24 Hours of Le Mans

24 hours of Le Mans (24 heures du Mans) is the most famous sports car endurance race. It is held at Circuit de la Sarthe near Le Mans, France, in the French Sarthe département. It is organised by the Automobile Club de L'Ouest (A.C.O). The first race was held on May 26 and 27, 1923 and has since been run annually in June, with the exceptions of 1956 (July) and 1968 (in September, due to nationwide political turmoils in spring see May 1968), and was cancelled only in 1936 (economy) and from 1940 to 1948 (World War 2).

Accidents

Le Mans is also known for the worst accident in the history of motor racing. In 1955, Pierre Levegh was invited to drive a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. Racing for the lead, he hit the back of a slower Austin-Healey which had to swerve left in order to pass the Jaguar of Mike Hawthorn who suddenly moved over to the pits. The much faster Mercedes was unable to avoid the Austin-Healey, was catapulted upwards by the sloped rear end and crashed into the huge crowd opposite of the pit lane, disintegrating into parts. The driver and more than 80 spectators were killed, and many others were injured. The race was continued to prevent leaving spectators from crowding the roads which would have slowed down ambulances. The Mercedes team retired at that point as a sign of respect to the victims, while Jaguar continued, with Mike Hawthorn winning.

Related Topics:
1955 - Jaguar - Mike Hawthorn

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In the shock following this disaster, many major and minor races were cancelled in 1955, like the Grand Prix races in Germany and Switzerland - the latter country banned circuit automobile racing, a ban which still remains in effect today.

Related Topics:
Grand Prix - Switzerland - Automobile racing

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At the end of the season, having won World Championships in Formula One and Sports Cars, Mercedes withdrew from motor racing generally, and did not return until 1987. That today's DaimlerChrysler Corporation, owner of the Mercedes marque, is still aware of and sensitive to this incident was evidenced by their re-withdrawal from sports car racing in 1999 after their CLR sports prototypes caught air and backflipped three times at Le Mans. Aerodynamic modifications made to the #4 car after a practice crash couldn't prevent it from becoming airborne again during the warm-up, this time at a different section of the track. The remaining two slightly different cars started the race, but the #5 car took off like an airplane and somersaulted into the forest, in front of a live TV audience. Incredibly, driver Peter Dumbreck walked away from the flipped car without injury, just like Mark Webber did twice before. Car #6 retired immediately. Similar accidents involving a Porsche and a BMW happened in the USA during the 1980s.

Related Topics:
Formula One - Sports Cars - 1987 - DaimlerChrysler Corporation - 1999 - CLR - Airplane - Peter Dumbreck - Mark Webber - Porsche - BMW - 1980s

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