The 1955 Le Mans

[aricus654]

I noticed that the BBC is screening the 1955 crash here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00sfptx/the-deadliest-crash-the-le-mans-1955-disaster

Aricus

[Bonio]

I think this is the documentary that has been shown a few times before. They use computers or something to try and get a differant angle to it. Very intresting viewing from what i remember.... 

[geoffd]

I think this is the documentary that has been shown a few times before. They use computers or something to try and get a differant angle to it. Very intresting viewing from what i remember.... 

Heart rending too at times. 

At the end of the film they show the accident happening, that was done by taking a box of stills taken from an original film that had been hidden away by the authorities and stiching them back together, not as easy as it may seem as they were just thrown in the box, all jumbled up!

[Grand_Fromage]

2015 will be the 60th anniversary of the disaster.

At the end of the film, it suggests that 1955 marked the beginning of a move towards an era of safety in racing. Although it is true that in 1956 the ACO rebuilt the pit complex and widened the track, in worldwide motor sport, it was another thirty years before safety of spectators, cars and tracks became a priority.

[Lorry]

By 1955, Le Mans was becoming famous, and the Cine cameras arrived, presumably to make a B film.  The widescreen color film was left in the can, and the sound is lost, but odd bits are available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUcHl-5Ke_k

The program/dvd includes the best source of film of the crash - some poor German chap in the stands with an 8mm, who kept it rolling till he was hit by wreckage.  It shows Macklin following Hawthorn and then locking up (no disc brakes) and pulling out far too wide into Levegh's path.  John Fitch, Levegh's (still alive) co driver is convinced it was all Hawthorns fault, but I can't see it

Well worth a watch - its on about once a month, if you're into obscure Sky channels

[Grand_Fromage]

When the subject of Le Mans 1955 comes up, the conversation inevitably turns to allocation of blame for the disaster.

It is both futile and impossible to allocate all the blame to one individual. Hawthorn made a mistake by overtaking Macklin when he didn't need to (he was heading into the pits after all) then slamming hard on the brakes forcing Macklin to also brake hard. Macklin's mistake was to try to avoid running into the tail of the Jaguar by swerving to the left, into the path of the speeding Mercedes.

The ACO were to blame for allowing the race to be held on a circuit that had hardly changed from the 1920s but with post-war cars capable of nearly double the speed.  

The designers of the sloping tail of the Austin-Healey 100 were inadvertently to blame by effectively creating a ramp that launched the Mercedes.

Mercedes designers were to blame for building a car that was lightened to such an extent that it disintegrated on contact with the earth 'berm', and although the main structure of the car remained near the point of impact, it shed major parts into the crowd.

None of the people involved either intended, envisaged or expected the turn of events that terrible day. A number of factors combined and coincided to make it happen. One thing is certain though, Hawthorn took the fatal decision that unfolded into the disaster. Was he to 'blame'? I'd say that he does carry some blame, but certainly not alone, and anyway, allocation of blame will not bring back the victims nor change history.