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The '''1955 Le Mans disaster''' was a major crash that occurred on 11 June 1955 during the [[1955 24 Hours of Le Mans|24 Hours of Le Mans]] motor race at [[Circuit de la Sarthe]] in [[Le Mans]], [[Sarthe]], [[French Fourth Republic|France]]. Large pieces of debris flew into the crowd, killing 83 spectators and French driver [[Pierre Levegh]], and injuring around 120 more. It was the most catastrophic crash in motorsport history, prompting multiple countries in Europe to ban motorsports nationwide; [[Switzerland]] only lifted its ban in 2022.
The crash started when [[Jaguar Cars|Jaguar]] driver [[Mike Hawthorn]] pulled to the right side of the track in front of [[Austin-Healey]] driver [[Lance Macklin]] and started braking for his [[pit stop]]. Macklin swerved out from behind the slowing Jaguar into the path of Levegh, who was passing on the left in his much faster [[Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR]]. Levegh rear-ended Macklin at high speed, overriding Macklin's car and launching his own car through the air. Levegh's car skipped over a protective earthen [[berm]] at 200 km/h (125 mph) and made at least two impacts within the spectator area, the last of which caused the car to disintegrate, throwing him onto the track where he was instantly killed. Large pieces of debris, including the Mercedes' [[engine block]], [[radiator (engine cooling)|radiator]], [[car suspension|front suspension]], and [[Hood (car)|bonnet]] (hood), were sent flying into the packed spectator area in front of the grandstand. The rear of Levegh's car landed on the berm and exploded into flames.
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Macklin, who also braked hard, ran off the right-hand edge of the track, throwing up dust. Noticing that Hawthorn was slowing down, Macklin swerved left to avoid Hawthorn, whether it was an instinctive reaction, a loss of control from going onto the change of road-surface, or his car's disc brakes operating unevenly. As a result, Macklin's car veered across to the centre of the track, briefly out of control. This put him into the way of Levegh's Mercedes, closing in at over {{convert|200|km/h|abbr=on}}, intent on doing another lap and in front of Fangio, who was patiently waiting to pass. Levegh had no time to evade, and with possibly his last action, raised his hand, warning Fangio, thereby probably saving Fangio's life. With his eyes shut, Fangio – with his own quick reflexes – squeezed through the carnage and brushed Hawthorn's then-stationary Jaguar in the pits, allowing him to pass unscathed.<ref name="Spurring 2011, p.217">Spurring 2011, p.217</ref><ref name="Laban 2001, p.118">Laban 2001, p.118</ref>
Levegh's front-right wheel rode up onto the rear-left corner of Macklin's car, which acted as a ramp and launched Levegh's car into the air, flying over spectators and rolling end over end for {{convert|80|m}}.<ref name="BBC Four">[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sfptx "Deadliest Crash:
The critical kink in the road put the car on a direct trajectory toward the packed terraces and grandstand. The car landed on the earthen embankment between the spectators and the track, bounced, then slammed into a concrete stairwell structure and disintegrated. The momentum of the heaviest components of the car – the [[engine block]], [[Radiator (engine cooling)|radiator]], and [[Car suspension|front suspension]] – hurtled straight on into the crowd for almost {{convert|100|m}}, crushing all in their path.<ref name="Spurring 2011, p.217"/> The [[Hood (car)|bonnet]] lid scythed through the air, "[[Decapitation|decapitating]] tightly jammed spectators like a [[guillotine]]".<ref name="ewilkins">{{cite web|url=http://www.ewilkins.com/wilko/lemans.htm|title=Crash and carnage at 150 mph – This is how the worst racing accident happened|publisher=Ewilkins.com|date=27 June 1955|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720170030/http://www.ewilkins.com/wilko/lemans.htm|archive-date=20 July 2011|access-date=31 August 2011}}</ref> Spectators who had climbed onto ladders and scaffolding to get a better view of the track, and those crowding to use the underpass to get to the pits, found themselves in the path of the lethal debris.<ref name="BBC Four"/>
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Jaguar driver [[Duncan Hamilton (racing driver)|Duncan Hamilton]], watching from the pit wall, recalled, "The scene on the other side of the road was indescribable. The dead and dying were everywhere; the cries of pain, anguish, and despair screamed catastrophe. I stood as if in a dream, too horrified to even think."<ref name="Hamilton 1964, p.166">Hamilton 1964, p.166</ref><ref name="Cannell 2011, p.73">Cannell 2011, p.73</ref>
When the rest of Levegh's car landed on the embankment, the rear-mounted fuel tank exploded. The fuel fire raised the temperature of the remaining Elektron bodywork past its ignition temperature, which was lower than that of other metal alloys due to its high magnesium content. The alloy burst into white-hot flames, showering the track and crowd with magnesium embers, made worse by rescue workers unfamiliar with [[Magnesium#Flammability|magnesium fires]] who poured water onto the inferno, greatly intensifying the fire.<ref name="
Meanwhile, Macklin's car, heavily damaged, rammed the left-side barrier, then veered to the right of the track into the pit lane, narrowly missing Kling's Mercedes-Benz, [[Roberto Mieres]]'s [[Maserati]], and [[Don Beauman]]'s Jaguar, all of which were already in the pits refuelling before the accident. Macklin's car hit the unprotected pit-wall, just short of the [[Briggs Cunningham|Cunningham]] and Mercedes-Benz pits where [[Shell Oil|Shell]] and [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] equipment were stationed, running down a policeman, a photographer and two officials (all seriously injured), then rebounded back across the track again to end up skating down the left-side fence for a second time. Macklin survived the incident without serious injury, jumping out of the wreck and over the bank.<ref name="
==Aftermath==
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Despite expectations for the race to be [[Red flag (motorsport)|red-flagged]] and stopped entirely, race officials, led by race director [[Charles Faroux]], kept the race running. In the days after the disaster, several explanations were offered by Faroux for this course of action. They included:
* that if the huge crowd of spectators had tried to leave ''en masse'', they would have choked the main roads around, severely impeding access for medical and emergency crews trying to save the injured;<ref name="BBC Four"/><ref name="Spurring 2011, p.215" /><ref name="Laban 2001, p.116" /><ref name="Clausager 1982, p.94">Clausager 1982, p.94</ref><ref>[[Yesterday (TV channel)]], [https://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/deadliest-crash-disaster-at-le-mans/article/what-happened-le-mans-1955/ ''Deadliest Crash: Disaster at Le Mans''], 9 pm to 10.20 pm. Sunday 6 August 2017</ref>
* that firms participating in the race could have sued the race organizers for huge sums of money;<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40252999/the_boston_globe/|title=French Probe Race Disaster – Toll 79|date=1955-06-13|work=The Boston Globe|access-date=2019-12-08|agency=Reuters|pages=10|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
* that "the rough law of sport dictates that the race shall go on", with Faroux specifically pointing to the [[1952 Farnborough Airshow crash]] as precedent for doing so;<ref name=":0" />
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[[File:Le Mans Memorial 1955 crash.jpg|thumb|Le Mans Memorial Plaque]]
Hawthorn and the Jaguar team kept racing. With the Mercedes team withdrawn and the Ferraris all out of commission, Jaguar's main competition had gone. Hawthorn and Bueb won the race by a margin of five laps from [[Aston Martin]]. The weather had closed in on Sunday morning and there was no victory celebration. However, a press photograph showed Hawthorn smiling on the podium drinking from the victor's bottle of champagne. The French magazine ''L'Auto-Journal'' published it with the sarcastic caption, "''À votre santé, Monsieur Hawthorn!''" (In English, "To your health ('Cheers'), Mr. Hawthorn!")<ref name="BBC Four"/><ref name=SI>{{cite magazine|title=The Tragedy at Le Mans|last=Newman|first=Bruce|date=12 May 1986|url=https://www.si.com/vault/1986/05/12/640840/the-tragedy-at-le-mans|magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]}}</ref
===After the race===
Accounts put the death toll at 80 to 84 (spectators plus Levegh), either by flying debris or from the fire, with a further 120 to 178 injured. Other observers estimated the toll to be much higher.<ref name="
The death toll led to an immediate temporary ban on motorsports in [[France]], [[Spain]], [[Switzerland]], [[West Germany]], and other nations, until racetracks could be brought to a higher safety standard. In the [[United States]], the [[American Automobile Association]] (AAA) dissolved their [[AAA Contest Board|Contest Board]] that had been the primary sanctioning body for motorsport in the US (including the [[Indianapolis 500]]) since 1904. It decided that auto racing detracted from its primary goals, and the [[United States Automobile Club]] was formed to take over the race sanctioning and officiating.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sportscardigest.com/1956-sebring-12-hours-grand-prix-race-profile/|title=1956 Sebring 12 Hours Grand Prix - Race Photos, History, Profile|work=Sports Car Digest|date=7 December 2012}}</ref>
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The next round of the World Sportscar Championship at the [[Nürburgring]] was cancelled, as was the non-championship [[Carrera Panamericana]]. The rest of the [[1955 World Sportscar Championship season]] was completed, with the remaining two 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 catastrophe. Mercedes-Benz won both of these events, and was able to secure the constructors championship for the season. Having achieved that, Mercedes withdrew from motorsport. The horror of the crash caused some drivers present, including Americans Fitch (after completing the season with Mercedes), [[Phil Walters]] (who had been offered a drive with Ferrari for the rest of the season<ref name="Spurring 2011, p.221"/>), and [[Sherwood Johnston]], to retire from racing. Macklin also decided to retire after being involved in another fatal crash, during the [[1955 RAC Tourist Trophy]] race at [[Dundrod Circuit]]. Fangio never raced at Le Mans again. At the Circuit de la Sarthe, the audience stands at the pits were demolished.
Much recrimination was directed at Hawthorn, saying that he had suddenly cut in front of Macklin and slammed on the brakes near the entrance to the pits, forcing Macklin to take desperate evasive action into the path of Levegh. This became the semi-official pronouncement of the Mercedes team and Macklin's story.<ref name="
The media also speculated on the violent fire that engulfed the wreck, which intensified when fire marshals poured their water-based extinguishers on the flames. They suggested that Mercedes-Benz had tampered with the official fuel-supply with an explosive additive, but the intensity of the fire was due instead to the magnesium-alloy construction of the [[chassis]]. Neubauer got the French authorities to test residual fuel left in the wreck's fuel injection and the result vindicated the company.<ref name="Spurring 2011, p.218"/>
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Opinions differed widely amongst the other drivers as to who was directly to blame for the crash, and such differences remain even today. Macklin claimed that Hawthorn's move to the pits was sudden, causing an emergency that led him to swerve into Levegh's path. Years later Fitch claimed, based on his own recollection and from what he heard from others, that Hawthorn had caused it. Dewis ventured the opinions that Macklin's move around Hawthorn was careless and that Levegh was not competent to meet the demands of driving at the speeds the 300SLR was capable of.<ref name="BBC Four"/>
Both Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz issued official statements, mainly in self-defence against the accusations levelled against them and their drivers. Neubauer limited himself to suggesting improvements to the pit straight and making pit-stops safer.<ref name="
Macklin, on reading Hawthorn's 1958 autobiography, ''Challenge Me the Race'', was embittered when he found that Hawthorn now disclaimed all responsibility for the crash without identifying who had 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 still unresolved when Hawthorn was killed in a non-racing crash on the [[Guildford]] bypass in 1959, coincidentally while overtaking a Mercedes-Benz in his Jaguar.<ref name="Macklin obituary">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1406160/Lance-Macklin.html|title=Lance Macklin|work=Daily Telegraph|location=UK|date=4 September 2002|access-date=14 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603205459/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1406160/Lance-Macklin.html|archive-date=3 June 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>
The official government inquiry into the accident called officials, drivers, and team personnel to be questioned and give evidence. The wreckage was examined and tested and, finally, returned to Mercedes-Benz nearly twelve months after the catastrophe.<ref name="Spurring 2011, p.218"/> In the end the enquiry ruled that no specific driver was responsible for the crash, and that it was merely a terrible racing incident. The death of the spectators was blamed on inadequate safety standards for the track design.<ref name="
===Legacy===
Over the next year, the [[Automobile Club de l'Ouest]] (ACO) set about making extensive track improvements and infrastructure changes at the Circuit de la Sarthe—the pit straight was redesigned and widened to remove the kink just before the start-finish line, and to give room for a deceleration lane. The pits complex was pulled down and rebuilt, giving more room to the teams, but thereby limiting spaces to only 52 starters rather than the previous 60. The grandstand was demolished and rebuilt with new spectator terraces and a wide ditch between them and the racetrack.<ref name="
Fitch became a major safety advocate and began active development of safer road cars and racing circuits. He invented traffic safety devices currently in use on highways, including the sand-and-air-filled ''[[Impact attenuator#Fitch barriers|Fitch barrels]]''.<ref name="racesafety.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.racesafety.com/fitchbio.html|title=Racing Safety – John Fitch Biography|work=racesafety.com|access-date=21 March 2016}}</ref>
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==See also==
* ''[[Deadliest Crash: The Le Mans 1955 Disaster]]'', 2009 TV documentary for the BBC
* [[Le Mans 1955 (film)|''Le Mans 1955'' (film)]], CG animated short film about the disaster
* {{Ill|
==References==
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==External links==
* [https://www.mike-hawthorn.org.uk/lemans.php Le Mans 1955 from The Mike Hawthorn Tribute Site] – Extensive 1955 Le Mans coverage – reports, analysis, photos/video of race & crash. Retrieved 10 December 2016
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140222214104/http://www.spike.com/video-clips/ds4l4v/1955-le-mans-disaster Video of accident and aftermath]. Retrieved 10 December 2016
* {{youTube|fUcHl-5Ke_k|British Pathé film clips from the race}} (no sound)
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