1955 Le Mans 24-hour race

A Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, here at a classic car event in 1986. However, this vehicle lacks the air brake used in Le Mans.

The number 9 Cunningham Jaguar D-Type. Driven by Bill Spear and Phil Walters, the car retired after 44 laps due to ignition damage.

The course of the accident as a sketch. Green: Mike Hawthorn's Jaguar; Blue: Lance Macklin's Austin Healey; Gray, start number 20: Pierre Levegh's Mercedes-Benz; Gray, start number 19: Juan Manuel Fangio's Mercedes-Benz.

The plaque that commemorates the dead in the accident. Today it is mounted on the security fence that separates the grandstands from the track

The 23rd 24-hour race of Le Mans , the 23 ^e Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans , also 24 Heures du Mans, Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans , took place from June 11th to 12th, 1955 the Circuit des 24 Heures .

The 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans is known far beyond the borders of motorsport as the greatest catastrophe in the history of international motorsport. The French racing driver Pierre Levegh and 83 spectators died as a result of a collision between two vehicles in front of the pit area .

Before the race

The Mercedes-Benz works team won the 24-hour race in 1952 , but then stayed away from the event for three years. The overall victory that Hermann Lang and Fritz Riess had achieved three years earlier had been extremely unpopular in France. Only seven years after the end of World War II , there was an unusual silence among the many spectators at the award ceremony for the two German teams. In 1952, only German drivers were active for Mercedes, a circumstance that met with some criticism in the executive suite of Daimler-Benz after the race. In 1955, Mercedes racing director Alfred Neubauer wanted to counteract this and hire French drivers for it.

Alfred Neubauer chose Pierre Levegh. Levegh, already 50 years old in 1955, was the protagonist of the 1952 race. Driving alone for almost 23 hours, the Frenchman was already 7 laps ahead of the two Mercedes when he coasted to the Mulsanne with an engine failure. Only this failure made the victory of the German team possible. As a partner of Levegh, Neubauer hired the American John Fitch , who came to Le Mans for the first time in 1951 as a works driver for Briggs Cunningham and in 1953 came third in the overall standings with partner Phil Walters . The two Formula 1 drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss shared the second Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR . Another Frenchman was in the third car. André Simon shared this car with Karl Kling . Mercedes had already experimented with an air brake in 1952. A flap that could be operated by the pilot to improve braking. In 1952 this concept was installed on the coupés, but was discarded again in the race. In 1955 these flaps were used in open sports cars.

The biggest competitor, Jaguar , relied on a different concept for the D-Types . Disc brakes were fitted on all three works cars that were driven by Mike Hawthorn , Ivor Bueb , Tony Rolt , Duncan Hamilton , Don Beauman and Norman Dewis .

Ferrari brought three six-cylinder 121LMs to the Sarthe. The 330 hp, very fast, but not very reliable vehicles were driven by Maurice Trintignant , Harry Schell , Phil Hill , Umberto Maglioli , Eugenio Castellotti and Paolo Marzotto . When Aston Martin was entrusted to the DB3S and Porsche at the Porsche 550 .

Since the Automobile Club de l'Ouest allowed 60 vehicles for the race, the top teams feared that the differences in speed between the different vehicles could cause problems on the track.

Accidents in training

There was already a serious accident during practice on the Wednesday before the race. While driving out of the boxes, Stirling Moss collided with a small DB HBR and pushed it into the Maserati box. The French Maserati driver Jean Behra was injured in the legs and could not take part in the race. Two journalists were also knocked over and slightly injured. On Friday, Élie Bayol had a serious accident in which he sustained severe head injuries, from which he was able to recover, but which ultimately triggered his resignation a year later.

The race

The top cars contested the race at high speed from the start. Eugenio Castellotti took the lead. Behind the Italian, the Mercedes and Jaguar drivers fought a tough battle for places. After the Ferrari crashed, the two Mercedes drivers Fangio and Levegh battled Mike Hawthorn's Jaguar for the lead when the disaster struck at 6:30 p.m.

The Le Mans accident

→ Main article : Accident at the 1955 Le Mans 24-hour race

Before Hawthorn, the Briton Lance Macklin drove in an Austin-Healey 100 . For some reason that has never been fully understood, Hawthorn turned into the pits just after overtaking Macklin. Back then, the pits were only separated from the rest of the route by a white line on the road, and it happened again and again that pilots turned extremely late to their pits. When Hawthorn braked hard, Macklin had to swerve to avoid collision and pulled his car left. He overlooked Levegh driving behind Hawthorn, and the catastrophe took its course: The Mercedes drove into the Austin with enormous excess speed and climbed up on its flat rear section as if on a ramp. At that time, only an earth wall with a hedge separated the main grandstands from the track. The Mercedes hit the wall hard and broke apart. The bonnet and front axle broke off immediately and flew into the audience. As the car continued to slide on the wall, the gas tank tore open and the engine block peeled off the chassis. The remainder of the car went up in flames. Burning parts fell into the audience. Many of them were killed on the spot by the engine block and the broken air brake. Of the 81 dead, many also died from terrible burns. Levegh was catapulted out of the car onto the street and was already dead when the first rescue workers arrived.

The attempts to extinguish the marshals were inadequate. The fire of the special alloy was really fueled by water. However, the rescue workers had no information about the special alloys used in the vehicles.

Until the end of his life, the five-time Formula 1 world champion Fangio told that Levegh saved his life with a show of hands. The Frenchman had raised his hand in the face of the impending danger and Fangio was able to drive through between Levegh and Macklin, who steered the car to the right and stopped in front of the Mercedes box. The spinning Austin hit the left margin, but didn't catch fire. Macklin survived the accident almost uninjured, but his wreck killed another spectator who was very close to the track.

Despite the disaster, the race continued at full speed. Only at the wrecks did the pilots slow down. As more and more information about the accident became known, Charles Faroux , one of the founders of the race and race director, stood in front of the ruins of his life's work. Ultimately, he probably made the right decision when he decided to let the race continue to allow rescue workers to get to and from the accident site unhindered.

Just after midnight, Mercedes racing director Neubauer, after consulting with the company management in Stuttgart , withdrew his two remaining cars from the race. The race was won by Mike Hawthorn, involved in the accident, with partner Ivor Bueb, ahead of the Aston Martin duo Peter Collins and Paul Frère .

Results

Pilots by nationality

48 British	25 French	11 Italians	9 Americans	6 Germans
4 Belgians	3 Swiss	2 Argentinians	2 Irish	1 Brazilian
1 Guatemalan

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires	Round
1	S 5.0	6th	Jaguar Cars Ltd.	Mike Hawthorn Ivor Bueb	Jaguar D-Type	Jaguar 3.4L I6		307
2	S 3.0	23	Aston Martin Ltd.	Peter Collins Paul Frère	Aston Martin DB3S	Aston Martin 2.9L I6		302
3	S 5.0	10	Ecurie Francorchamps	Johnny Claes Jacques Swaters	Jaguar D-Type	Jaguar 3.4L I6		296
4th	S 1.5	37	Porsche KG	Helmut Polensky Richard von Frankenberg	Porsche 550/4 RS 1500 Spyder	Porsche 1.5L Flat-4		284
5	S 1.5	66	Equipe Nationale Belge	Wolfgang Seidel Olivier Gendebien	Porsche 550/4 RS 1500 Spyder	Porsche 1.5L Flat-4		276
6th	S 1.5	62	Porsche KG	Helmet Glöckler Jaroslav Juhan	Porsche 550/4 RS 1500 Spyder	Porsche 1.5L Flat-4		273
7th	S 2.0	34	Bristol Airplane Company	Peter S. Wilson Jim Mayers	Bristol 450C Open	Bristol 2.0L I6		271
8th	S 2.0	33	Bristol Airplane Company	Mike Keen Tommy Line	Bristol 450C Open	Bristol 2.0L I6		270
9	S 2.0	32	Bristol Airplane Company	Tommy Wisdom Jack Fairman	Bristol 450C Open	Bristol 2.0L I6		268
10	S 2.0	35	Automobiles Frazer Nash Ltd.	Marcel Becquart Richard Stoop	Frazer Nash Sebring	Bristol 2.0L I6		260
11	S 1.5	40	Edgar Fronteras	Giulio Cabianca Roberto Sgorbati	OSCA MT-4 1500	OSCA 1.5L I4		256
12	S 1.5	41	MG Cars Ltd.	Ken Miles Johnny Lockett	MG EX182	MG 1.5L I4		249
13	S 1.1	49	Porsche KG	Auguste Veuillet Zora Arkus-Duntov	Porsche 550/4 Spyder	Porsche 1.1L I4		245
14th	S 2.0	28	Standard Triumph Motor Company Ltd.	Robert Dickson Ninian Sanderson	Triumph TR2	Triumph 2.0L I4		242
15th	S 2.0	29	Standard Triumph Motor Company Ltd.	Ken Richardson Bert Hadley	Triumph TR2	Triumph 2.0L I4		242
16	S 750	63	Ecurie Jeudy-Bonnet	Louis Cornet Robert Mougin	DB HBR	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2		236
17th	S 1.5	64	MG Cars Ltd.	Ted Lund Hans Waeffler	MG EX182	MG 1.5L I4		234
18th	S 1.1	65	Gonzague Olivier	Gonzague Olivier Josef Jeser	Porsche 550/4 Spyder	Porsche 1.1L Flat-4		234
19th	S 2.0	68	Standard Triumph Motor Company Ltd.	Leslie Brooke Mortimer Morris-Goodall	Triumph TR2	Triumph 2.0L I4		214
20th	S 750	59	Ecurie Jeudy-Bonnet	Georges Trouis Louis Héry	DB HBR	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2		209
21st	S 1.1	47	Cooper Car Company	Edgar Wadsworth John Brown	Cooper T39	Coventry Climax 1.1L I4		207
Disqualified
22nd	S 1.1	48	Lotus engineering	Colin Chapman Ron Flockhart	Lotus Mk9	Coventry Climax 1.1L I4		99
Failed
23	S 3.0	16	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Luigi Musso Luigi Valenzano	Maserati 300S	Maserati 3.0L I6		239
24	S 3.0	22nd	Briggs Cunningham	Briggs Cunningham Sherwood Johnston	Cunningham C6-R	Offenhauser 2.9L I4		196
25th	S 5.0	7th	Jaguar Cars Ltd.	Tony Rolt Duncan Hamilton	Jaguar D-Type	Jaguar 3.4L I6		186
26th	S 750	52	Société Monopole	Pierre Hémard Pierre Flahault	Monopoles X88	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2		145
27	S 2.0	30th	Automobiles Gordini	Jacques Pollet Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini T15S	Gordini 2.0L I8		145
28	S 750	60	Automobili Stanguellini	René Philippe Faure Pierre Duval	Stanguellini 750 Bialbero	Fiat 0.7L I4		136
29	S 3.0	19th	Daimler-Benz AG	Juan Manuel Fangio Stirling Moss	Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR	Mercedes-Benz 3.0L I8		134
30th	S 3.0	21st	Daimler-Benz AG	Karl Kling André Simon	Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR	Mercedes-Benz 3.0L I8		130
31	S1.1	51	Automobiles Panhard et Levassor	René Cotton André Beaulieux	Panhard VM5	Panhard 0.9L Flat-2		108
32	S 5.0	5	Scuderia Ferrari	Maurice Trintignant Harry Schell	Ferrari 121LM	Ferrari 4.4L I6		107
33	S 5.0	8th	Jaguar Cars Ltd.	Don Beauman Norman Dewis	Jaguar D-Type	Jaguar 3.4L I6		106
34	S 3.0	24	Aston Martin Ltd.	Roy Salvadori Peter Walker	Aston Martin DB3S	Aston Martin 2.9L I6		105
35	S 3.0	12	Pierre Louis-Dreyfus	Pierre Louis-Dreyfus Jean Lucas	Ferrari 750 Monza	Ferrari 3.0L I4		104
36	S 750	58	Ecurie Jeudy-Bonnet	Paul Armagnac Gérard Laureau	DB HBR	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2		101
37	S 1.1	50	Automobiles Panhard et Levassor	Pierre Chancel Robert Chancel	Panhard VM5	Panhard 0.9L Flat-2		94
38	S 2.0	31	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Carlo Tomasi Francesco Giardini	Maserati 200S	Maserati 2.0L I4		96
39	S 5.0	1	Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.	Reginald Parnell Dennis Poore	Lagonda DP166	Lagonda 4.5L V12		93
40	S 3.0	25th	Aston Martin Ltd.	Tony Brooks John Riseley-Prichard	Aston Martin DB3S	Aston Martin 2.9L I6		83
41	S 3.0	27	Jean-Paul Colas	Jean-Paul Colas Jacques Dewez	Salmson 2300S Spyder	Salmson 2.3L I4		82
42	S 5.0	3	Scuderia Ferrari	Umberto Maglioli Phil Hill	Ferrari 121LM	Ferrari 4.4L I6		76
43	S 1.5	38	Walter Ringgenberg	Walter Ringgenberg Hans-Jörg Gilomen	Porsche 550/4 Spyder	Porsche 1.5L Flat-4		65
44	S 1.5	43	Connaught Engineering	Kenneth McAlpine Eric Thompson	Connaught AL / SR	Lea-Francis 1.5L I4		60
45	S 2.0	69	Alexandre Constantin	Jacques Savoye Jacques Poch	Constantin C Barquette	Peugeot 2.0L I4		52
46	S 5.0	4th	Scuderia Ferrari	Eugenio Castellotti Paolo Marzotto	Ferrari 121LM	Ferrari 4.4L I6		52
47	S 1.1	46	Kieft Cars Ltd.	Alan Rippon Ray Merrick	1100	Coventry Climax 1.1L I4		47
48	S 750	57	Ecurie Jeudy-Bonnet	René Bonnet Claude Storez	DB HBR	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2		44
49	S 5.0	9	Briggs Cunningham	Bill Spear Phil Walters	Jaguar D-Type	Jaguar 3.4L I6		43
50	S 5.0	11	Cooper Car Company	Peter Whitehead Graham Whitehead	Cooper T38	Jaguar 3.4L I6		38
51	S 3.0	20th	Daimler-Benz AG	Pierre Levegh John Fitch	Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR	Mercedes-Benz 3.0L I8		34
52	S 2.0	36	Automobiles Frazer Nash Ltd.	Cecil Vard Dick Odlum	Frazer Nash Sebring	Bristol 2.0L I6		33
53	S 750	53	Société Monopole	Francis Navarro Jean de Montrémy	Monopole X88 Sport	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2		30th
54	S 3.0	26th	Lance Macklin	Lance Macklin Les Leston	Austin-Healey 100S	BMC 2.7L I4		28
55	S 1.5	42	MG Cars Ltd.	Dick Jacobs Joe Flynn	MG EX182	MG 1.5L I4		27
56	S 750	56	Automobiles VP	Yves Giraud-Cabantous Yves Lesur	VP 166R	Renault 0.7L I4		26th
57	S 3.0	15th	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Roberto Mieres Cesare Perdisa	Maserati 300S	Maserati 3.0L I6		24
58	S 3.0	14th	Michel Poberejsky	Michel Poberejsky Masten Gregory	Ferrari 750 Monza	Ferrari 3.0L I4		23
59	S 750	61	Nardi Automobili	Mario Damonte Roger Crovetto	Nardi Bisiluro	Giannini 0.7L I4		5
60	S 1.5	39	Kieft Cars Ltd.	Berwyn Baxter John Deeley	Kieft	Coventry Climax 1.5L I4		4th
Not started
61	S 5.0	2	Ecurie Rosier	Louis Rosier Georges Grignard	Talbot Lago Sport			1
62	S 3.0	17th	Automobiles Gordini	Elie Bayol Robert Manzon	Gordini T24S	Gordini 2.0L I8		2
63	S 750	54	Moretti Automobili	Lino Fayen Herman Rogenry	Moretti 750 Grand Sport	Moretti 0.7L I4		3
64	S 750	55	Moretti Automobili	Giorgio Ubezzi Mesnest Bellanger	Moretti 750 Grand Sport	Moretti 0.7L I4		4th
65	S 1.1	45	Arnott Sports	Jim Russell Peter Taylor	Arnott Sports	Coventry Climax 1.1L I4		5
reserve
66	S 750	70	Pierre Ferry	Jacques Blanche Louis Pons	Ferry F750	Renault 0.7L I4		6th
67	S 750	72	Automobiles VP	Jean-Marie Dumazer André Hechard Jerome Pourond	VP 155R	Renault 0.7L I4		7th
68	S 750	73	Ecurie Rosier	Louis Rosier Jean-Louis Rosier Jean Estager	Renault 4CV 1063	Renault 0.7L I4		8th

¹ Accident during training ² Accident during training ³ Appeared too late at the start ⁴ Engine damage during training ⁵ Accident during training ⁶ Reserve ⁷ Reserve ⁸ Reserve

Only in the entry list

Here you can find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race, but did not take part for various reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires
69	S 5.0	2	Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.		Lagonda DP116	Lagonda 4.5L V12
70	S 3.0	18th	Automobiles Gordini	Jacques Pollet Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini T32S	Gordini 3.0L V8
71	S 1.5	44	Officine Alfieri Maserati		Maserati 150S	Maserati 1.5L I4
72	S 1.5	71	Officine Alfieri Maserati		Maserati 150S	Maserati 1.5L I4
73	S 1.1	47	Jacques Péron	Jacques Péron	OSCA MT-4	OSCA 1.1L I4
74	S 5.0	67	Henri Peignaux	Henri Peignaux Jean-Marie Brussin	Jaguar D-Type	Jaguar 3.4L I6
75	S 3.0	68	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Ferrari 750 Monza	Ferrari 3.0L I4
76	S 1.1		OSCA Automobili		OSCA MT-4	OSCA 1.1L I4
77	S 1.1		OSCA Automobili		OSCA MT-4	OSCA 1.1L I4
78	S 1.1		OSCA Automobili		OSCA MT-4	OSCA 1.1L I4
79	S 750		Moretti Automobili		Moretti 750S	Moretti 0.7L I4
80	S 750		Nardi Automobili		Nardi 750LM	Crosley 0.7L I4
81	S 750		Automobiles Panhard et Levassor		Panhard X88	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2
82	S 750		Automobiles Panhard et Levassor		Panhard X88	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2
83	S 1.1		Lotus engineering		Lotus Mk9	Coventry Climax 1.1L I4
83	S 2.0		Charles de Clareur		Gordini T20S
84	S 1.5		Porsche KG		Porsche 550 Spyder	Porsche 1.5L Flat-4

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
Index of Performance	Richard von Frankenberg	Helmut Polensky	Porsche 550/4 RS 1500 Spyder	Rank 4
21st Biennial Cup	Richard von Frankenberg	Helmut Polensky	Porsche 550/4 RS 1500 Spyder	Rank 4
3001-5000 cc	Mike Hawthorn	Ivor Bueb	Jaguar D-Type	Overall victory
2001-3000 cc	Peter Collins	Paul Brother	Aston Martin DB3S	Rank 2
1501-2000 cc	Peter S. Wilson	Jim Mayers	Bristol 450C Open	Rank 7
1101-1500 cc	Richard von Frankenberg	Helmut Polensky	Porsche 559/4 RS 1500 Spyder	Rank 4
751-1100 cc	Auguste Veuillet	Zora Arkus-Duntov	Porsche 550/4 Spyder	Rank 13
501-750 cc	Louis Cornet	Robert Mougin	DB HBR	Rank 16

Racing data

• Registered: 84
• Started: 60
• Rated: 21
• Race classes: 8
• Spectators: 250,000
• Honorary starter of the race: Count Maggi, President of the Organizing Committee of the Mille Miglia
• Weather on the race weekend: warm, rain on Sunday
• Route length: 13.492 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 24: 00: 00,000 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 307
• Total distance of the winning team: 4135.380 km
• Winner's average: 172.308 km / h
• Pole position: unknown
• Fastest race lap: Mike Hawthorn - Jaguar D-Type (# 6) - 4: 06.600 = 196.963 km / h
• Racing series: 4th round of the 1955 World Sports Car Championship

literature

• RM Clarke: Le Mans. The Jaguar Years 1949-1957. Brooklands Books, Cobham 1997, ISBN 1-85520-357-X .
• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .

Web links

Commons : Le Mans 24 Hours 1955  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Remember Le Mans Interactive website on the accident and its consequences

Predecessor race Mille Miglia 1955

Sports car world championship

Successor race RAC Tourist Trophy 1955