"getchapopcorn" (getchapopcorn)
10/27/2013 at 17:46 • Filed to: Le Mans, 1955 | 14 | 17 |
**nothing gory, no footage of what happened after the collision, only video of what happened on-track is here** A lot of people know that this happened but don't necessarily know what exactly happened or much about it. Having been one of those persons, I recently watched a documentary about it and thought I'd share the story of what happened to cause the on-track accident. I made a gif of the on-track accident unfolding at various speeds. The footage was shot by a spectator who was there that day and ends when he stopped filming so that he could turn to run.
The 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans began on 11 June 1955; competition between Mercedes, Jaguar, Ferrari, Aston Marton, and Maserati was close and all fought for the top positions early on. The race was extremely fast, with lap records being repeatedly broken.
Coming into the pit straight at the end of Lap 35, Race leader Mike Hawthorn, in the Jaguar D-type, had just passed Lance Macklin's slower Austin Healy-100. After Passing Macklin, Hawthorn belatedly noticed a pit signal to stop for fuel. Hawthorn slowed suddenly in an effort to stop rather than make another lap and, owing to the Jag's disc brakes, slowed much faster than Macklin's Healy with drum brakes. As the pit lane was not separated from the rest of the race in these days, there was no separate pit lane entrance and Hawthorn was still directly in front of Macklin when he began to slow. Hawthorn's sudden and unexpected braking caused Macklin to slam on his brakes and momentarily lock them up as well (a small cloud of brake dust/tire smoke from Macklin's car is visible). Macklin, in an attempt to not hit Hawthorn and owing to his locked brakes, lost control momentarily and swerved across the center of the track.
While this was happening, Levegh, who was directly in front of the sister 300 SLR driven by Fangio, was quickly approaching Macklin and Hawthorn. Not wanting to slow down Fangio in the leading Mercedes, Levegh did not brake for Macklin's car, which though apparently back under control was now directly in front of Levegh and traveling much slower. Instead of braking in the little time that Levegh had to react, he tried to go around the outside of Macklin's car. Levegh, who was traveling at around 150 MPH, was not able to react in time and his Mercedes drove up the rounded, ramp-like back of Macklin's A-H 100 and thereafter became airborne.
Levegh's car landed atop the earthen embankment, which was the only thing separating the spectators from the track itself, and then went into the crowd. The car's continued somersaulting caused it to further disintegrate as it flung large and small pieces of itself through the massive crowd.
Though the actual amount is unknown, it is estimated that some 83 spectators and Levegh died that day, with an additional 120 spectators being injured. Below is the accident happening in close to real-time speed.
davedave1111
> getchapopcorn
10/27/2013 at 11:48 | 0 |
Gore porn after a jump, please, like spoilers. Most people don't want to see it.
getchapopcorn
> davedave1111
10/27/2013 at 11:50 | 0 |
That's why I didn't include any of the other footage; only see the cars coming down the straight ending just as Levegh's car enters the air.
davedave1111
> getchapopcorn
10/27/2013 at 11:53 | 0 |
Yeah, no. That's like saying it's fine to post a gif of a beheading, just as long as it stops before the head flies all the way off. Or something, anyway. That's a terrible analogy, but I'm sure you get the point.
desertdog5051
> getchapopcorn
10/27/2013 at 11:53 | 0 |
Fascinating. Not gore porn in my mind. Just the facts as it happened. Thanks.
505Turbeaux
> getchapopcorn
10/27/2013 at 11:55 | 5 |
Yeah I looked close and didnt see anything resembling gore. Seen worse crash gif's pre jump
Agrajag
> getchapopcorn
10/27/2013 at 11:59 | 0 |
Interesting. Didn't know exactly how it played out or that Fangio was that close.
getchapopcorn
> davedave1111
10/27/2013 at 12:03 | 7 |
I don't think that's a very apt analogy at all. For one, beheading's aren't an international sport that some 300k people pay money to witness. Additionally, just because you know what happens doesn't make something gore porn. Watching any other portion of this race that happened before the accident wouldn't be gore porn if it were talking about something that lead to it (i.e. if it had been caused by a car swerving to miss a car bumper which had fallen off another car in the previous lap, video of the bumper falling off the car wouldn't be 'gore porn' but you would still know what happened because of that bumper falling it). No one is seen getting hurt in the clips; furthermore nobody has yet even been hurt yet by the actions that have unfolded. I think this click stops at an acceptable point so as not to classify as gore porn.
oppobeblotto
> getchapopcorn
10/27/2013 at 12:11 | 0 |
I never knew exactly what happened on the track that caused this. Thanks for the enjoyable (that can't be the right word) breakdown of what happened and the gif(s).
fortunnelbear
> getchapopcorn
10/27/2013 at 13:20 | 0 |
Thanks for this! I definitely wouldn't call this "gore porn" either.
pdthedeuce
> getchapopcorn
10/27/2013 at 13:22 | 0 |
never seen it from this angle , always from the other side of the track .
Enginerrrrrrrrr
> davedave1111
10/27/2013 at 17:07 | 3 |
Seriously... your analogy is like saying I can't look at old pictures of ancestors because they died.
Get over yourself.
getchapopcorn
> getchapopcorn
10/27/2013 at 17:10 | 0 |
*behadings — Wow unnecessary apostrophe. Fail!
More Power!!and also some brakes.
> davedave1111
10/27/2013 at 18:07 | 0 |
Like the others said, he is fine.
Ghost Dog - For the kittens
> getchapopcorn
11/04/2013 at 18:09 | 0 |
Missed this when you posted it. Thank you DasWauto for Best of Oppo, and thank you for posting it.
philipman14
> getchapopcorn
11/04/2013 at 18:49 | 2 |
My grandfather, Phil Walters, was in this race and this accident caused him to quit racing forever as he was starting a family even though I think he had an offer to drive for Ferrari
getchapopcorn
> philipman14
11/04/2013 at 21:03 | 0 |
Phil Walters as in Ted Tappet Phil Walters?!
philipman14
> getchapopcorn
11/04/2013 at 23:19 | 0 |
Yep that was him - he raced for Jaguar and Cunningham for several years before this - here is one of the cars he drove that I saw at limerock during this past historic festival