ATn 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 followed one another 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 remain a monument of danger.
The vivid reminder of 2013
Behind the centenary celebrated this year hides another anniversary, much darker: that of the death of Allan Simonsen. The race has just started, on June 22, 2013, in an electric atmosphere. Drivers and teams may have to keep up the effort for a whole day, but this key moment is always very lively. That day, the track was tricky, the result of the most capricious weather. From the start of the second lap, after only eight minutes of racing, the Dane lost control of his Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE while trying to avoid a competitor in difficulty in front of him.
READ ALSO24 Hours of Le Mans: Ford’s revengeLaunched at full speed on a slightly damp asphalt, his vehicle will be the victim of what is called “a blow of the racket”, propelling it straight against the safety barriers of the Virage du Tertre Rouge. The shock is clear, brutal. If the accident as such is not the most impressive, the state of the car, he immediately fears the worst. Nine safety rails were damaged instantly, a sign of the violence of the impact. Immediately, the race is neutralized. The tumult of the engines gives way to silence; from the garages to the stands, the excitement of the first moments turns into seriousness. The experienced 34-year-old pilot, quickly taken care of by the emergency services, succumbed to his injuries. The most famous race in the world has once again taken the life of one of its heroes. It hadn’t happened since 1997.
“It’s a strong reminder that motorsport is a dangerous sport, but also that it’s a freely accepted risk,” 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.
A huge straight line…
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 follows the departmental road adjoining the site. Here there is an immense straight line, known as 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 record (maximum speed) continues to go 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 requires, 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 record for a Formula 1, which fell 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.
… and more or less fast cars
Another factor to keep in mind is the different categories that ride at the same time. Of the sixty cars that take the start each year, there are three categories, with a very significant speed differential. Not only do the sportsmen have to drive 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 cars of the lower tiers. 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 in these conditions. The following year, it was Britain’s Anthony Davidson in a Toyota who was to have a colossal fright…
When the cars fly away
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 constructor 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 the qualifying sessions, one of the Mercedes pushed to more than 300 km/h took 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 up, 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 aligns its two other cars, simply adding a little more weight to correct their problem. 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 fall of the CLR and spare Peter Dumbreck. As crazy as it may seem, the Scottish pilot emerged unscathed from this crash. For safety, the last car in the race will be forced to return to the garage. The model will never take the start of an endurance race again, and the German brand will withdraw from competition as a manufacturer, but will continue to supply engines, in particular in Formula 1.
The trauma of 1955
The 1999 affair 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 the darkest episode in motorsport.
The story had everything to be sublime. This June 11, 1955, an extraordinary double duel is promised to the spectators between two big names of 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 race rages on, at a pace rarely seen before. At 35e turn, Hawthorn is called by his stand to refuel. 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.
The sequel is appalling. The French driver’s Mercedes is thrown into the air and lands right on the embankment separating the track from the spectators. “On impact, the pilot is ejected while the car literally explodes, throwing the front axle, bonnet and engine towards the bleachers”, testified in 2009 for Paris Match Jacques Grelley, a miracle of this disastrous day. “In a deafening din, I find myself on the ground. […] When I get up, a few seconds later, I can’t see out of my left eye. A fragment of brain is blocking my spectacle lens. My hands and my shirt are stained with blood… but I have nothing. I am unharmed. Around me is chaos. Dozens of bodies lie on the ground. At my side, my unfortunate companion, with whom I was shoulder to shoulder a few moments earlier, is decapitated. His binoculars are still around his neck, but his head is gone. »
Many consequences for Le Mans
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 was killed in 1959 in a road accident, not without having been crowned F1 world champion the previous year with 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 nearly 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.