Le Mans tragedy 1955

[crofty1984]

Christ, can't believe I'd not heard of this before. Nearly 80 spectators killed.

Warning, contains video of the accident (no bodies/gore, but just so you know what you're getting)
http://www.spike.com/video/1955-le-mans/2860678?ci...

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_Le_Mans_disaster

Shows how far safety has come.

[Bebee]

I bought the book 'Le Mans 55 The Crash That Changed the Face of Motor Racing'
a while ago. I went to Le mans in 2006 and there is a plaque to those who lost their lives in 55 at the crash scene.

Edit city, sorry!

Edited by Bebee on Wednesday 24th February 19:42

Edited by Bebee on Wednesday 24th February 19:42

[Scrogger]

Found some great footage of a british pathe documentary on the 1955 Le mans,

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=78515 (part of a series)

Be warned and prepared to spend several hours searching through over 80 years of visual (some with audio) archives from 1890 to 1970.

[silverthorn2151]

Am I right in thinking that Switzerland banned motor racing as a result of this and that ban is still in place?

Or did I make that up?

[heebeegeetee]

silverthorn2151 said:

Am I right in thinking that Switzerland banned motor racing as a result of this and that ban is still in place?

Or did I make that up?

No, that's right.

[RobM77]

heebeegeetee said:

silverthorn2151 said:

Am I right in thinking that Switzerland banned motor racing as a result of this and that ban is still in place?

Or did I make that up?

No, that's right.

And of course Mercedes pulled out of racing and didn't return for a very long time (32 years? C9 Sauber-Merc in 1987?).

[RDMcG]

Lots of controversy about the cause, that Mike Hawthorn slowed down which was the cause of Levegh's accident. Still a matter for long arguments.

[Count Johnny]

Acherlee, IIRC, Mike Hawthorn (C Type) unexpectedly dove for the pits causing Lance Macklin (Austin Healey)to move into Pierre Levegh's path.

Lance Macklin died recently, BTW.

Edited by Count Johnny on Saturday 27th February 06:38

[Mazda Baiter]

heebeegeetee said:

silverthorn2151 said:

Am I right in thinking that Switzerland banned motor racing as a result of this and that ban is still in place?



Or did I make that up?

No, that's right.

And the Swiss GP in 1982 was held at Dijon in France.

[HiRich]

Count Johnny said:

Acherlee, IIRC, Mike Hawthorn (C Type) unexpectedly dove for the pits causing Lance Macklin (Austin Healey)to move into Pierre Levegh's path.

Lance Macklin died recently, BTW.

And a chasing Fangio swore that Levegh's last action was to signal him to change direction and avoid the imminent accident.
Racing was banned in several countries, I seem to recall both Holland and Belgium, but the bans were generally revoked after months or years.

[chevronb37]

RobM77 said:

heebeegeetee said:

silverthorn2151 said:

Am I right in thinking that Switzerland banned motor racing as a result of this and that ban is still in place?

Or did I make that up?

No, that's right.

And of course Mercedes pulled out of racing and didn't return for a very long time (32 years? C9 Sauber-Merc in 1987?).

The C11 was the first full works car after the pull-out, although they lent support to Sauber before that. Interesting article on the C11 in Motorsport mag a couple of months ago which fills in some of the gaps in this period.

[norman156]

silverthorn2151 said:

Am I right in thinking that Switzerland banned motor racing as a result of this and that ban is still in place?

Or did I make that up?

Almost right, the ban was lifted in 2008 iirc