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Mspeedster
·If you liked Ford v Ferrari (Le Mans '66) or Steve McQueen's Le Mans, I think you'll enjoy this animated short. The story of the Mercedes team and the 1955 race.
LE MANS 1955
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Albert-AMG
··TAG Heuer Forums ModeratorVery nice and sad animated short film about the saddest race and most unfair winner in history. More than 80 people killed (including the Mercedes driver, Pierre Levegh), and who caused the accident -the Jaguar driver Mike Hawthorn, because of his dangerous maneuver to stop in boxes- was the one who won the race, also taking advantage of the withdrawal of the Mercedes team as condolences...
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Gambba
·Very nice and sad animated short film about the saddest race and most unfair winner in history. More than 80 people killed (including the Mercedes driver, Pierre Levegh), and who caused the accident -the Jaguar driver Mike Hawthorn, because of his dangerous maneuver to stop in boxes- was the one who won the race, also taking advantage of the withdrawal of the Mercedes team as condolences...
That race was a mess and a real wake up call for them. Not sure it was an unfair win, as if it wasn’t them it was someone else winning. The race should have been cancelled. Dangerous manoeuvres were the norm back then unfortunately. Mike knew he’d ultimately caused it immediately, after he was forced to do another lap and see the carnage.
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Albert-AMG
··TAG Heuer Forums ModeratorThat race was a mess and a real wake up call for them. Not sure it was an unfair win, as if it wasn’t them it was someone else winning
I agree that the race should have been cancelled, but the organizers decided that the best way to evacuate the more than 100 injured was not to stop the race, so that it avoids the outgoing traffic jams from the entire audience there.
And it's certainly unfair that the winner of the race was the one who caused the accident, taking advantage of the withdrawal of his most direct rivals because of the consequences of such tragic accident. Mike Hawthorn and the Jaguar team should have retired from the race for having caused the tragedy, and not taking advantage of it to win the race
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Mspeedster
·At 40 secs in, you can see how horrible this accident was.
I agree that Jaguar should have also withdrawn from the race. One can only imagine what Hawthorn must have felt driving the remainder of the 24 hours, knowing what he had caused. However, I read that Hawthorn also tried to blame the Austin-Healey driver that the Mercedes crashed into.
It was a different era back then, so I guess the drivers' mentality was not what it is today, with death being so common. In this interview with John Fitch, he recounts the tragedy and also states that Fangio & Moss didn't want to withdraw either, as they were leading.
I agree that Jaguar should have also withdrawn from the race. One can only imagine what Hawthorn must have felt driving the remainder of the 24 hours, knowing what he had caused. However, I read that Hawthorn also tried to blame the Austin-Healey driver that the Mercedes crashed into.
It was a different era back then, so I guess the drivers' mentality was not what it is today, with death being so common. In this interview with John Fitch, he recounts the tragedy and also states that Fangio & Moss didn't want to withdraw either, as they were leading.
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Hubert
··TAG Heuer Forums ModeratorTerrible tragedy, but Fitch made the right recommendation.
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Albert-AMG
··TAG Heuer Forums ModeratorTerrible tragedy, but Fitch made the right recommendation.
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Albert-AMG
··TAG Heuer Forums ModeratorI read that Hawthorn also tried to blame the Austin-Healey driver that the Mercedes crashed into
Probably Hawthorn tried to not get all the responsability for the accident (and the tragic consequences), but he clearly was the responsible: he overtook a slower Austin-Healey by the left side, and just after the overtaking, Hawthorn unexpectedly slowed down and crossed the track from left to right to stop at his box (there were no pit wall those days)... this maneuver forced the Healey driver to suddenly brake at the straight -being at full speed- to avoid the crash with Hawthorn, and Levegh who was just behind both cars, couldn’t avoid the crash with the Healey. The aerodynamic shape of the back of that racing Healey was behaving like a ramp of takeoff, and the rest is a very sad history...
