1955 Le Mans disaster

The 1955 Le Mans disaster occurred during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race, when a crash caused large parts of racing car debris to fly into the crowd. The driver (Pierre Levegh) was killed, as were 83 spectators. A further 120 people were injured. In terms of human toll, it is the most catastrophic accident in motorsports history.

Before the accident
Pierre Levegh, aged 49, had been hired by Mercedes-Benz as a factory driver that year. Part of his appeal to Mercedes was his determination shown in the 1952 race when he had driven for 23 straight hours, even though he did have a driver who could have replaced him. He failed to win only because of a missed gear change due to exhaustion, resulting in engine failure in the final hour of the race.

Mercedes-Benz had also debuted its new 300 SLR sportscar in the 1955 World Sportscar Championship season, with some notable success, including a win at the Mille Miglia. The 300 SLR featured a body made of an ultralightweight magnesium alloy called Elektron with a specific gravity of just 1.8 (for reference, aluminium has a S.G. of 2.7 and steel 7.8). This body lowered the overall weight of the car, improving performance. The car, however, lacked the contemporary state-of-the-art disc brakes featured on the rival Jaguar D-Type, employing instead the conventional drum brake system. The high power of the car forced Mercedes' engineers to also incorporate a large air brake behind the driver's compartment that could be raised to increase drag and slow the car down with sufficient rapidity for most conditions.

Safety measures, commonplace today, were relatively unknown in 1955. The Le Mans circuit itself had remained largely unaltered since the inception of the race in 1923, when top speeds of cars were typically in the region of 60 mph. By 1955 top speeds were in excess of 185 mph. The cars had no seatbelts, the drivers themselves reasoning that it was preferable to be thrown clear in a collision rather than be trapped in a burning or damaged car.

Immediate cause
The 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans began on 11 June, with Pierre Levegh behind the wheel of the #20 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR run by Daimler-Benz. American John Fitch was Levegh's assigned partner in the car, and he would take over driving duties later. Competition between Mercedes, Jaguar, Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Maserati was close, with all the marques fighting for the top positions early on. The race was extremely fast, with lap records being repeatedly broken.

At the end of Lap 35, Levegh was following Mike Hawthorn's leading Jaguar D-type, just as they were entering the pit straight. Hawthorn had just passed Lance Macklin's slower Austin-Healey 100 when he belatedly noticed a pit signal to stop for fuel. Hawthorn slowed suddenly in an effort to stop rather than make another lap. Hawthorn's Jaguar, with the new disc brakes, slowed much more quickly than other cars using drum brakes, such as Levegh's Mercedes. The sudden, unexpected braking by Hawthorn caused Macklin in the Healey to hit his brakes, throwing up a small cloud of dust in front of Levegh, who trailed close behind. Macklin then swerved across the centre of the track, attempting to re-pass the slowing Jaguar, but also apparently out of control. Macklin had not noticed both Levegh and Juan Manuel Fangio, in another 300 SLR, approaching rapidly from behind. Fangio was in second place at the time, but directly behind, and attempting to lap Levegh.

Levegh, ahead of Fangio on the track, did not have time to react. Levegh's car made contact with the left rear of Macklin's car as he closed rapidly (at about 150 mph) upon the slowed car. The aerodynamic design of the Austin-Healey featured a long, ramp-like rear. When Levegh hit the Austin-Healey from behind, his car became airborne, soaring towards the left side of the track, where it landed atop the earthen embankment separating spectators from the track itself.

Collision
Levegh's 300 SLR struck the mound at such speed and angle that it was launched into a somersault, which caused some parts of the car, already damaged and loosened by the collision, to be flung from the vehicle at very great speeds. This included the bonnet and the front axle, both of which separated from the frame and flew through the crowd. The bonnet decapitated tightly jammed spectators like a guillotine. With the front of the spaceframe chassis—and thus crucial engine mounts—destroyed, the car's heavy engine block also broke free and hurtled into the crowd. Spectators who had climbed onto trestle tables to get a better view of the track found themselves in the direct path of the lethal debris. Levegh was also thrown free of the tumbling car, fatally crushing his skull when he landed.

As the remains of the 300 SLR slowed its somersault, the rear-mounted fuel tank ruptured. The ensuing fuel fire raised the temperature of the remaining Elektron bodywork past its flashpoint, which due to its high magnesium content was already very low. The alloy burst into white-hot flames, sending searing embers onto the track and into the crowd. Rescue workers, totally unfamiliar with how to attack a magnesium fire, poured water on the inferno – greatly intensifying the fire. As a result, the car burned for several hours. Official accounts put the death total at 84 (83 spectators plus Levegh), either by flying debris or from the fire, with a further 120 injured. Other observers estimated the toll to be much higher.

Fangio, driving behind Levegh, narrowly escaped the heavily damaged Austin-Healey, which was now skidding to the right of the track, across his path. Macklin then hit the pit wall and bounced back to the left, crossing the track again. He impacted the barrier near the location of the now burning 300 SLR, causing the death of another single spectator, although Macklin survived the incident without serious injury.

Conclusion of the race
The race was continued, officially in order to prevent departing spectators from crowding the roads and slowing down ambulances. In the immediate wake of the disaster, an emergency midnight meeting of the Daimler-Benz board of directors was convened. The Daimler board, mindful of sensitivities involving German cars in a French race just 10 years after the end of World War II, made their decision. Eight hours after the accident, the official order came through: pull out. The two remaining Mercedes cars, driven by Juan Manuel Fangio/Stirling Moss and Karl Kling/André Simon, were to immediately withdraw from the race as a sign of respect to the victims. At the time, Mercedes was leading the race over Jaguar. Mercedes invited Jaguar to also retire, but they declined.

Mike Hawthorn and the Jaguar team, led by motorsport manager Lofty England, kept racing. Hawthorn won the race with teammate Bueb. As a mark of respect, the pair did not indulge in wild celebration. Funeral services for the dead were held the next day at the cathedral in the town of Le Mans.

After the race
After the race the French press carried photographs of Hawthorn and Bueb celebrating their win with the customary champagne but treated them with scorn.

Nevertheless, an official inquiry into the accident ruled that Jaguar was not responsible for the crash, and that it was merely a racing incident. The death of the spectators was blamed on inadequate safety standards for track design, leading to a ban on motorsports in France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, and other nations until the tracks could be brought to a higher safety standard. Switzerland's ban did not allow for the running of timed motorsports such as hillclimbs, a race which allowed two cars to compete alongside one another. This forced Swiss racing promoters to organize circuit events in foreign countries including France, Italy, and Germany. In 2003 the Swiss parliament started a lengthy discussion about whether this ban should be lifted. The discussion focused on traffic policy and environmental questions rather than on safety. On 10 June 2009, the Ständerat (one chamber of the parliament) was defeated for the second time and therefore definitively, which meant that the ban would stay.

The rest of the 1955 World Sportscar Championship season was completed, with two more races at the British RAC Tourist Trophy and the Italian Targa Florio, although they were not run until September and October, several months after the accident. Mercedes-Benz won both of these events, and were able to secure the constructors championship for the season.

Opinions differed widely, amongst the other drivers, as to who was directly to blame for the accident, and such differences remain even today. Levegh's co-driver, John Fitch, became a major safety advocate and began active development of safer road cars and racing circuits. At the Le Mans circuit itself, the Grandstand and pit areas were demolished and rebuilt soon after.

After also winning the last major race of the 1955 season, the Targa Florio, Mercedes-Benz announced that they would no longer participate in factory sponsored motorsport in order to concentrate on development of production cars. The self-imposed ban on circuit racing lasted until the 1980s. The Jaguar works racing team also closed down a few months later and did not return to Le Mans for over thirty years. Two drivers, Fangio and Jaguar's Norman Dewis, never raced at Le Mans again.

Macklin had regarded Hawthorn as a friend; but, when he read Hawthorn's autobiography "Challenge Me The Race" in 1958, he was embittered to find that Hawthorn disclaimed all responsibility for the accident without identifying who had actually caused it. With Levegh dead, Macklin presumed that Hawthorn's implication was that he (Macklin) had been responsible, and he began a libel action. The action was unresolved when Hawthorn was killed in a crash on the Guildford bypass in 1959.