1955, but it is still a deadly track. Neubauer limited himself to suggesting improvements to the pit straight and making pit-stops safer. 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. In 1955 Mercedes offered Levegh the opportunity to race with John Fitch in their 300SLR sports car. Showing Editorial results for le mans 1955. The body fell one way, the engine broke free and shot off, and the hood and front axle flew further. At first you can see people running from the fire. 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. Search instead in Creative? With the Mercedes team withdrawn and the Ferraris all out of commission, Jaguar's main competition had gone. These were the days of patriots racing Red, Blue, Green, White and Silver cars for the national glory of their country. 1955 June 11 Race car at Le Mans crashes into spectators, killing 82 On June 11, 1955, a racing car in Le Mans, France, goes out of control and crashes into stands filled with. Macklin also decided to retire after being involved in another fatal crash, during the 1955 RAC Tourist Trophy race at Dundrod Circuit. Extricating the Dead and Dying. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. Levegh had no time to evade, and with possibly his last action, raised his hand, warning Fangio, thereby probably saving Fangio's life. Many other drivers tried to describe the whole crash as a blameless 'racing incident,' but Hawthorn blamed Lance Macklin, the driver of the Austin-Healey. Although Marchal was taken to the hospital, he died the following day. The official inquiry cleared all drivers of any fault. The Le Mans endurance race is organized by France's Automobile Club de L'Ouest and has been held . 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. [41] In December 2011, the car, estimated to raise 800,000 before the auction,[41] was sold for 843,000. It remains the worst disaster in motorsports history. D-Type Jaguars won the Le Mans 24hr endurance race in 1955, 1956 and 1957. One British race report praised the variety of the field representing "a United Nations of motor racing." - The car landed on the earthen embankment between the spectators and the track, bounced, then slammed into a concrete stairwell structure and disintegrated. Lance Macklin, who had just been lapped in his slower Austin-Healey moved across to avoid Hawthorn and Levegh ran into the back of his car. Pierre Levegh, aged 49, had been hired by Mercedes-Benz . Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options await you. The car rolled over during the incident. It does not include track marshals and spectators other race attendees, including the 1955 disaster which claimed the lives of 83 spectators. During late night practice, a week before the race, Michelot went out to test one of the cars during the night following a meal at the Hunaudires restaurant. Le Mans, France: The wreckage of the death car and bodies of some of the victims felled by the explosion on Saturday. In the middle as many as 130 died in the most horrific disaster in. The death of the spectators was blamed on inadequate safety standards for the track design. In 2003, the Federal Assembly of Switzerland started a lengthy discussion about whether this ban should be lifted. Showing Editorial results for le mans 1955. Andr Guilbert was the first driver to die in June 1925 during the race's third year, although this was due to a collision with a van while en route to the race,[1] but is classified by race historians and authors of the official yearbooks, Christian Moity and Jean-Marc Teissedre. 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. . 1950s, accident & disaster, event & history, footage & video, france, Le Mans, sports, vehicles The car, lying on the track, was then hit by the Ferrari of, As the car was thrown off balance over the hump on the. The deadliest crash ever in motor sports history happened in Le Mans, France, on June 12, 1955. "But by overtaking me and braking sharply he forced me to overtake him again, which meant I had to pull out in front of Levegh and Fangio. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. [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). Filmmaker Quentin Baillieux paints a picture of sport and tragedy at Circuit de la Sarthe. The images may be black and white but even the faded frames of a tragedy 65 years ago still pack a powerful punch. Browse 63 1955 le mans disaster stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. But after Hawthorne makes the move, he suddenly decides to cut right and breaks very hard to enter his pit area. Browse 312 le mans 1955 stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Everything slows right down as if you were watching a slow-motion film. Despite expectations for the race to be red-flagged and stopped entirely, race officials, led by race director Charles Faroux, kept the race running. It's not long before you see bodies piled up. [9][14], The critical kink in the road put the car on a direct trajectory toward the packed terraces and grandstand. All he did was turn in abruptly. France in particular, as the host of Le Mans, lifted their complete ban on 14 September 1955. 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. Macklin swerved out from behind the slowing Jaguar into the path of Levegh, who was passing on the left in his much faster Elektron magnesium-alloy bodied Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. (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. Tirez parti du rseau mondial GettyImages, avec plus de 340 000 crateurs, pour dvelopper un contenu exclusif, cr spcialement pour votre marque. 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. 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. The car overturned and exploded in flames following impact, killing Enjolras instantly. [8][9] What caught Macklin out though was that Hawthorn, using the Jaguar's advanced disc brakes, braked hard enough to slow his Jaguar from such a speed in time.[10][11][12][13]. During trials the veteran. [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. The French magazine L'Auto-Journal published it with the sarcastic caption, " votre sant, Monsieur Hawthorn!" Tap into Getty Images global-scale, data-driven insights and network of over 340,000creators to create content exclusively for your brand. But widen the scope of the camera, and you get a real feel that this victory had been tainted with something utterly terrible. 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. . Jaguar went on to win the race. [32][33] In 2015, the ban was relaxed for electric vehicles only, such as cars involved in Formula E electric racing. An explosion followed, sending metal into the crowd of spectators. It was Hawthorn's Jaguar that started the whole incident, after all. Sixty started, but only 21 finished, with Britains Mike Hawthorn the winner in a Jaguar. There is no question that racing cars today are almost infinitely safer than those of 1955. One spectator actually recorded the crash head-on. 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 1955 Le Mans disaster was a major crash that occurred on 11 June 1955 during the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race at Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, Sarthe, France. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The dead and dying were everywhere; the cries of pain, anguish, and despair screamed catastrophe. Shortly before he died, he wrote of the race: "It was as though we were at the point where a great rock had been hurled into a pond, sending out waves of shock and horror and indignation which would later flow back, bringing consequences which no one could foresee. The film cuts short as the recorder dives for cover. Levegh's car skipped over a protective earthen berm at 200km/h (125mph) and made at least two impacts within the spectator area, the last of which caused the car to disintegrate, throwing him onto the track where he was instantly killed. Levegh and competitor Mike Hawthorn were running near each other at the beginning of the pit lane when Hawthorn slowed for a pit stop. 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. "He came alongside me, and I gave him the thumbs-up sign as he overtook me to wish him luck. The AP states that it's unclear how this body ended up as it lay. He invented traffic safety devices currently in use on highways, including the sand-and-air-filled Fitch barrels. It was an appalling tragedy that shocked the world and changed the face of motorsports forever. It had been Levegh's unprecedented solo drive in the 1952 race that failed in the last hour, which allowed Mercedes-Benz their first Le Mans victory. Macklin moves over to the right to let him pass. Neubauer got the French authorities to test residual fuel left in the wrecks fuel injection and the result vindicated the company. [25][3] Tony Rolt and other drivers had been raising concerns about the pit straight since 1953. Two hours after the start, 77 were killed and another 77 injured when Pierre Le Veghs Mercedes somersaulted into the crowd. Browse 311 le mans 1955 stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Select from premium Le Mans Disaster of the highest quality. Life reported that it was days before drivers put together exactly what happened and the public at large learned the gravity of the crash. By 1955, top speeds for the leading cars were over 270km/h (170mph). [14][3][18], Hawthorn had overshot his pits and stopped. 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. It's easy to find reports of the crash today that talk about how desensitized the public was to the crash. All of this was from one car cutting through the crowd alone. Collect, curate and comment on your files. Parcourez 176photos et images disponibles de. Profitez de millions dimages, de vidos et morceaux de musique de qualit. . In the middle as many as 130 died in the most horrific disaster in motorsports history. 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. The main aim of the competition is basically to test the endurance of sports cars. Rassembler, slectionner et commenter vos fichiers. And the car's magnesium body burst into flames like a torch, burning others to death.. Flying metal following the explosion killed some 80 and injured many spectators. Fourteen people were decapitated with the death toll in the crowd recorded at 83 - though more were believed to have succumbed to their injuries in the weeks and months afterward. 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. [14] Levegh's lifeless body, severely burned, lay in full view on the pavement until a gendarme hauled down a banner to cover it. Bodies were strewn throughout the stands The majority of the dead were French, with the numbers injured running into the hundreds. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. The 1955 Le Mans disaster occurred during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race, when a crash caused large fragments of racing car debris to fly into the crowd. In the background are the pit stalls for the racers. 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. 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 Ferraris, current champions at the time, were very fast but fragile and prone to mechanical failure. outstanding team of sports writers. Other observers estimated the toll to be much higher. 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. In its silence, you sense the horror of what's being recorded. It turned friends into enemies, fans into critics, and winners into losers. Putting another lap on Macklin coming up to the main straight, Hawthorn then raised his hand to indicate he was pitting and pulled across to the right (from Hawthorn's testimony). [1], After conquering F1, Mercedes-Benz had debuted its new 300 SLR in that year's World Sportscar Championship, including a record-setting win at the Mille Miglia for Stirling Moss. Tony Rolt and other drivers had been raising concerns about the pit straight since 1953. The Mercedes' body was partially made of a magnesium alloy. When Mercedes pulled out, they approached the Jaguar team. His Mercedes Benz clipped the edge of the Austin Healey and was launched skywards. The investigations and reviews of the accident continued for a year and a half afterwards. June 11, 2020 The grandstand was demolished and rebuilt with new spectator terraces and a wide ditch between them and the racetrack. In the history of racing disasters, the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans tragedy still exists in a category of . The crash happened only a few hours into the race, just as the leaders started making their first pit stops. Car and engine bits struck the crowd as there was only a 4 foot bank between spectators and cars traveling up to 170 MPH due to a lack of safety standards. '"[6][7] The lap before, Hawthorn's pit crew had signalled for him to come in the next lap. This became the semi-official pronouncement of the Mercedes team and Macklin's story.
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