Deadliest Crash
Recommended? Yes
Deadliest Crash is a three years in the making documentary looking at the tragic events of the 1955 Le Mans Disaster – the worst crash in motor racing history. The disaster is looked at using a variety of techniques including eye witness testimony and interview, images, cinefilm from the day and a computer generated re-enactment of the final moments leading up to – and just after – the fateful crash of Pierre Levegh.
The DVD begins by looking at how the 1955 Le Mans race was building up – the post war boom, the rise of Mercedes following the bombing of the factory and of course the ever present Jaguar with their D type racer. It also provides some in depth insight by some of the drivers involved, such as the former race car driver John Fitch (who has gone on to save many lives with his Fitch Barrier).
The film goes on to tell the tale of the competing drivers, Mike Hawthorn and Juan Manuel Fangio. Both excellent race car drivers in their time neither would willingly accept defeat to the other, despite Hawthorn the disadvantage of a less experienced co-driver (Le Mans back then was a 1 car, 2 driver setup for the full 24 hours of the race).
Perhaps the most striking part of the entire film is the eye witness accounts of what actually happened in, and during the moments of the crash. I will warn you that some of you may find it upsetting to hear of how the 80-120 people lost their lives (there isn’t an official death toll reported apparently) – Pierre Levegh’s car that was launched into the air landed directly into the crowd and grandstand. More than 200 more were injured.
The range of techniques used to tell the story of the 1955 Le Mans disaster in the film are all excellent – the home footage in particular and cinefilm really gave a flavour of the day. The excitement of the crowd prior to the incident is almost palpable and harks back to simpler days where 300,000 strong spectators would gather in the festival like atmosphere to enjoy themselves.
Ultimately, the story is revealed with great care in the film – it really demonstrates what happened on June 11th, 1955 at 6.26pm. The tale is a tragic one, but it changed motorsport forever, improving it by making it safer for both drivers and spectators alike. As noted in the film, there is no official memorial or remembrance for those lost in the disaster (though I personally feel strongly that there should be).
I’d more than recommend this DVD as it shows a piece of motorsport history from the perspective of those most deeply affected. Whilst some parts are difficult to watch, it is an extremely intelligent re-telling of a moment in history that forever changed the world of motorsport and had a massive impact on those who were there.
You can buy Deadliest Crash here.
Jay willoughby says
May 17, 2010 at 8:27 pmPlease could you send me details on how to buy this dvd
Fraser says
May 17, 2010 at 8:43 pmJust follow this link to order from the supplier
http://www.big-pic.co.uk/deadliestcrash.html
we don’t sell it ourselves but just wrote a review.
elaine says
June 7, 2010 at 10:03 pmSaw this on TV last night. I have been so touched by this production. Not only by the story but by the way the film was put together. It took you there, for the build up to the race, you shared the excitement both of the spectators and participants alike and then were made to share the horror and disbelief of the tragedy unfolding infront of you. Absolutely brilliant!
Martin says
June 20, 2010 at 2:06 pmI saw this doc on BBC, it promted me to buy the book “Death Race” by Mark Kahn. Both the doc and the book tend to put the onus on Mike Hawthorn, but, I have read the book by Kahn in which he gets a good long interview with Lance Macklin. This interview is very interseting, Macklin makes some very interesting comments which I don’t think Kahn at the time saw the significance of, and which other people don’t seem to have noticed. Macklin admits he knew Mike Hawthorn was due to go into the pits, he says he looked in his mirror and saw 2 silver cars and 1 green gaining on him, and he knew who they were. He says he was doing around 111 MPH, but as the cars gained on him he put his foot down “to the floorboards” and built up his speed to 123 MPH. This was done just as Hawthorn was overtaking him, which meant that Hawthorn took longer to overtake him and get back over to the right to go into the pits. The way I see it is that when Macklin “put his foot to the boards”, he made Hawthorn take more time to overtake him, Hawthorn then got in front of him and went over to the right to get to the pits, meantime Macklin looks in his mirror to see whats going on behind him, while he is doing this Hawthorn starts to brake to go to the pits, Macklin looks forward again and to his horror he sees Hawthorn slowing down quickly to pit (the Jag has powerful disc brakes), Macklin brakes heavily causing dust to fly from his brakes, he swerves to the left to avoid Hawthorn but loses control, which makes him go out to the middle of the road rather than just skirt round the rear of Hawthorns Jag. In the meantime Levegh knew that his Merc team mate Fangio was going to overtake him, but with Levegh being French and approaching the grandstand full of mainly French people, he made a signal to Fangio not to overtake until after the grandstand, so Fangio remained behind him. Levegh noticed the Jag’s brake lights but that Macklin wasn’t slowing nor taking any action to get round the Jag, so Levegh did move over a touch to the left just in case Macklin suddenly darted out around the Jag, but poor old Levegh did not expect Macklin swerving out into the middle of the road out of control, it was now too late to do anything, Macklin started to regain control but was hit by Levegh, and we know the rest. But one thing that most people don’t know is that the first words spoken by Macklin to Hawthorn were “that was your fault”, this must have instilled into Hawthorns mind that “it was his fault”, could Macklin have been trying to shirk responsibility for the terrible disaster? I find it odd that this footage wasn’t shown until after Macklins death, I also find it odd that no one seems to have picked up on what Macklin states in his interview with Mark Kahn, that he speeded up even though he knew he was going to be overtaken and lapped, and even though he knew that Mike Hawthorn was going to pit, what made him speed up from 111MPH to 123MPH forcing Hawthorn to travel further to get round him and then over to the right to the pits? we will perhaps never know, but to my mind the onus for this terrible disaster lies with Macklin.
pete says
June 20, 2010 at 6:24 pmbrilliant documentary, what an horrific event, what was the music/song that was played at the end?.
chris says
August 22, 2010 at 9:55 pmI thought it was interesting that the police report has never been made public – why keep it secret even now?