At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, knowing how to ignore risk counts as much as the taste for effort. In the midst of victories, exploits and records, many dramas have marked the history of the mythical race, which will celebrate its centenary next June. Some accidents have not only upset people’s minds. Beyond the tears, a whole sport has been questioned, reshaped and finally built around these tragic moments. Faced with hard knocks, manufacturers and pilots have been forced to give up competition. When it is not countries that have simply banned its practice.
Let’s say it right away: given the very high number of participants who have come and gone on the starting grid in 100 years, there have been more miracles than tragedies during this great event. Twenty-one drivers have died at the wheel since the first edition in 1923, 16 during the race itself, 5 during tests on the circuit. Nevertheless, despite the spectacular progress made in terms of safety, the 24 Hours remains a monument of danger.
“It’s a vivid reminder that motorsport is a dangerous sport, but also that it’s a risk freely taken,” said Jacky Ickx a few minutes after the fatal accident. This boy and all the others at the start know that this sport is dangerous. A comment that sums up in itself the special link that the 24 Hours of Le Mans has with danger.
There is no circuit in the world where safety is absolute. But the layout of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is unique in that it is actually a mix between a classic circuit, the Bugatti, open all year round, and a huge loop that takes the departmental road adjoining the site. Here there is an immense straight line, called Hunaudières, where the most advanced mounts on the planet have never ceased to drive the speedometers crazy.
On this straight line of 6 km, the 1980s were those of all madness. The Vmax (maximum speed) record keeps going further: 389 km/h for Jaguar, 390 km/h for Porsche, 400 for a Sauber-Mercedes. The record, still undefeated, belongs to the WM P88 prototype, powered by a Peugeot engine. In 1988, this French beast was flashed at 407 km/h… Communication obliges, the French manufacturer wanted to retain the figure of 405, to take advantage of this performance to sell its model of the same name, the Peugeot 405. In comparison, the Formula 1 record, set in 2016, stands at 378 km/h.
Needless to say that at this level, the slightest human or technical failure could have serious consequences. Faced with this race in the race, the decision was taken for the year 1990 to split the Hunaudières, by adding two chicanes to slow down the racing cars. Today, the pilots approach this long passage between 320 and 340 km/h, according to the official figures of the event.
Another factor to keep in mind is the different categories riding at the same time. Of the sixty cars that take the start every year, there are three levels, with a very high speed differential. Not only do the athletes have to ride on the limit as much as possible while battling with their opponents hot on their heels, but they also have to zigzag between the slower competitors. Delicate in a straight line, the exercise is even more so in curves and bends, where the queens of the discipline fly over in comparison to their younger sisters.
Despite the work of the track marshals and the indications transmitted in real time even inside the cockpits to manage these manoeuvres, it is not uncommon for things to end with loss and turmoil. The beginning of the 2010s was marked by very spectacular crashes, due to a misunderstanding between leading cars and slower or less experienced drivers.
The two Audi R18s driven by Allan McNish and Mike Rockenfeller suffered terrible road crashes in 2011 under these conditions. The following year, it was Britain’s Anthony Davidson in a Toyota who had a colossal scare…
The search for performance and engineering work can also, at times, be the source of many misfortunes. One of the most striking examples dates from 1999. That year, the Mercedes and their sublime silver dress intend to play the leading roles. With its three CLRs entered, the brand with the star wants to reconnect with victory in France, its last success as a manufacturer dating back to 1952. However, the development of the car, thought out and designed especially for the event, did not not going as well as expected. And the performance is not there.
Worse, the CLR is badly born, and takes with it an aerodynamic failure. By wanting to reduce the support as much as possible, the engineers have developed a racing car that is far too unstable. The result will be as catastrophic as it is miraculous. From qualifying, one of the Mercedes pushed to more than 300 km / h takes off, before crashing much further. Mark Webber, at the controls, comes out of it with enormous fear. But not cooled, the team maintains its participation. The Australian driver took the wheel again… and suffered the same fate during the warm-ups, the final tests before the start. Too damaged, the prototype cannot be repaired in time, and must be abandoned.
If this double alert should have led the leaders of the time to withdraw out of caution, it will not be. The brand still lines up its other two cars, just adding a bit more weight to fix their issue. From the first hours of the race, at 8 p.m., on TV channels around the world, the car took off live, performing several loops, before falling off the circuit, into the trees. Miraculously, the branches slow the CLR’s fall and spare Peter Dumbreck. As crazy as it may seem, the Scottish pilot emerged unscathed from this crash. For safety, the last car will be forced to return to the garage. The model will never again start in endurance, and the German brand will withdraw from competition as a manufacturer, but will continue to supply engines, in particular in Formula 1.
The 1999 case serves as a free warning. But for Mercedes, it is one more test in a thwarted history with Le Mans, which has its roots in 1955 in what is motorsport’s darkest episode.
The story, however, had everything to be sublime. This June 11, 1955, an extraordinary double duel is promised to the spectators between two big names in the automobile, and two pilots who evolve in Formula 1, discipline still incipient at the time. Juan Manuel Fangio (then double F1 world champion, championship he won five times) on Mercedes, faces the promising Mike Hawthorn engaged, him, on Jaguar.
The first hours of the race are to the advantage of the Briton and his teammates, but the Argentinian and his team are not far behind. The battle rages on at a pace rarely seen before. On lap 35, Hawthorn was called out to pit for refueling. Except that he turns at the last moment, surprising a slower car driven by his compatriot, Lance Macklin. Forced to change course, the latter was hit head-on by another, faster competitor: the Frenchman Pierre Levegh.
In all, 83 people were killed among the public, as well as Pierre Levegh and a marshal. As unbelievable as it may seem, the race was not stopped, with cars continuing to race amidst the chaos. The idea of ??the organizers was not to provoke a movement of the crowd, and so that the accesses to the circuit remain free for the firefighters. If Mercedes gives up two hours after the tragedy, Jaguar goes all the way, without competition. Accused of being responsible for this tragedy, Mike Hawthorn won this terrible edition alongside Ivor Bueb. He will be killed in 1959 in a road accident, not without having been crowned F1 world champion the previous year on Ferrari.
The trauma of 1955 had multiple consequences. Considered one of the greatest drivers in history, Juan Manuel Fangio never returned to Le Mans, while other drivers retired permanently from the circuits in the wake of the tragedy. Mercedes has been away from competition for many years. Several countries have reviewed their relationship to racing, the most striking example being that of Switzerland, which banned motorsport on its territory for almost 50 years.
At circuits around the world, public safety was finally taken seriously from that moment on. Even if it took many more years to see cars become safer for drivers. A quest that will remain relevant forever, whether for sports or the everyday car.
