On This Date 60 Years Ago, At LeMans, The Worst Tragedy Motor Racing Has Ever Known

[ApexOversteer]

A Newsreel Of The Day

Le Mans Disaster (1955) - YouTube


The Known Footage

Le Mans 1955 accident: Raw footages of the crash in HD (Read description) - YouTube


A Very Good Recent BBC Documentary

The Deadliest Crash: The Le Mans 1955 Disaster BBC - YouTube

['77Babe]

Eff you, Mr. Hawthorn.

A very sad day in racing history. :sadangel:

[mrvette]

I played the OP B&W tape twice, did that announcer say the driver died, and his WIFE?? what happened that SHE died??


:sadangel::sadangel:

[Y2Kvert4me]

I played the OP B&W tape twice, did that announcer say the driver died, and his WIFE?? what happened that SHE died??


:sadangel::sadangel:He said "Levegh is killed before his wife's eyes"...Meaning she was there to witness it.

[ApexOversteer]

He said "Levegh is killed before his wife's eyes"...Meaning she was there to witness it.

She was directly across the track from where the Merbenz went into the crowd.

You should watch the last few minutes of that BBC documentary, where they take two sequences of photographs of the crowd, taken from the same spot, one before the wreck, one shortly after, with fires still burning, and overlaid them together. It is quite an eye opener to how bad it really was. It starts at 55:00...

[Datawiz]

She was directly across the track from where the Merbenz went into the crowd.

You should watch the last few minutes of that BBC documentary, where they take two sequences of photographs of the crowd, taken from the same spot, one before the wreck, one shortly after, with fires still burning, and overlaid them together. It is quite an eye opener to how bad it really was. It starts at 55:00...

I watched the whole thing. Thanks! :seasix:

[Aerovette]

Odd the first newsreel has reversed footage.

[VetteBoy1979]

Absolutely tragic. I will make sure and get as many photos this weekend for you guys. Sad news about the 63http://sportscar365.com/lemans/lemans24/corvettes-no-63-car-withdrawn-from-le-mans-after-accident/ (http://http://sportscar365.com/lemans/lemans24/corvettes-no-63-car-withdrawn-from-le-mans-after-accident/)

[stingraymyway]

Wow.:sadangel:

[Nemesis]

No thank you.

[73sbVert]

And Mercedes pulled out of ALL competition there for decades, like around '93 or so? Wasn't there another bad accident the very first time they were back again?

I seem to recall thinking that that race was just not meant for MB to be in.