Comments on: Deadliest Crash: The 1955 Le Mans Disaster http://www.cararticles.co.uk/uk-deadliest-crash-the-1955-le-mans-disaster.html Car Blog & Car News Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:34:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: chris http://www.cararticles.co.uk/uk-deadliest-crash-the-1955-le-mans-disaster.html#comment-42884 chris Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:55:19 +0000 http://www.cararticles.co.uk/?p=1447#comment-42884 I thought it was interesting that the police report has never been made public - why keep it secret even now? I thought it was interesting that the police report has never been made public – why keep it secret even now?

]]> By: pete http://www.cararticles.co.uk/uk-deadliest-crash-the-1955-le-mans-disaster.html#comment-36970 pete Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:24:03 +0000 http://www.cararticles.co.uk/?p=1447#comment-36970 brilliant documentary, what an horrific event, what was the music/song that was played at the end?. brilliant documentary, what an horrific event, what was the music/song that was played at the end?.

]]> By: Martin http://www.cararticles.co.uk/uk-deadliest-crash-the-1955-le-mans-disaster.html#comment-36951 Martin Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:06:15 +0000 http://www.cararticles.co.uk/?p=1447#comment-36951 I 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. I 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.

]]> By: elaine http://www.cararticles.co.uk/uk-deadliest-crash-the-1955-le-mans-disaster.html#comment-35323 elaine Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:03:33 +0000 http://www.cararticles.co.uk/?p=1447#comment-35323 Saw 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! Saw 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!

]]> By: Fraser http://www.cararticles.co.uk/uk-deadliest-crash-the-1955-le-mans-disaster.html#comment-31875 Fraser Mon, 17 May 2010 20:43:38 +0000 http://www.cararticles.co.uk/?p=1447#comment-31875 Just 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. Just 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.

]]> By: Jay willoughby http://www.cararticles.co.uk/uk-deadliest-crash-the-1955-le-mans-disaster.html#comment-31874 Jay willoughby Mon, 17 May 2010 20:27:14 +0000 http://www.cararticles.co.uk/?p=1447#comment-31874 Please could you send me details on how to buy this dvd Please could you send me details on how to buy this dvd

]]>