Le Mans 1955 Disaster

[SiLo]

I'm doing an essay on the 1955 crash at Le Mans, so if anyone knows anything that can't be easily found on the internet it would be of great help to me

Thanks for any info you post.

[manchild]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CBingL4Ia0[/youtube]

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



Cockpit and rear end

("View image" for 1,600px × 959px)

[Ciro Pabón]

There is a documentary made in 2009 by BBC that I saw. Unfortunately, the only copy I could find has 0 seeders and 1 leecher, so... Anyway, you could look for it elsewhere. Here is the unseeded torrent (445 Mb):

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5457570/

I had a book by C. Hilton, but somebody borrowed it and now I don't have it. Here it is at Amazon, you could try to look for it in ebook format, who knows:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mans-55-Crash-C ... 1859834418

I still believe that the Wikipedia article is inaccurate. It shows Hawthorne swerving in front of the other cars. Video (check the one manchild posted, right when the camera rises) shows something that could be different, or at least I read recently a biography (Mike Hawthorn Golden Boy, I think) with one entire chapter devoted to this accident, where it is claimed officials did not blame him. Of course it was written by an admirer, but has like 100 pictures of the accident, including a couple that COULD clear Hawthorne. I think I would analyze THAT.

It would be very kind of you to post your essay here.

EDIT: there you go, Chapter V. http://www.paulskilleterbooks.co.uk/pro ... ucts_id=67

MORE EDITS: Oh, wait the Wiki article includes a link to BBC documentary.

[manchild]

Wiki seams correct to me.

First time I've heard about this horrible crash was when I was reading Neubauer's bio that was released in parts by some magazine from the 60s.

It said that Hawthorne was undoubtedly to be blamed, since he forgot to slow down to pit in on time, and had no fuel for another lap, so he braked hard in attempt to almost stop and somehow reach the pits... anyway, he tried to saved his race without thinking about anything else, forcing Levegh to try to avoid Macklin's car that was already trying to avoid Hawthorne at top speed.

However, there were also rumors that Mercedes was using illegal fuel (very unstable, explosive) for which they've hoped had all burned out during explosion and fire that followed. BUT, investigation found traces of fuel in mechanical ignition system, and that's more less where story ends.

Mercedes withdrew all cars from race after telephone order to Neubauer from Stuttgart HQ to lead few more laps to prove superiority, and later they've withdrew from motorsport, which leads to assumption that there was sort of backroom deal, that no one of the parties involved gets punishment. Hawthorne was never blamed officially, Mercedes was never blamed officially, so it all reminds a lot on shadow over Senna's death.

Regardless on fuel used by Mercedes, I still find Hawthorne as bad guy here (can't wait to get lynched by hardcore UK fans here). I mean, it was not the explosion that killed people, but the power of impact that separated engine from the car. It was the engine that killed spectators as it flew trough the air decapitating and smashing people on its way. Same thing would happen if there was pure water in Levegh's car instead of any fuel.

Regarding Ciro's ... khmm... link for movie.. here is all of it on Youtube in 4 parts

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmHnPtjvl78[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mows-0i2lI[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6hXe9GtTl4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC6O8zZyhos[/youtube]

Whenever I think of Hawthorne, it reminds me on this sort of personality (and another one I won't mention) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63K-wEaGxRc

[Formula None]

Unfortunately this tragic event is why we don't have any spectacular Alpine race tracks in Switzerland. Is that ever going to change?

[MadMatt]

Unfortunately this tragic event is why we don't have any spectacular Alpine race tracks in Switzerland. Is that ever going to change?

You mean that we don't have race tracks at all. Yes it was banned this this tragedy, but politics in our country are so stupid. Not to mention those "green" people. I don't think it will ever change, and if it does, a testing track will be build with severe limitations, and no race at all, you can be sure about that, so we have to forget the idea of a race track in our country.

About that LeMans crash, I advice to go to this forum where they have made a quite big work about it, lot of interesting information, under the "LeMans '55 tribute" :

http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk/forums/index.php

Hope it helps !

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

@ Manchild

I watched the same programme on Discovery channel about 6 months ago. I'm very loathe to blame anyone, suffice to say that it was the blackest day in Motorsport.

But its clear that Mercedes-Benz bore the brunt of dissatisfaction quite unfairly IMO. Im a fan of Mercedes as most can testify, but as you say Hawthorne's error, and then his mis-judging the speed of the cars behind him led to the catastrophe.
It's a mistake, pure and simple. The video also mention the stands being pretty much on top of the pit straight, this in itself was 50% to blame for so many deaths when the car launched into the crowds.

But there are 3 things that stand out quite starkly for me.(no particualr order)

1.Neubauer begged Jaguar to join Mercedes in withdrawing, which even after Mercedes had withdrawn, they still flatly refused. This goes against the German stereotype that English people so often refer.
Although I understand the Jag management didnt have a full grasp of the situation for quite sometime. I find this hard to believe when the incident occured less than 50 yards away from their team enclosure.
2. The loss of so many people, and the surreal scenes following the harrowing crash. People were wondering around aimlessly for HOURS. A real eye opener for how far we have come.
3. The Withdrawal of Mercedes-Benz from motorsports. The impact on Mercedes was immense, it changed the fabric of the company from avantgarde, to safe and staid.
Their cars were designed with comfort and saftey first and foremost. It helped forge their reputation, but not without hurting its sporting image.

In all a sad event. But one that most of the people concerned, learned from.

[Ciro Pabón]

Talking about causes and Senna and the rumours and the italian investigation and all. The uncontrollable fire was caused by the use of magnesium alloy for the body, duh. No wonder Mercedes was ashamed. Who thinks of building a car of magnesium? You could baptize it "The flashing car"!

Le Magnesium... stand still, dear!


I once had a fire on a motorcycle feet support when I scratched the support on the first curve, as I always do... and the owner did not understand why I called him "brutish" for buying structural parts made of magnesium. A full extinguisher did nothing to abate the darn support from burning to the last bit.

If Manchild wants to be nagged, let's him to have a chat with my uncle in Madrid: he still gets livid over the magnesium issue. No wonder Switzerland forbids races: sometimes teams show total disregard for safety, although they claim otherwise.

Now, how many years have we had of flying cars? This document is from 2000, I think, and nothing has been done about them. Check page 3 and the "Flying Car Working Group" blah blah blah they give to us.

Where are the results of the "Flying Car"group? Let me guess: in the air...

http://www.fiainstitute.com/publication ... Safety.pdf



Nothing has been done that I know and when the accident happens, some driver will be blamed, á la Senna.

FIA motto for this text should be: 55 years after the '55 crash and we are still pondering what to do.

Let me quote the document (it's a jewel!):

Debris Fence
A project to improve the safety of debris fencing, circuit fences used to prevent debris from hitting spectators at the track.

Where are they?

Allison hits the fence: it works


Jeff Gordon at Pocono, says: thanks SAFER barrier!


Lewis Hamilton at Barcelona says: wtf? loose tyre barriers in the XXIth century? Remember that the tyre exploded because of a pebble of leca (you know, gravel traps for "safety") was stuck in the rim and the tyre exploded, sending Hamilton straight into the barrier


At Barcelona some guy was blamed because the tyre barrier wasn't "properly fixed to the ground". Yeah, sure. It's like talking of earthquake-proof painting for walls...

Car Launching Mechanisms (“Flycar”)
This project aims to fully understand the mechanisms whereby openwheel cars, especially those used in Formula One, often launch in the air when they collide.

Excuse me? To understand the mechanism? The wheels touch and the car is launched in the air, that's the f&%$#ing mechanism!

Put some kind of covers on the wheels, for the love of Pete! Besides, NASCAR flaps were invented when? Do you remember when Coulthard was hit in the head some years ago. To understand the mechanism.... hrmph.

Red Bull gives you wings!


NASCAR flaps: to avoid airborne cars. They are designed for yaw, but you could devise something for pitch


Ciro's brilliant idea for flaps under the car to avoid flying cars (this guy is a genius!):


I won't touch the issues of flying wheels (talk to Alonso and the flying nuts at Renault!) but, hey, I want fences and I want them now.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Ciro,

Do you think then that Mercedes should be blamed because their cars were made of Magnesium?

[Ciro Pabón]

Is that a trick question or what? I'm an engineer, not a lawyer, JET.

Besides, I try not to blame, but to explain what has to be done, even TODAY about flying cars, debris containement and safer materials. I won't go into carbon fiber shards, for example, and their effect on tyres, TODAY. However...

"The alloy burst into white-hot flames, sending searing embers onto the track and into the crowd. Rescue workers, totally unfamiliar with how to attack a magnesium fire, poured water on the inferno -- greatly intensifying the fire. As a result, the car burned for several hours. Official accounts put the death total at 84 (83 spectators plus Levegh), either by flying parts and debris or from the fire, with a further 120 injured... The death of the spectators was blamed on inadequate safety standards for track design, leading to a ban on motorsports in France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, and other nations until the tracks could be brought to a higher safety standard."

Picture taken from Gérard Mariscalchi wonderful site at http://www.germaris.com/le_mans.html


Back then cars stopped by the side of the road to pit, remember? Well, you don't, but I do, I'm old enough and I've been watching races since... well, for a long time.

I still remember when people at the old Jarama circuit used to talk about the accident because they've seen it and they always talked about Mercedes design and the fire. Wikipedia talks about firemen improperly trained, but they didn't HAVE extinguishers able to put off that kind of fire, period.

Now, accidents happen, if that's the question... but accidents where there is no barrier to stop debris and you're showered with hot magnesium don't happen every day, ain't it JET? The idea is to learn and change, Mercedes retired for 25 years, they did not have a way to know back then... they complied with their "penance", if that's what people wants, but I don't.

However, if you want to build magnesium cars, please, tell me, so I can avoid the track where they race.

Look, JET, I've been building roads for years and arguing with deaf people that most accidents are caused by improper design of roads. This is not my opinion, is the opinion of experts who have taught me... and at least GM or Toyota don't build cars made of white phosphorus. Good thing.

[Just_a_fan]

We've been lucky not to have repeats of this terrible event. Closest I can think of was the 92 Patrese/Berger crash. That could easily have resulted in injury/death on the pit wall had the design of the pit entry not been a modern one.

Patrese was very lucky and Berger was very shaken by the whole thing - sufficiently so that he changed the way he entered the pits from then on.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj7TewU5AVc[/youtube]

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Ciro,

The facts that led to the accident implicate Hawthorn and his dangerous manouvre veering in front of the Mercedes, which led to it being airborne. Hawthorn's Jaguar, with the new disc brakes, slowed much more quickly than other cars using drum brakes, such as Leveghs Mercedes.
Thats the inception and root cause of the tragedy.

Secondly, when the Mercedes was launched into the crowds it went over 150 yards into densely populated stands and verges.
The car broke up while in the air, and did most of its fatal damage by the sheer brute force of impact, and not fire. The wake of destruction is very clearly evident. Im sure there were fire fatalities too, very sadly. But a fraction of those who actually got hit by the machine.

What little we do know is that those who were injured suffered burns, and that majority that died where in the first 10 seconds of the incident.

Going on that, Blaming Mercedes for a magnesium shelled car as the reason for this is overly critical IMO.
It discounts Jaguars dangerous pit signal, it discounts Hawthorns error, it discounts the difference in braking technology, and it discounts a 900kg car flying through the air hitting grandstands full of people.

I agree with respect to the saftey aspects and also that Mercedes should not have been using Magnesium. The road safety issue you mentioned is also very valid.
But there is so much more to this.
With all due respect Ciro, I have to disagree with certain aspects when presented with what I have infront of me.

[Richard]

Look, JET, I've been building roads for years and arguing with deaf people that most accidents are caused by improper design of roads. This is not my opinion, is the opinion of experts who have taught me... and at least GM or Toyota don't build cars made of white phosphorus.

Agreed, poor road design leads to the likelihood of an accident. The car design determines the consequences of what will happen when that acident occurs. Then the track/road design dictates how far the consequences will spread.

In this case, the open pit raised the likelihood of a car diving in late causing an accident.

The differing brake designs ensured that cars were are very different speeds, increasing the severity of the accident triggered by the pit arrangements.

The track that was not designed for cars at that speed, hence poor containment of the accident.

My reading of the reports is that most people were killed by the projectile, and the magnesium fire complicated the rescue. So the magnesium may have been dramatic, but probably relatively low in the causation.

[Just_a_fan]

But its clear that Mercedes-Benz bore the brunt of dissatisfaction quite unfairly IMO. Im a fan of Mercedes as most can testify, but as you say Hawthorne's error, and then his mis-judging the speed of the cars behind him led to the catastrophe.

Bit harsh on Hawthorne. Not his fault that the Jaguar had much better brakes than anyone else. One could just as easily argue that it was Healey and Mercedes' fault for not fitting better brakes to their cars. Of course that would be equally unfair.

It's a mistake, pure and simple. The video also mention the stands being pretty much on top of the pit straight, this in itself was 50% to blame for so many deaths when the car launched into the crowds.

This is probably the real issue - the circuit was totally inadequate for the cars being used. Those things were 190mph monsters driving on a circuit designed for <100mph trolleys. Any accident at speed in that area was always going to be fatal no matter which car was involved.

Of course Mercedes were blamed - it was their car that did the killing but it was the circuit that put the victims in the firing line. Le Mans/the French authorities were never going to find themselves to blame were they?

But there are 3 things that stand out quite starkly for me.(no particualr order)

1.Neubauer begged Jaguar to join Mercedes in withdrawing, which even after Mercedes had withdrawn, they still flatly refused. This goes against the German stereotype that English people so often refer.
Although I understand the Jag management didnt have a full grasp of the situation for quite sometime. I find this hard to believe when the incident occured less than 50 yards away from their team enclosure.

Today the race would be stopped instantly and it wouldn't be an issue. Times and attitudes were different then. Lots of those involved in motorsport had grown used to being close to death in the war that was still very fresh in everyone's memories. I think many of us will struggle to understand that today.

2. The loss of so many people, and the surreal scenes following the harrowing crash. People were wondering around aimlessly for HOURS. A real eye opener for how far we have come.

I seem to remember the race organisers decided to keep the race going becuase they didn't want all of the spectators trying to leave the circuit and thus hamper the rescue efforts. Of course, today that would be less of an issue with the medical facilities available plus helicopters etc. to move the seriously injured. Probably a valid argument at the time though.

3. The Withdrawal of Mercedes-Benz from motorsports. The impact on Mercedes was immense, it changed the fabric of the company from avantgarde, to safe and staid.
Their cars were designed with comfort and saftey first and foremost. It helped forge their reputation, but not without hurting its sporting image.

It was a sad loss to the sport, true, but the cynic in me wonders why they chose to continue the rest of the season (and to win it of course). If they were really bothered by it, I would have thought they'd have pulled out of racing there and then.

Note, however, that I don't believe they should have pulled out of racing at all. The board made a decision but I think it was probably the wrong one. Better would have been to stay in the sport and help to develop safer facilities - the might of Mercedes would certainly have helped push that agenda further and faster than it actually progressed.

In all a sad event. But one that most of the people concerned, learned from.

Sad indeed.

[Richard]

http://www.mike-hawthorn.org.uk/lemans2.php

This site is very good with a series of stills filmed by a spectator. You can see that Hawthorn kept to his line near the right barrier, Macklin pulls out to the middle to pass Hawthorn. Levegh does not anticipate Macklin would pull out to repass because Macklin was much slower than Hawthorn.



To give some context, Hawthorn and Fangio are racing for track position, they are lapping Levegh and Macklin.


See pic below, Hawthorn is in front close to right side of track (left of pic), Macklin tucked in behind him. Levegh coming up the left side of the track, Fagio tucked behind him.



Hawthorn having just zoomed past Macklin then slows for the pits, so Macklin pulls out to avoid Hawthorn, Levegh stays on left




Macklin moves out further, possibly startled by the slowing Hawthorn? Levegh moves closer to the centre line for the right hand bend. We can see Fangio on Levegh's tail, they both drove for Merc, and Levegh could have been shaping to let his teammate pass. Normally, Macklin would have been out of the way, Levegh would have moved right on teh straight to fall behind Hawthorn, this would let Fangio pass uninterrupted up the left alongside Hawthorn.



They touch....