The Worst Motorsports Crash Ever | 1955 Le Mans
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- Опубліковано 8 тра 2023
- On the morning of June 11th, 1955, a crowd of nearly 300,000 spectators flocked to Le Mans to watch quite literally one of the most anticipated races of all time. A titanic battle of three great manufacturers was on the horizon, and everyone knew it. However an awful, terrible tragedy occurred only three hours into the event, resulting in the deaths of a driver and an astounding 83 spectators. The 1955 Le Mans disaster will forever be known as the greatest tragedy in motorsports history, and as one of the worst sporting disasters in human history.
The Worst Motorsports Crash Ever | 1955 Le Mans
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My father and my aunt went to that Le Mans race and were right where the car crashed. The only thing that saved them was that my aunt had to go to the bathroom, my dad reluctantly surrendered his front row spot next to the fence. I wouldn't be here writing this almost 70 years later if it wasn't for a full bladder.
Wow. Fate is a mysterious thing. I knew a man, a dear old friend who lived well into his late eighties. His father was supposed to be on the Titanic. Something messed up, he missed the boat. Bill got his life and touched many lives, including mine. ❤ life is twisty.
@@The3289691 my dad was working on piper alpha before he was transferred out a day before it blew up, this was way before he met my mom and i thank his transfer for my existance fate is a weird thing for sure
Mercedes benz kicked out of racing for 30 years 1955
One thing that made this accident even worse was that the cars were made of Magnesium - very light but also super flammable. Thats the reason the fire caused by Levegh's car took so long to get put out
Worse yet hot magnesium reacts when water is applied to it. There is film of the French firefighters spraying water on the burning Mercedes only to have sparks fly off of it because of the reaction. It looks almost like a Sodium/water reaction.
I hate hawthorn for blaming the other drivers for his mistake and drinking champagne after winning it.
You should do the 1957 Mille Miglia next. That race had a brutal crash that brutally killed both drivers and 10 spectators.
not ta this to show. My dad was at Mille Miglia in 1953/4
My dad was at all these races, at LeMans he was on the pit counter whehit happened
RIP to Pierre Levegh and all the lost 🙏🏻
Edit and proofread better! At 0:29 Mike Hawthorn was NOT driving a Ferrari - he drove a Jaguar D-Type and won the race!! He only ever raced Formula 1 for Ferrari, not sportscars. The fault, even though everyone tried to blame Hawthorn, wasn't the drivers or the cars - it was, as you say, the complete lack of safety measures on the track to prevent a car from flying into the crowd! The track basically hadn't been altered or upgraded worth a damn since 1923 and 60 mph cars - that's a far cry from 32 years later and 170 mph cars!
While the decision to continue the race was highly controversial, the reasoning to keep things going to prevent spectators from leaving en mass was actually very likely true.
Rip to all 83 spectators and driver Pierre
Very well put together video. Lots of great information here, I've read bits and pieces from different sources over the years.
Well done.
83 people killed and 120 severe injuries is crazy 😮
I would call it tragic, not "crazy."
Good video. We can see you put a lot of effort in to this. Thanks for posting.
Tragic, but fascinating and interesting, great video. 😎👍
Finally a video about this tragedy
@@Ghostmaker36 I was really talking about black flags matter or the iceberg making a video on it.
One of 3 super iconic races I’m watching this year, I already watched the Daytona 500, now I have the Indy 500 and the 24 Hour Le Mans, I’m pretty hyped for both especially since I watched the 24 Hour Daytona, and the Indy 500 is on the same weekend as the Coke 600
The hype surrounding this race going in was Jaguar vs Mercedes, England vs Germany in the french countryside, but just like the last time it was England vs Germany in the French countryside, it ended up leaving many French bodies piled up
Love the pic of the Indy Champ dirt car pilot exchanging hand signals whilst in a 100mph broadslide!
I am a racing fan in general nascar Indy car formula one and endurance racing I have been watching for years as well and this moment in history was tragic but had good positive and the end for the better they made changes. The moment that changed everything
NFJJ should do an ARCA wreckfest video on the last seven Daytona 500s. They all had big wrecks, and several big wrecks at that.
I believe it was the right decision to not cause any immediate panic and cancel the race until ambulances got to everyone and got them out, but after everyone who could have been treated and saved already was, they should have done the right thing and ended the race then and there. It is also sad that history has always shown that until a big tragedy happens safety never improves because race organizer will always think "that is safe enough".
I believe it was totally Mike Hawthorne's fault, based on my own research.
It was almost the end of motorsports
Finally. Someone blames no one for this. It was what we all know: an accident. Bad timing and where it happened were the main causes.
5:54 such a legend
The Don MacTavish fatal crash at a Daytona sportsman event (what eventually became Busch series)
That is the most horrific fatal crash ever!
Did the author say on 0:29 that Hawthorn raced for Ferrari that day???
Yeah, he did - dumb mistake and poor research - see my other comment above!
Well that was a less-than-optimal outcome
Thank god we have fences now
Mike Hawthorne did NOT drive a Ferrari! He drove a Jaguar D-type to “victory” after triggering this horrendous accident
@ 07:39 I'm not sure of the statement regarding Fitch flying a jet and being shot down. That would mean it had to be a Gloster Meteor? I didn't think any Meteors were shot down?
According to Wiki, he shot down a Messerschmitt 262 while flying a P-51. Later he got shot down when he strafed a train for the 3rd time.
👍
100% Hawthorne fault, was pulling into the non existent pit lane so overtaking macklin was completely pointless and a pos move as left him nowhere to go but infront of leveigh
Great work covering the 1955 Le Mans Disaster
💯
3:51
8:36 8:43 8:50
8:58
Im gonna take thing aparts here: 1) Learn HOW to promounce "LeMans". 2) Mike Hawthorn was NOT a Ferrari driver, but Jaugur (in fact he won it in a D-Type Jag). 3) the word JAGUAR does not have a "W in it" as my Mum would say. 4) My Dad was there! #2 man with MG/BMC cars (aka EX182 MGs). 5) Lance Macklin caused it, period! My Mum even knew Lance, and spoke to him about it some time afterwards. Mum was the secretary of race shop at ASTON MARTIN.
How would you pronounce LeMans? 2) True
3) who cares
4) who cares
5) that's right and the other part who cares
@MichaelGreen-vn7dr - I only have issue with one of your comments. The British pronunciation is Jag-u-ar. The American pronunciation is Jag-war. BOTH are considered correct by the American Webster Dictionary as well as the British Oxford Dictionary. There is no right or wrong here. As they say, England and America are two countries divided by a common language. I've always loved that statement!
Stupid is as stupid stands next to a race track watching cars go bye once in a while
Those fans were stupid too. Why would you sit that close to giant bullets?
are you serious?
Holy Shit!!! I know that wreck, that wreck was one of the worst wrecks in human history. It looks like a Jewish Nazi Holocaust that Hitler did in the 1940s in Nazi Germany😢😢😢😢😢
Wouldn’t it be more on the point to say 1944-5 Japanese or 2001 Middle Eastern since they crashed admiral Ackbar style 😢😂
@@oler777 no, i say that it killed 80 people and I thing this wreck have been like a Nazi masacre and all of were Jews
Proof?
wtf
That’s dark
Even as a joke
the worst racing accident.....ever and the thing bout is y all it could had been advoided had pierre had better common horse sense that y all is what we call in the states redneck talk r.i.p. pierre and the 84 spectators a i mean that died that day