The
Deadliest Crash: the Le Mans 1955 Disaster - another opportunity
to see this documentary
BBC 4: Thursday 19th August 2010 at 9.30pm
Updated: 17.8.10
Posted: 15.8.10 |
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At
6,26pm on the home straight early in the 1955 Le
Mans 24-Hour race, the future British World Champion,
Mike Hwthorn, made a rash mistake that caused Pierre
Levegh's Mercedes 300 SLR to career into the crowd,
killing 83 people and |
injuring
another 120. It remains the worst disaster in motor
racing history. The story was quickly engulfed by
conspiracy theory, blame and scandal. Was the mysterious
explosion caused by Mercedes gambling all on untried
technologies? Did they compound it by using a lethal
fuel additive? Have the French authorities been
covering up the truth ever since? Or was the winner,
the doomed British star Mike Hawthorn, guilty of
reckless driving and did his desire to win at all
costs start the terrible series of events? This
excellent documentary uses original footage and
stills, along with eye witness accounts, to examine
that series of events to try and discover what exactly
happended.
Well this programme has been on BBC Four before
and if you missed the earlier transmissions there
is another chance to see the documentary on Thursday
19th August 2010 at 9.30pm on BBC Four. More |
Chris
Hunt Cooke responded to this NEWS item saying "there
is an MG connection in that three MGA pre-production
cars were entered in the race, and Dick Jacobs always
contended that his crash at White House, which ended
his racing career, was caused by the distraction
of the plume of smoke rising from the accident ahead.
The deaths at Le Mans were followed by further loss
of life at MG's next race, the TT at Dundrod, and
then the BMC management decreed that there was to
be no more racing by an MG works team." (17.8.10) |
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