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 7
7. The Race II: After the Crash
A little later on*, another very bad accident occurred at Maison Blanche. Dick Jacobs in his brand new MG EX182 had a nearly fatal solo accident in which his car overturned and caught fire. At this time, the full implications of the Levegh crash was slowly becoming clear to everybody there, and the Jacobs accident understandably didn't get a lot of attention. Communications about the crash got garbled along the way, the MG factory was informed that Dick had died, and back in England Jacobs' 13-year old son Pat was told by relatives that his father had been killed. Some 3 hours later, the mistake was corrected and the young boy cried with relief. It tells you something about the total confusion, chaos and panic at Le Mans the time - nobody really knew anything.
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| Quote: |
| This picture was taken just few minutes after Jacobbs' MG rolled at Maison-Blanche. This incident which happened just few minutes after the Levegh tragedy, was overshadowed by the general panic. The people finally saw a second column of smoke in the sky, while the driver, who had been ejected from his car, was hospitalized in a bad state. |
As Hawthorn came around on his "extra" lap he saw the wrecked MG at Maison Blanche in which Dick Jacobs had almost joined the scores of dead at the pit straight. The story of the MG driver was a bit of a tragedy in its own right, but fortunately he at least came through.
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The MG team around the wreck. The woman in the middle is obviously touched by the scene - this could be Jacobs' wife, and possibly also little Pat by her side, having travelled over to be with their injured husband and father:
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Brooks, Olivier and Rolt were among the flagged cars who drove slowly through the debris on pit straight, without damaging the cars. Macklin's car was dragged to the pits by a gendarme and some officials. The woman's body on the track which was still smoking from the heat of the Mercedes fire and which was mistaken for that of Levegh was by a gendarme covered with one of the advertisements which adorned the barriers along the pit straight. There were no attempts to revive her, probably because she was assumed dead, which I'm sure was the case. A little later, she was seen dragged away from the track inside the advertising banner, and taken to the infield. Whether she survived or not I haven't been able to determine, but it's very highly unlikely. The picture of her lifeless form on the track next to the magnesium fire is one of the worst among all the dreadful images from the aftermath of the crash. The simple but horrific explanation of the corpse's presence on the track was that a hubcap from the Mercedes had somehow wound itself around her dress, and propelled her onto the track over the banking. She must have been among the spectators standing in the enclosure belonging to the car seller's club.
In the panic another unnamed person, an Englishman, was seen running from the pits to get over to the grandstand, possibly to lend assistance, but he was struck down by one of the gendarmes. It is unlikely that he saw someone he knew over there, as only 2 Britons were killed in among the spectators, so it was probably another example of the spreading panic.
Several officials attempted to put out the burning Mercedes with fire extinguishers, but it just made matters worse, as the magnesium sputtered and sent sparks everywhere. Briggs Cunningham, approaching the pits, saw this from a distance and thought for a moment that fireworks had been set off from the grandstands. Moments later he would discover the real reason. The loudspeakers in the pit area kept on playing during the crash and its aftermath - traditional cheery French accordion music - which again shows that just about everyone was totally shocked, stunned and powerless to act. Unbelievably, morbidly curious spectators later wanted to see the bodies, and converged around the pit straight tunnel entrance to see the blood and guts. Shades of Macklin's later statement.
A French journalist by the name of Mennem witnessed the whole thing and took pictures and ensured that amateur film was published immediately. In that sense, he only did his duty as a reporter.
The Mercedes pits now became the centre of attention. A Mercedes executive speaking with Keser on the phone from Stuttgart asked him a retorical question: what will you do at 4PM? It was obvious that they could not go on without risking the condemnation of everyone. After midnight Mercedes informed Jaguar that they would withdraw. Lofty basically didn't care. Race had gone on so why stop now, unless it was an official decision from the organisers. Possibly they weren't fully aware of circumstances, but Mercedes must have known. Lofty England also argued why should Jaguar withdraw when Hawthorn wasn't to blame for the accident. WHICH IS NOT THE POINT! THEY SHOULD HAVE WITHDRAWN OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE DEAD!
At 9:30PM Dr. Fritz Nallinger, the chief engineer with Mercedes, instructed Neubauer to withdraw from the race. This would at first be seen as an "admission of guilt", and Keser and Neubauer agreed to withdraw only if others did, too. This made no sense. Later they realised that they had to, to avoid winning the race and getting a full-scale scandal full of WW2 undertones about Germans killing the French all over again. Throughout the evening ambulances drove, death toll rose, but the organisers were deliberately not informing spectators about it, in order to avoid panic. Relatives started to appear in hospitals, to pick up their dead, or attend their wounded. Someone had found Levegh's helmet which contained brain matter. Keser was asked by Denise Levegh to go and identify his body. Thus, a different type of panic was witnesses after the scramble to get away from the crash scene, as communications were overburdened by people wanting to use phones to get or give information, and people rushed to the scene to find their friends and family members, hoping that they would be alright.
The organisers at this point made 2 very wise decisions:
a) let the race continue to avoid mass exodus from track, blocking the free passage of ambulances.
b) not reveal the full scale of the accident over the loudspeakers to avoid panic - instead pleas were made for blood donors, doctors and nurses among the crowd to come forth and give assistance.
The drivers were so low in their cars that they couldn't see what was happening on the other side of the earthen barrier, and therefore many of them didn't realise what had happened until long after the crash.
Neubauer wanted to wait until 4AM, the half-way point, to be able to "nobly withdraw" with Fangio/Moss in first and Kling/Simon in 2nd. Fangio/Moss were now 2 laps up because a half-stunned Bueb was driving the #6 Jaguar.
The Porsche team didn't inform Polensky about the crash, but von Frankenberg knew. They didn't want to upset him, and that may have aided them towards winning their class, because they allowed the driver to concentrate on the job ahead. Olivier, who was a type o-negative rare blood type was at first required to give blood, but as another person was found who had the same, he was allowed to continue in the Porsche.
The IN sign was shown at 1:40 - the Mercedes' did another lap, then withdrew, with Kling in 2nd place. Moss was in the leading car, and he didn't agree with the decision to withdraw. "It wouldn't have accomplished anything". Still, because of this gesture, Mercedes came out as moral winners.
Hawthorn (after his first changeover with Bueb) went in and told Macklin he was sorry, that it was his fault, and that he would never race again. This is the closest to an admission of guilt made by any person ever. Everyone else were busy washing their hands, or trying to ignore what had happened.
This is Macklin's official statement, made on the evening of the crash. It later became important to the criminal investigations which followed:
| Lance Macklin wrote: |
| After passing me (Mike) Hawthorn turned too sharply towards the right and braked," Macklin told the court. "I braked my car as hard as I could to avoid him. My wheels locked and I was carried towards the left. Levegh's car hit the back of my car. In an affair of this kind it is difficult to speak of responsibility. Hawthorn no doubt committed an error but the real responsibility was the speed of the cars. In the excitement of his struggle (with Levegh and Juan Manuel Fangio) Hawthorn executed a manouevre which astonished me and he left me no other alternative than to either run into him or turn to the left. |
Macklin thus maintained his story, and Mercedes then accused Hawthorn of starting the chain reaction.
With their cars withdrawn, Mercedes then packed up and left immediately.
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More than half the cars were out at half-time, and Hawthorn led from then on until the end.
With daylight came the rain, symbolic of the general atmosphere at the track. First light, then heavy rain, and cold weather.
Flags were at half mast everywhere, and at 10:30AM, a memorial service was held in the Le Mans cathedral. Similarly, there were masses held at the track in the early morning hours, with many spectators in attendance.
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In the following, the further stories of many of the other entries are described:
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This was Colin Chapman's début. A controversial episode put his car out of competition, as the #48 Lotus shared with Ron Flockhart was disqualified for reversing after hitting a sand bank at Arnage. Overcautious track marshalls reported the situation, and sometime during the night the car was officially disqualified, which explains the inconsistency of the race results compared with this daylight pic:
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Wreck of #8 Jaguar Works D-type of Don Beauman/Norman Dewis, which was crashed during the night by Beauman. Dewis was fastest of all, reaching 192mph at one point on the Mulsanne Straight:
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Norman Dewis:
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The American Jag of William 'Bill' Spear/Phil Walters which later blew its engine.
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Breaking for Mulsanne Corner:
Retired:
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Keith Woodcock-painting of Hawthorn/Bueb and Fangio/Moss, during the night:
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Sunday:
Cunningham C6-R action shot (Sherwood Johnston):
The other Briggs Cunningham entry, the C6-R-Offenhauser, retired with a broken piston before noontime Sunday. These pics possibly show this situation:
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Here, note the closeness to the pits. The winning Jag passing by with only inches to spare:
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Behind pits, the Cunningham team, with the retired #22:
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The Gordini and unknown car at Tertre Rouge:
The lone Gordini of Jacques Pollet/Hermano 'Nano' Da Silva Ramos retired early Sunday morning:
| Quote: |
| Thus he (i.e. Ramos) was hired by Amédée Gordini to race at Le Mans in a Gordini 15S with Jacques Pollet. Unfortunately, as in 1954, Da Silva Ramos had to retire after 14 hours because of a holed radiator. |
http://8w.forix.com/dasilvaramos.html
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#33 Bristol at Mulsanne Corner:
All Bristol 450Cs** finished, and incidentally one right after the other, claiming 7th, 8th and ninth place overall - a rather strange coincidence, as they had done precisely that the year before. The Peter Wilson/Jim Mayers entry won the 1501-2000cc category. Mike Keen drove one of the other Bristols. Both he and Mayers would die later that year in horrible sportscar accidents on British tracks, as would Jag driver Don Beauman, another Englishman, who was killed at Wicklow during the Leinster Trophy.
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The Lagonda dropped out because it ran out of gas, which sounds more amateurish than it really was. The car had a perforated tank. Reg Parnell, the veteran driver, was very shaken by the events surrounding the crash. The Lagonda pit was the first one in the row, and the one closest to the Levegh accident.
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Jaguar pitstop for Ecurie Francorchamps (Johnny Claes/Jacques Swaters). The Belgians overcame their problems to finish 3rd overall. This D-Type was all-yellow, the traditional Belgian national racing colours:
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#23 Peter Collins/Paul Frére Aston Martin which finished 2nd overall, and won the 2001-3000cc class:
Paul Frère at Tertre Rouge:
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Duncan Hamilton in D-Type Jaguar shared with Tony Rolt, the second D-Type to retire:
Tony Rolt:
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#5 Ferrari of Harry Schell/Maurice Trintignant, which retired during the night:
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The Maseratis of Luigi Musso/Luigi 'Gino' Valenzano, Roberto Miéres and of Carlo Tomasi/Francesco Giardini:
Luigi Musso Maserati in pits, he dropped out of the race at noon on Sunday with gearbox problems, as the last car to retire:
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Luigi Musso action shot:
Maseratis #15 of Roberto Miéres and #31 of Carlo Tomasi/Francesco Giardini, retired with technical problems, shown behind pits:
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Polensky in #37 Porsche 550 Spyder at Tertre Rouge:
Same, with either Helmut Polensky or Richard von Frankenberg leaving pits:
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This car was very successful indeed, winning the coveted Index of Performance, as well as the 21st Biennial cup and the 1101-1500cc class.
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#62 Porsche 550 in pits:
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Pit Straight on Sunday, Porsche 550 passing and MG in pits:
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Retired Ferrari 750 Monza of "Heldé" (Pierre-Louis Dreyfus)/Jean Lucas:
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(Probably) Hawthorn in the rain, and Auguste Veuillet/Zora Arcus-Duntov Porsche (winners of the 751-1100cc class) pitting:
Winning Jaguar in pits:
Class winners (Porsche and Jaguar):
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Winners Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb:
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Class winners, another angle. The morose-looking faces here seem to suggest that a minute of silence was observed in honour of the victims:
Hawthorn and Bueb celebrating their victory, with possibly Lofty England along for the ride:
This is the controversial press photo with the bitterly ironic caption: "A Votre Santé, M. Hawthorn!" ("Your Very Good Health, Mr. Hawthorn!"). The press was naturally outraged that the young man would appear to be taking the whole tragedy so easily and casually - while he was probably in fact deeply affected by it.
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The happy winners:
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Some notes on what happened in the days after the race:
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British motoring press wrote that "the last glimmer of interest had left the race" after Mercedes left, as if that even entered into the picture at a time like this. It was in utterly poor taste, and cynical in the extreme. Autosport's article was also a joke, having no mention of the tragedy. Motorsport historian Christopher Hilton's theory about this strange attitude is that the drivers and other people on the "inside" wanted it hushed down because it was damaging to their "little private racing world", and forced them to face the state of affairs, and the possibility of motor racing coming to an end. The end of the "age of innocence", one of Hilton's stronger points in his book about the crash.
At an emergency French cabinet meeting the opposition demanded to know why race wasn't stopped. "The speed" was blamed, and Hawthorn was very silent and morose. A sort of "consensus" reigned, as noone blamed anyone officially, after the race. Remember that accusations had previously flown in the heat of the events.
Levegh was buried in Paris, with driver friends and colleagues attending, but nobody from Jaguar. Moss called the ceremony ghastly on account of the presence of cameramen from the gutter press. Neubauer took care of funeral arrangements, and sent a very emotional letter of condolance to Denise Levegh. Merc also sent an official letter of condolance including a cheque for 1m Francs to be distributed among the families of the deprived.
Mercedes team made a full report in the tradition of German correctness, and it still contains several inaccuracies, but at least it was made.
Due to statements of several witnesses concerning the fuel explosion of the car, it was suspected that booster had been added to the fuel. There were accounts of a "double" explosion. This was strengthened by the quick departure from the track of the Mercedes team, which was seen as an attempt to cover up the fact that the petrol had been tampered with. As there were no regulations forbidding additives to the fuel, this seems irrelevant.
The Levegh wreck was impounded and not released for Stuttgart for another year. I don't know what became of it.
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Only 21 cars finished this horror race.
Fastest lap: Hawthorn 4:06.6 = 196.963 km/h on lap 28.
Fastest average speed 106.99mph, Hawthorn. Would probably have been higher with a better driver than Bueb.
Results page, with index of class winners at bottom: http://www.formula2.net/1955.htm
FOOTNOTES:
* = results pages state that certain cars were retired later than they in fact dropped out. Thus the Jacobs MG appears to have crashed in the 6th, rather than 3rd, hour.
** = Bristol 450C aka "Bizarre". Not really, IMO it looked a bit like a "chunky" version of the Jaguar D-Type.
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