1955 Lemans Crash, 85 Killed ! Graphic !!!

[Retro Rob]

Found this interesting clip on the 1955 LeMans auto race. The deadliest day in motor racing. The Mercerdes launched into the crowd and killed 85 people, many were decapitated by the rear axle which sheared off and went across the grandstand at head level. Warning Graphic !!!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FXtb5eDUuQw

 

[SamMarlowPI]

holy buddha...i've never heard of it...huh...well they got safety up the posterior now...drivers and spectators...

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

Wow. This is the first time I've ever heard of this; just awful. The newsreel itself is a little odd though, with the reading off of the stats and finishers, and how many of them were British. Strange...

 

[kampkatz]

A grim bit of sporting history. Sadly, spectators at recent recing events have been similarly killed, although on a much smaller scale.

 

[Twitch]

This event is the singular reason Mercedes quit racing untill the mid-90s and then only in the prototype GT category.

 

[Retro Rob]

I read a great book on the race. There was a lot of controversy. The Mercedes car ran into an Austin Healy which was much slower. The Austin was trying to avoid the D type Jaguar driven by Mike Hawthorn, who look a very sharp right turn into the pits, there was no pit lane at the time. Cars pulled in at almost right angles. Mercedes decided to pull out even though their other car driven by Stirling Moss was in the lead (every team had a couple cars). They knew Germans killing French 10 years after WW2 was a PR disaster, whether it was an accident or not. The strangest thing about the race was the officials decided not to stop the race, there was actually a woman laying on the track in flames for quite a while as cars race by. The French said that if they stopped the race, they never would have gotten emergency vehicle out because of the panic and mass exodus to the gates. Still it was very morbid. There was a full scale court investigation, and even talk of criminal charges. Many countries banned auto racing after the incident, including Switzerland which still doesn't allow racing today.

 

[zaika]

whoa. how awful!!

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Tragic. I'd heard about it in the 1970s; children got in free at Watkins Glen and since I was a tomboy I'd go with my dad and his best friend to every race. People still talked about the LeMans tragedy. Sadly, I can remember being at the Glen three times when fatal crashes occured (fatal for the racer, not spectators).

 

[Retro Rob]

Begin, I see your in Rochester, I used to live in there, Great town

 

[BegintheBeguine]

fftopic: It is a great town, I love it. Did you go to RIT?