24 Hours of Le Mans, the deadliest crash in motor race history

Le Monde shares unseen archive footage shot by amateur filmmakers at the 1955 Le Mans circuit, a near-lost story of motor racing’s biggest tragedy.
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At the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race, on June 11 1955, a race car broke apart in the grandstands, going at 240km/h. 82 died, and more than 120 people were injured.
70 years after the tragedy, Le Monde accessed previously unseen archival footage. The amateur footage, shot as close to the circuit as possible, gives a better understanding of how the world's most famous race turned into a disaster.
The footage was entrusted to the Normandy Cinémathèque, a non-profit organization that preserves and digitizes amateur films from many different places.
To mark the centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Le Monde sheds new light on the history of the most famous motor race circuit to date.

[@LeMondeInEnglish]

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[@sklew]

Amazing footage

[@alloyd759]

GREAT informative documentary and footage! Thank you!👍

[@eus478]

My informations says that this Austin-Healey had disc brakes too, but Macklin was surprised by Hawthorn's recklessly braking in front of him to enter the pits after he just overtook him, while Macklin tried to use the drag of the faster car which under normal circumstances would easily pull away. On the other hand Macklin's evasive move by reflex was reckless too and caused a reaction chain which left Levegh without any chance to avoid the fatal collision, or to give Fangio a hand signal for warning. This is a myth, spread by Fangio himself to say something nice about the late Levegh. Who knows more?

[@lemondefr]

Thank you for your comment !

[@psk5746]

IMO Hawthorn caused this accident and poor Levegh took the blame because he was not able to defend himself

[@ESowder24]

Thankfully the Indy 500 didn’t turn out like this with the tire

[@goacoa]

It's unfathomable that the race was continued through all the carnage! 😢

[@Loulovesspeed]

If the race had been stopped at the time of the crash, dozens of thousands of spectators leaving at once would have prevented, or at least greatly delayed the arrival of ambulances desperately needed to get the many injured to a hospital quickly. Continuing the race therefore most assuredly saved more lives than would have been the case otherwise.

[@pierluigimariani5382]

Eh eh 70 years after the disaster will be in 2025, thanks for the weddings films.