Pages:
Click on one of the following images to open up the page:
Page 1 - Introduction - Explanatory Notes etc.
Page 2 - The Cast (In Alphabetical Order)
Page 3 - Preparations
Page 4 - Practice and Qualifications
Page 5 - The Race I: Before The Crash
Page 6 - The Crash
Page 7 - The Race II: After The Crash
Page 8 - Conclusion
Page 9 - Credits And Bibliography
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THE FASTLANE :: Features :: Le Mans 1955 Tribute :: Page 5
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5. The Race I: Before the Crash
Race poster:
Program:
For the 23th running of the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, expectations were very high indeed. Mercedes had returned after a two-year break during which time all the team's efforts had been put into the successful F1 campaign, which also saw them adopting the great Fangio during the 1954 season. Having won Le Mans by default in 1952, when the heroic and epic Talbot run of privateer Pierre Levegh against the Works Mercedes' ended with only 70 minutes to go, because of a small driver's error, Mercedes this time entered three of the magnificent airbrake 300SLRs in an attempt to beat the formidable disc-brake D-type Jaguars. Fangio and Moss had been paired as definitely the best quality entry in the entire race, and were the favorites to win. Karl Kling and Frenchman André Simon, and Pierre Levegh and American John Fitch made up the other two Mercedes entries. The weather on Saturday was excellent - hot and windless. The massive French crowd were rooting for the British Jags, and the political connotations were clearly evident. A mere 2 miles away from Mulsanne Corner the Nazis had during the war built an internment camp for prisoners of the French resistance, and everybody wanted to see the Mercs (i.e. Germany) beaten. I wonder how they really felt about having their own countryman and favourite Levegh drive one of the 300SLRs... In far excess of a quarter million spectators were present, a lot of whom had travelled over from England, to watch the great battle between Ferrari, Jaguar and Mercedes. From the start, the Ferrari of the suave young Italian Castellotti took the lead, and held it in the early hours of the race, later falling back to third, and then retiring with engine problems. Soon, however, the great duel between the Hawthorn Jag and the Fangio Merc begun to unfold, and had the catastrophic accident not occurred, it might have been one of the greatest of all time*. At this time, the 1955 Le Mans must have been an extremely exciting race to watch.
The Jaguar strategy as far as team manager Lofty England was concerned was for Hawthorn to act as "hare", giving it all from the beginning. The Jaguars were the fastest cars, but the Mercedes' had better brakes and then of course better pairing of drivers. The Works Jaguar team hoped to "wear out" the Mercs, making the priority: car #6 then 7 and 8, the #7 taking over from Hawthorn if he failed and so on. Similarly, Neubauer "held back" the Kling and Levegh Mercs, in case the long and arduous race proved to tough on the favorite car which considering its being driven by Fangio and Moss was rather needlessly instructed to go all out all of the way. Hawthorn was a match for them, but not so Bueb, who was considered the "weak" point in the #6 Jaguar. With Castellotti ferociously attacking the circuit from the start, the Jags and Mercs had the Ferrari in front to consider, but they probably felt that the passionate Italian would fall back in the long run, taking into account the fact that Castellotti's GP-style temperament wasn't really suited to endurance racing. The effect of this strategy, however, was that the three front-runners, the Ferrari, Jag and Merc, were seen from the outside as having what was more a grand prix type battle fought between them, with merciless speed and vicious competition as a result, even from the early start of the race. Lap records were thus effectively demolished in the first 2-3 hours of the race by all three of them in succession, and the relentless pace at the front meant the early lappings of just about everybody else in the entire field. This record-setting speed was in stark contrast to the more well-disciplined behaviour of the Porsches, which were more concerned with winning their class.
Pit lane, pre-race:
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Spectators near Dunlop Bridge, the bespectacled man is the person who took many of the pictures featured in this post, Herbert S. Wilson. He was an American soldier on service in Europe, and had travelled to watch the race:
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Uhlenhaut and Levegh's Mercedes:
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Kling Mercedes in pits before start:
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Hans Hermann and Fangio. Hermann didn't compete that year due to injuries sustained in his crash earlier at the Monaco F1 GP:
Hawthorn with two unknown persons, pre-race:
#41 MG of Ken Miles/Johnny Lockett:
MG pits:
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Pits before the start:
Levegh and Neubauer giving final instructions:
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The start:
The starter of the race was the famous Italian Conte Ayme Maggi, who was one of if not the foremost brain behind the immortal Italian road race famously known as the Mille Miglia.
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Despite a bad running "Le Mans" start for Fangio who had copied Moss' method of "leaping into the car" without opening the door, and as a result accidentally (and rather comically) had the gear lever stuck up his trouser leg, he managed to go from 14th to 4th place in a matter of just a few laps. From the beginning, Castellotti was in front of a dicing Hawthorn and Fangio, who both passed him sometime during the 2nd hour, with Fangio in front in the race up until the time of the accident and never relinquishing the lead until the cars were withdrawn.
Mercedes action shots (Pierre "Levegh" Bouillin). The second one is rather eerie, as his face looks like a black hole, due to the dark goggles. Note the window in the air brake, installed so that cars lying behind might see what happened ahead. Note also the white shirt he is wearing. This fact is rather important in relation to one of the videos showing the crash:
Levegh in front of Frankenberg porsche:
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The retired Kieft, the first car to retire in the race:
| Quote: |
| In the early part of 1955 Baxter drove this car, registered LDA 3 (the number was probably switched from one of those allotted to a 1953 car, but exported), in Club events and then ran it at Le Mans. For this race the fuel injection was replaced by special Solex carburettors, which necessitated an enormous air scoop on the bonnet. Baxter co-drove with John Deeley (an Austin Healey racer), but the Kieft retired because of overheating on the sixth lap. |
- http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/genealogy/Kieft/TheEnd.htm
"Mike Sparken" (Michel Pobejersky) at Mulsanne Corner, another early retirement from the race. Co-driver Masten Gregory didn't get to drive the Ferrari 750 Monza. The Polensky/Frankenberg Porsche goes by:
| Quote: |
| In 1955, he went to race at Le Mans, but co-driver Mike Sparken broke a piston in the 3 liter Ferrari early on in the race. Masten never got a chance to get behind the steering wheel. |
- http://www.atlasf1.com/2000/aut/cox.html
Wreck of unusually designed Italian car #61, a Nardi driven by Dr. Mario Damonte, his French teammate Roger Crovetto never got to drive after this early crash put it out of the race:
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Levegh on his last lap:
The packed grandstand and surrounding area before the crash, arrow indicating the point of impact:
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The ferociously driven Ferrari of Eugenio Castellotti spun at Mulsanne corner (not the reason for the car's later retirement though), early on in the race:
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Some images (of varying quality) from the early hours of the race, showing amongst other things the Fangio/Hawthorn duel:
Mercedes action shot (Fangio, Mulsanne Corner):
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Jaguar action shot (Mike Hawthorn):
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Aston Martin action shot, esses, (Roy Salvadori/Peter Walker):
Unknown probably Hawthorn Jaguar at Mulsanne Corner:
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MG action shot (behind Karl Kling/André Simon Mercedes), probably #64 of Ted Lund/Hans Waeffler, Mulsanne Corner:
Ferrari action shots (Eugenio Castelotti):
Jaguar and Mercedes action shot (Mike Hawthorn and Juan-Manuel Fangio), Maison Blanche:
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Mercedes action shot (Juan-Manuel Fangio):
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Hawthorn and Fangio under the Dunlop Bridge.
Fangio under the Dunlop Bridge:
Unknown Ferrari under the Dunlop Bridge:
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Hawthorn leading Fangio:
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"The Three Musketeers", Castellotti, Hawthorn and Fangio, into the Esses:
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Fangio with air brake up, chased by Hawthorn and Castellotti:
Having shed Castellotti:
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Kling followed by another Mercedes:
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Alfred Neubauer in the Mercedes Pits:
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Fangio leading Hawthorn under Dunlop Bridge, early Saturday:
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Hawthorn ahead of Fangio at Mulsanne Corner:
Fangio and Hawthorn overtaking #47 Cooper T39 of Edgar Wadsworth/John Brown in the entry to the Esses:
The duel (and other scenes from the race) inspired several artists, some of their work can be seen in the following section:
Denis Sire painting (esses):
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Two Francesco Scianna paintings (Hawthorn/Fangio):
Unknown artist's impression of the winning Jag in the pits:
Unknown artist:
FOOTNOTES:
* = The fight Fangio vs. Hawthorn was a repetition of the 1953 Reims F1 GP, which was and still is considered one of the classic "ding-dong" racing duels of that, or indeed any era. BTW, Hawthorn won that time around, also. Read an eyewitness account here: http://www.flyandrive.com/story6.htm
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