Product Description

The worst crash in motor racing history - killing more than 80 people - was produced by a ferocious and haunting combination of circumstances: nationalism, raw speed, the nature of a 24-hour race, and chance. The crash drew in Mike Hawthorn, the blond playboy from Farnham, in a Jaguar, and Juan-Manuel Fangio, one of the greatest drivers of all, in a Mercedes. A crowd of 250,000 watched hypnotised as Hawthorn set out to break Fangio, the two cars going faster and faster...and faster. Another English playboy, Lance Macklin, was caught up in the crash in his Austin-Healey, along with a 50-year-old Frenchman driving under the assumed name of Pierre Levegh. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It cost him his life, even as his car was torn to pieces that scythed into the dense crowd. In this new and full study of the fateful day, Christopher Hilton sets the race itself in the context of the 1950s. Through a host of interviews - with drivers, team members, journalists and spectators - and original research at Le Mans and in the Mercedes archive in Stuttgart, he recreates every aspect of the race and the crash. Much of the material has never been seen before. He examines the aftermath - the bitter blame game, the conflicting testimonies, the direct threat to motorsport in Europe - and chronicles the beginning of the culture of safety that has affected what we see of motorsport on our television screens today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35898 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

About the Author
Christopher Hilton is a leading authority and writer on contemporary motorsport, and has written more than 30 books on the subject. His book Nuvolari, published by Breedon Books in 2003, was critically acclaimed. He has also produced a ground-breaking study of the Donington Grands Prix of 1937 and 1938, as well as biographies of more modern Formula 1 drivers like Michael Schumacher and the late Ayrton Senna.

Customer Reviews

Grim Tread Through The Worst Motor Racing Accident Ever
Though Formula 1 dominates the motor sport agenda these days, a novice could tell you about the annual sportscar race at Le Mans. The basic premise is this - cars go round the 8 mile track for 24 hours, and the one which covers the most distance is declared the winner. A curiosity is the fact that several classes of cars take part simultaneously, with large differentials between their top speeds. This provides some interest, but in the case of the 1955 race, it resulted in tragedy.

After about 2 hours of racing, Jaguar driver Mike Hawthorn was about to pull into the pits to hand over the car to his co-driver. At exactly the same point, Lance Macklin in his far less powerful Austin Healey had to brake and swerve to avoid him. The car behind Macklin, a Mercedes driven by veteran Frenchman Pierre Levegh had nowhere to go and ran over the back of the Austin Healey. The Mercedes flew up into the air and landed in the spectator area, and bits of high speed debris flew off into the crowd. 80 people were killed, including Levegh himself.

Hilton provides a good background to the race and the people involved, and devotes a chapter to investigating the crash and working out who was responsible. This can be difficult, due to the passage of time and the fact that Levegh, Macklin and Hawthorn are all dead. Interviews with their contemporaries and fellow drivers give the best account of the events, and as ever the witnesses provide conflicting accounts. In the end, it seems to come down to an unfortunate chain of events, the cause of most big accidents.

Thankfully, Hilton does not dwell on the more morbid aspects of the crash, and we only see a few photographs of the scene. By all accounts, it was very distressing to see. Phil Hill (driver) says it best : "The impact was about 10 pits down from us but the immediate aftermath was right in front of out pit. I understood that something terrible had happened. I can't tell you...the realisation of it was absolutely horrific, and to be in the middle of it all..."

Bravely, the book goes on to describe the equally unfortunate collision between the motor racing world and the real world. One journalist stubbornly asked why the Mercedes team (who were leading by this point) should withdraw. Levegh's co-driver John Fitch said it all by giving a probable newspaper headline : RUTHLESS GERMANS RACE ON TO VICTORY OVER DEAD BODIES OF FRENCH.

After reading this, you wish Hilton would stop referring to the 'Age Of Innocence' that supposedly existed before Le Man's 55, as if no drivers and spectators had been killed before. But that's a minor flaw. If you feel you really should know about the awful events of 11th June 1955, this is the book to have. But don't expect to be cheered or uplifted by it.

LeMans '55: The Crash That Changed the Face of Motor Racing
This is an extremely interesting book. As an avid sports car racing fan and former sports car mechanic, I've always been interested in what actually occured on this fateful day. The author does a great job in describing the background of the spectators, drivers and factory-sponsored teams. I would definately buy other works by Christopher Hilton.