Programme on BBC4 this Sunday @ 9pm.
No doubt will be somewhat sobering to watch…
Does look interesting, although very sobering as well…
BTTT
Thanks for the heads up Rob, just switched on,will watch this. Hope your well matey.
Watched it, very interesting how it seems to have been covered up to a point, nobody know the total that died for instance? All a bit cloak and dagger if you ask me…
Watched it too… very interesting, although it still seems a bit of a strange incident…
If Hawthorne was going to pit, why would he have passed Maklin only to slow down immediately?
And…if he was going to pit, why didn’t he ? - Surely he wouldn’t have had chance to see the extent of the crash and decide to carry on for another lap or so before he did eventually pit?
Booked it in my diary after reading about it in Motorsport - but I could not get home in time!!! Anyone know if it’s being replayed?
Mark
BBC Iplayer
Thanks for the link, missed this - very sobering, that Fitch chap is no Hawthorn fan. Great program tho
Fitch was a contracted Mercedes driver in sports cars (in fact he is likely to be the ‘inventor’ of the roller map system used by Moss and Jenks in the 1955 Mille Miglia) so he is bound to be a little biased. Levegh could have backed off, Macklin could have used less track, Hawthorn could have waited behind Macklin. It matters not really, but lessons were learned and spectator saftey is now almost beyond reproach. Even so, I have seen footage of cars leaping 12 ft debris fences. As it says on the ticket “Motor Sport can be dangerous”
I must remember iPlayer…
Cheers
Mark
Of historical interest Levegh, a couple of years earlier, whilst driving for Talbot Lago was leading Le Mans by a full 4 laps after 23 hours, driving the whole distance alone much to the dismay of his team and his co pilot. He missed a gearchange and the car expired to add to the team’s dismay, which they blamed solely on Levegh’s fatigue.
If you want to get a good insight into 50s racing and the camaraderie that went on during the period and particularly at Le Mans, I can thoroughly recommend Duncan Hamilton’s biography called “Touch Wood”. It is very funny and some of the things they got up to are amazing. Its my favourite book.
Alski