Le Mans 1955 Pierre Levegh and 86 spectators killed

11.6.1955, Swizerland by: motorsportmemorial.org Pierre Levegh was getting rather old, being over fifty when Mercedes-Benz finally returned to Le Mans and invited him to drive one of the three 300 SLR entered at Le Mans. Juan Manuel Fangio-Stirling Moss and Karl Kling-André Simon were his team mates, Pierre Levegh shared his car with the American John Fitch. During practice Levegh proved to be the slowest driver of the team. In the third hour of racing, while entering the Tribunes Straight, he clipped the Austin-Healey 100S #26 driven by British Lance Macklin that was forced to make an evasive move after Mike Hawthorn in the Jaguar D-type suddenly dived into the pits. After hitting an earth bank on the left side of the road, the car flew through the air, disintegrating, scattering components into the crowd. Levegh was killed at the scene, as were 86 spectators, while over 100 were injured.

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YouTube | April 14, 2008

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