Pierre Levegh
Nation: | France | ||||||||
Automobile world championship | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First start: | Belgian Grand Prix 1950 | ||||||||
Last start: | 1951 Italian Grand Prix | ||||||||
Constructors | |||||||||
1950-1951 Talbot | |||||||||
statistics | |||||||||
World Cup balance: | no World Cup placement | ||||||||
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World Cup points : | - | ||||||||
Podiums : | - | ||||||||
Leadership laps : | - |
Pierre Levegh (born December 22, 1905 in Paris as Pierre Eugène Alfred Bouillin , † June 11, 1955 in Le Mans ) was a French racing driver .
Pseudonym of a "gentleman driver"
Instead of his real surname Bouillin (sometimes incorrectly spelled Bouillon ), Pierre had given himself a pseudonym in order to pay a certain respect to his uncle Levegh , who had pioneered the legendary Mors in the early years of motorsport . The outspoken Mr. driver or gentleman driver was extremely athletic, was considered an excellent skater and could even on international assignments in hockey or in tennis refer.
Racing career
Levegh contested a total of six Formula 1 races in 1950 and 1951 with the 4.5-liter Talbot-Lago , the design of which dates back to the pre-war years. With the material inferior to the competition from Alfa Romeo , his best result was reaching seventh place in the Belgian Grand Prix , during which all the Talbot drivers, such as Raymond Sommer and Louis Rosier , showed off. In all three other starts, a technical defect usually prevented a better placement.
The solo drive at Le Mans in 1952
From the start Alberto Ascari took the lead and held it until the clutch was damaged after three hours of racing. To the astonishment of the spectators and the race management - who at first believed there was a mistake in the timesheets - the small 2.3-liter Gordini from Jean Behra and Robert Manzon then took the lead. Behra and Manzon were able to maintain the lead until just before half-time, then the duo stopped a brake defect. At this point, all of the factory Jaguars and two Cunninghams had failed due to technical defects. Of the Ferraris, only the Simon car was left in the race, and Mercedes had already lost a 300 SL after damage to the electrical system.
After Behra's failure, Pierre Levegh took first place in the overall standings. What followed went down in Le Mans history as one of the greatest driving achievements. At the time of the change in leadership, Levegh had already been in the vehicle for more than 12 hours and shouldn't have to vacate the cockpit until the failure. Why Levegh never let his partner Marchand behind the wheel has remained unclear to this day. At every pit stop he was ready to change drivers, but Levegh kept going. It is suspected that Levegh feared that the inexperienced Marchand might over-rev the already started engine.
Ultimately, however, an engine failure led to the retirement an hour and 10 minutes before the end of the race. When Levegh rolled out in the Mulsanne, horror broke out in the stands. The largely French spectators had firmly expected Levegh to win, who at the time of the retirement had an incredible seven laps ahead of the two remaining Mercedes-Benz. However, that Levegh had fallen asleep from tiredness quickly turned out to be a rumor. When the factory Mercedes was flagged as the winner after 24 hours, there was dead silence in the main stands. Seldom before and after was there so little acclamation from the audience for the winner. The Mercedes victory was also very unpopular in the press.
The Le Mans catastrophe in 1955
His real domain was the use of sports cars and so Mercedes-Benz invited him to drive a 300 SLR in the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1955 as a guest driver and replacement for Hans Herrmann .
At the end of the 35th lap, around 6:20 pm, Mike Hawthorn ( Jaguar D-Type ) lapped Levegh and Lance Macklin ( Austin-Healey ) on the home straight in one go. Juan Manuel Fangio (Mercedes), with whom he had had a tough duel since the start, was literally on his neck. At the end of the overtaking maneuver, Hawthorn let himself be carried away to an unreasonable act and, braking in front of the two overtaken, shot across the track to reach the pits for refueling, which at that time were not yet structurally separated from the race track.
Despite a screeching halt , the Briton came only 80 meters behind his pit crew to a halt, which illustrated the folly of his act. But behind him he had triggered a drama: Macklin was able to evade him with an equally daring maneuver, but in doing so took Levegh's proverbial "space to survive".
After a slight collision with the rear of the Austin at 150 mph, Levegh's car crashed into the balustrade and exploded. In the worst accident in the history of motorsport, 83 spectators and the driver lost their lives. The Mercedes team management then withdrew their racing cars from the ongoing competition.
Incomprehensible today, the race management did not stop the race and declared Levegh - contrary to the opinion of the journalists, the specialist press and the public - to be a “scapegoat”, which was seen differently even by the English public. The real culprit, Mike Hawthorn, won the race. The drivers were not informed of the extent of the disaster by the race management until the end of the race.
statistics
Statistics in the automobile world championship
general overview
season | team | chassis | engine | run | Victories | Second | Third | Poles | nice Race laps |
Points | WM-Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1950 | Automobiles Talbot-Darracq | Talbot-Lago T26C | Talbot 4.5 L6 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | NC |
Pierre Levegh | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
1951 | Automobiles Talbot-Darracq | Talbot-Lago T26C | Talbot 4.5 L6 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | NC |
total | 6th | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Single results
season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1950 | ||||||||
DNA | 7th | DNF | DNF | |||||
1951 | ||||||||
8th | 9 | DNF |
Legend | ||
---|---|---|
colour | abbreviation | meaning |
gold | - | victory |
silver | - | 2nd place |
bronze | - | 3rd place |
green | - | Placement in the points |
blue | - | Classified outside the point ranks |
violet | DNF | Race not finished (did not finish) |
NC | not classified | |
red | DNQ | did not qualify |
DNPQ | failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify) | |
black | DSQ | disqualified |
White | DNS | not at the start (did not start) |
WD | withdrawn | |
Light Blue | PO | only participated in the training (practiced only) |
TD | Friday test driver | |
without | DNP | did not participate in the training (did not practice) |
INJ | injured or sick | |
EX | excluded | |
DNA | did not arrive | |
C. | Race canceled | |
no participation in the World Cup | ||
other | P / bold | Pole position |
SR / italic | Fastest race lap | |
* | not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered |
|
() | Streak results | |
underlined | Leader in the overall standings |
Le Mans results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1938 | Jean Trévoux | Talbot-Lago T150C | Jean Trévoux | failure | malfunction |
1939 | Luigi Chinetti | Talbot-Lago SS | René Le Bègue | failure | Ignition damage |
1951 | Pierre Levegh | Talbot-Lago Monoplace Decalee | René Marchand | Rank 4 | |
1952 | Pierre Levegh | Talbot-Lago T26GS Spider | René Marchand | failure | Engine failure |
1953 | Automobiles Talbot-Darraq | Talbot-Lago T26GS | Charles Pozzi | Rank 8 | |
1954 | Pierre Levegh | Talbot-Lago T26GS | Lino Fayen | failure | accident |
1955 | Daimler-Benz AG | Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR | John Fitch | failure | fatal accident at Levegh |
Individual results in the sports car world championship
season | team | race car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1953 | Talbot | Talbot-Lago T26GS | SEB | MIM | LEM | SPA | ONLY | RTT | CAP |
8th | |||||||||
1954 | Pierre Levegh | Talbot-Lago T26GS | BUA | SEB | MIM | LEM | RTT | CAP | |
DNF | |||||||||
1955 | Daimler-Benz AG | Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR | BUA | SEB | MIM | LEM | RTT | TAR | |
DNF |
Web links
- 1955 Le Mans Disaster photo report from TIME from June 27, 1955
- Pierre Levegh at motorsportmemorial.org (English)
Single receipts
- ↑ auto motor and sport . Issue 5, February 14, 2008, p. 157.
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Levegh, Pierre |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Pierre Bouillin |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French Formula 1 racing driver |
DATE OF BIRTH | December 22, 1905 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
DATE OF DEATH | June 11, 1955 |
Place of death | Le Mans |