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).

History

1927 to 1930 The Bentley years

These years were dominated by the big Bentley Blowers, driven by the Bentley Boys. After 70 years, this marque returned to Le Mans, to win again in 2003.

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1931 to 1934 The Alfa-Romeo years

1955 The worst accident in racing history

In 1955, Pierre Levegh was invited to drive a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR after his excellent previous efforts. He was chasing Mike Hawthorn, when Hawthorn's Jaguar passed the slower Austin-Healey of Lance Macklin before suddenly braking and pulling over to the right to enter the pits. This forced the Austin-Healey to move over to the left, into the path of the faster Mercedes of Levegh and Fangio which were approaching at high speed. Levegh could not do anything, his car ran into the sloped back of the Austin-Healey, was catapulted into the air, and crashed on top of an earth bank designed to protect the crowd. The engine and others parts disintegrated from the chassis and flew into the crowd. The driver and 80 spectators were killed, many others injured. Large portions of the car were made of magnesium, which when ignited burns very intensely, and can be accelerated with the use of water in an attempt to extinguish the flame. Fangio, driving behind Levegh, could narrowly escape. The race was continued, officially to prevent departing spectators from crowding the roads, which would have slowed down ambulances. During the night, by order from Stuttgart, the remaining Mercedes cars (driven by Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss and others) were withdrawn from the race as a sign of respect to the victims. At the end of the 1955 season, Mercedes would retire from racing as planned before. Mike Hawthorn and the Jaguar team continued and won the race, refusing to take any responsibility for the crash.

Related Topics:
1955 - Pierre Levegh - Mercedes-Benz - Mike Hawthorn - Jaguar - Austin-Healey - Lance Macklin - Magnesium - Juan Manuel Fangio - Stirling Moss

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