Motorsport is enormously popular in the world today. On any given Sunday there might be as
many as 500 million fans tuning in to watch Formula One, the world's most popular form
of motorsport. In the United States are an estimated 75 million fans of NASCAR,
an industry that brings in more than two and a half billion dollars in annual
revenue. Motorsport began almost as soon as the invention of motor vehicles began,
and over its history it has served to both develop, and advertise developments
in automotive technology. And yet much of the way that we manage modern motorsport was
defined in a single moment. An incident that is surprisingly not all that well known among
the world's hundreds of millions of motorsport fans. The 1955 disaster at LeMans, the deadliest
motorsport accident in history, the accident that changed everything, deserves to be remembered.
Organized motorsport racing started as early as at least 1894 with the Paris to Rouen motor race,
sponsored by the newspaper Le Petit Journal, with the hopes of spurring automotive development.
The prizes were actually determined by ideal, including ease of driving, not just fastest speed.
First prize in the 126 kilometer race was shared between two automobile manufacturers, Panhard &
Levassor, and the Peugeot, although the fastest finish was by Jules Albert, the Count de Dion, in
his steam-powered De Dion-Bouton. The winning cars mustered between three and four horsepower, and
managed speeds between 17 and 19 km per hour. But racing on open roads between cities was dangerous,
as automobiles became faster, and crowds of spectators grew. The 1903 Paris to Madrid race
included a number of accidents that caused the death of five drivers, and three spectators, and
caused the French parliament to call off the race when the drivers reached the city of Bordeaux. The
accidents were attributed to insufficient crowd control, and dust obscuring vision, but also the
result of automobile development where cars were now powered by as much as 45 horsepower engines,
and reached speeds of up to 140 km per hour. Faster than the fastest trains at the time.
At the time some feared that the accidents in the Paris to Madrid race would spell the end of
automobile racing. What it did instead is shift driving from public roads, to racing on a circuit
or multiple laps along a circle of closed public roads, and the development of private race tracks,
such as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway completed in 1909. By the mid 1920s cars like the Bugatti
type 35, possibly the most successful racing car model in history, had supercharged engines
providing more than 120 horsepower, and could achieve top speeds of over 200 km per hour, in
what had become commonly known as Grand Prix racing. But the problem was that Grand Prix
racing, which focused on the manufacturers ability to build the fastest car, and was
the forerunner of today's Formula One racing was diverting more and more from production models,
and thus the motorsport of endurance racing developed as a production based alternative
to the pure bred racing machines of Grand Prix racing. Endurance racing differs from Grand Prix
in that the goal is to test both the durability of the automobile, and driver endurance. Either by
covering a set long distance as fast as possible, or by covering the most distance in a set amount
of time. The format encourages innovation in reliability and fuel efficiency, which offers more
benefits to manufacturers in terms of production design. Distances could be truly spectacular,
such as the 16 thousand kilometer 1908 New York to Paris auto race, but one of the most popular
formats was a 24 hour race. In May of 1923, the first of what was then called, the 24 hour Grand
Prix of Endurance, was held in LeMans, France. The winning car was a Chenard de Walcker that averaged
92 km per hour. That race became what would become known as the most prestigious endurance race in
Motorsports, the 24 Hours at LeMans. Run annually since 1923, with the exception of 1936 due to
general strikes in France, and the 10-year period between 1939 and 1949 due to the Second World War,
24 Hours at LeMans, is the world's oldest active sports car race in endurance racing. Following
the combined path of private roads, and closed public streets, the circuit called, the Circuit
de la Sarthe, is one of the longest circuits in the world. Originally 17.2 six kilometres long,
but shortened to 13 point four six nine kilometers, or about eight and 1/3 miles, in 1932.
It is known as a particularly fast track, with nearly 85% of the lap time spent at full throttle,
placing stress on the engine and drivetrain. While the famously sharp turn at the village
of Milan causes tremendous wear on the brakes, and suspension. The circuit had a pit straight
that was described as frighteningly narrow at just three point seven meters, or 12 feet wide. The pit
was merely part of the track, not separated by a pit lane, and there was no deceleration lane for
cars that were pitting. Aside from resurfacing, the 1932 circuit had been little changed by the
time of the race on a brilliant sunny day June 11th of 1955. But the cars had changed.
In practice runs, the top quality field had blown away track records. With a Ferrari 120 LM clocking
a maximum speed of over 290 kilometers per hour down the Mulsanne Straight. It was one of the
best entry lists in race history in the Golden Age of sports cars, and one of the most eagerly
anticipated races in a decade. Hundreds of thousands of spectators were expected.
The 1955 race had changed some rules, lifting the replenishment window for fuel, oil,
and water from 30 to 32 laps, but increasing the allotment for fuel. That generated extra
interest in the pits that year, and attracted more crowds to that section of the track.
The race in 1954 had been close between the winning Ferrari team, and second-place Jaguar,
but the big news in 1955 was the return of a Mercedes team. Mercedes had won the race in 1952,
but had been absent in 1953 and 1954. In 1955, Mercedes-Benz had taken the sportscar world by
storm with the innovative Mercedes 300 SLR or Sport Light Racing. 300 SLRs were rated by many
experts as the best sports cars in the world. The sleek design was based on the company's Formula
One car. The engine was longitudinally mounted just behind the front axles,
and the car used a welded aluminum tube space frame chassis, and ultralight electron
magnesium alloy body work. The car lacked disc brakes, instead using extra-large drum brakes,
and an innovative windbreak that hinged up in the back to slow the car at the end of straightaways.
The 300 SLR had taken the sportscar world by storm in 1955, winning Italy's Mille Miglia,
and setting an event record. Further wins secured the 1955 World Sportscar Championship. The
three cars of the Mercedes-Benz team were managed by the legendary Alfred Neubauer,
who had led the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows through a period of racing dominance in the 1930s.
For the 1955 race, Neubauer had put together an international team of drivers which included
French racing legend Pierre Levegh. Levegh had placed many times at 24 hours at LeMans, but in
1952, Levegh had been four laps ahead when his car suffered engine failure in the last hour of the
race. And that had prevented him from becoming the first, and only driver to win the 24 Hours
of LeMans, single-handedly. Neubauer had been so impressed that he told Levegh that the next time
that Mercedes returned to the race at the 24 Hours of LeMans, Levegh would be on the team. Levegh,
who was also a world-class ice hockey player and tennis player, was nearly 50 years old in 1955.
Levegh and his co-driver, American John Fitch, had decided to keep a regular pace on the first day,
and attack on day two, when the other drivers were tired. In the third hour of the race, around lap
35 for the leaders, another Mercedes-Benz team was vying for the lead versus Jaguar,
and Levegh was driving, running sixth. Jaguar driver Michael Hawthorn, who had already run the
fastest lap in race history at four minutes 6.6 seconds, had just passed Levegh and driver Lance
Macklin driving an Austin-Healey 100, when he got called to pit. The track had a slight kink just
before the pit. Following the rules, Hawthorn raised his hand to show that he was pitting,
and braked hard to get into the narrow pit lane. The advanced disc brakes of the Jaguar slowed the
car quickly. Macklin, having been overtaken by Hawthorn in the Jaguar, was more likely concerned
with Levegh's Mercedes coming from behind him, and also had to brake quickly to avoid the
collision with Hawthorn. As he braked, his wheel slipped over the right-hand edge of the track.
It is still not clear if Macklin briefly lost control because of going off the track,
or if he was simply reflexively swerving as a result, but he came across the central track,
right in front of Levegh who had been closing at over 200 kilometers per hour.
The fast braking and the foray off the track threw up a cloud of smoke and dust,
obscuring Levegh's view; there was no time for Levegh to react. He slammed into Macklin's
Austin-Healey. Reportedly Levegh had time to throw up his hand signaling Argentinian
driver Juan Manuel Fangio in the Mercedes following him, allowing him time to react,
and saving his life. Macklin's car careened across the track and struck a wall, killing a spectator
but Macklin got out unscathed. Levegh’s front wheel had ridden up the back of the left rear
of Macklin's Austin-Healey. The car careened into the air, tumbling. Drivers wore no seatbelts then,
positing that they were better off being thrown clear than caught in a burning wreck. 49 year old
Pierre Levegh was thrown from the car, crushing his skull, killing him instantly. The car hit
the 4 foot embankment separating the track and spectators. Because of the kink in the track,
the car was on a trajectory straight into the spectators, who were massed up to watch the
cars entering the pit area. As it bounced off the barrier it flew into a concrete stairwell,
part of the stands, and disintegrated! Parts of the car, the engine, the radiator, the front axle,
careened into the packed crowd! The bonnet, or engine hood, flew through the air like a knife.
A driver in the pit said of the scene, “The dead and dying were everywhere. The cries of pain,
anguish, and despair screamed catastrophe. I stood as if in a dream, too horrified to even think.”
Sources still disagree over the total death toll, but most indicate that in addition to Pierre
Levegh at least 83 spectators were killed, and more than a hundred twenty others were injured.
It was the deadliest accident in the history of motorsport. The Mercedes team decided that
they would quit the race in respect for those who were killed. Across the large track many of
the spectators didn't even know the accident had occurred until the announcement that Mercedes was
quitting the race. Levegh's co-driver, American John Fitch, and Levegh’s wife Denise Bouillin
witnessed the accident from the pit area. Race organizers decided that they would not end the
race, they were afraid if the hundreds of thousands of spectators started going home
it would clog the roads, and emergency vehicles wouldn't be able to come. The Jaguar team was
invited also to quit but they declined, and Hawthorn ended up winning the race and
setting a new track record. Although he received quite a lot of criticism in the French press for
celebrating his victory, and many people blamed the accident on Hawthorn. In response, several
countries immediately banned auto racing including France, Spain, Germany, and Switzerland until
safety was improved for spectators. Switzerland still has a ban on circuit racing in force today,
except for electric vehicles. The race organizers at LeMans made significant changes,
widening the pit, adding a deceleration lane, and eliminating the track kink. The impact went beyond
LeMans and endurance racing. Track safety became a defining movement in Formula One. The United
States formed an entirely new motorsport governing body, the United States Auto Club as a result of
the accident. As an industry motorsport became more focused on track safety, and technology
practices. The tragedy has been described as, The Accident That Changed Everything.
There was a protracted official investigation that eventually cleared Hawthorn of any wrongdoing,
and decided that no driver was at fault. It was, they decided,
simply a racing accident. However they did blame the death of the spectators on poor track design,
and safety standards. To this day, people still disagree over who was responsible for the crash,
but one thing is certain. The 1955 LeMans disaster deserves to be remembered.
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