Lap LeMans with Mike Hawthorne 1956

[Black 03 Z06]

This is a pretty interesting narrated lap of LeMans in a D Type Jaguar from 1956. Racing speeds with people, people on bicycles, trucks and cars on the road. Worth a look.

 

[ddgermann]

Wow so many people, bikes and cars on the course. It's like driving on the "Avenue do Brazil" today.

Cool post

 

[Rruuff Day]

Great video find Murray. I thought the trees and white lines were flashing by a bit slow for his claimed 175 mph (282 kph) but what do I know...

 

[vintageracer]

Great video find Murray. I thought the trees and white lines were flashing by a bit slow for his claimed 175 mph (282 kph) but what do I know...

175mph is what they do during the race... not during this demo lap.

 

[williame3590]

Friggen bicycles everywhere..........lol That was cool Murray.

Bill

 

[Rruuff Day]

175mph is what they do during the race... not during this demo lap.

1956 24 Hours of Le Mans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Over the flying kilometre on the Mulsanne straight, the following top speeds this year were recorded this year:[16]

Car Engine Horsepower Maximum Speed
Jaguar D-Type Jaguar 3.4L S6 285 bhp 156.8 mph
Ferrari 625 LM Ferrari 2.5L S4 225 bhp 144.7 mph
Aston Martin DB3S Aston Martin 2.9L S6 240 bhp 142.6 mph
Gordini T15S Gordini 2.5L S8 <230 bhp 142.4 mph
Porsche 550A Porsche 1.5L F4 135 bhp 138.0 mph
Maserati 150S Maserati 1.5L S4 125 bhp 129.5 mph
Lotus 11 / Cooper T39 Climax FWA 1.1L S4 83 bhp 119 mph
D.B. HBR-5 Panhard 747cc F2 - 109.2 mph

 

[vintageracer]

1956 24 Hours of Le Mans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Over the flying kilometre on the Mulsanne straight, the following top speeds this year were recorded this year:[16]

Car Engine Horsepower Maximum Speed
Jaguar D-Type Jaguar 3.4L S6 285 bhp 156.8 mph
Ferrari 625 LM Ferrari 2.5L S4 225 bhp 144.7 mph
Aston Martin DB3S Aston Martin 2.9L S6 240 bhp 142.6 mph
Gordini T15S Gordini 2.5L S8 <230 bhp 142.4 mph
Porsche 550A Porsche 1.5L F4 135 bhp 138.0 mph
Maserati 150S Maserati 1.5L S4 125 bhp 129.5 mph
Lotus 11 / Cooper T39 Climax FWA 1.1L S4 83 bhp 119 mph
D.B. HBR-5 Panhard 747cc F2 - 109.2 mph

Thanks Rruuff day. It would seem that Mike Hawthorne was embellishing the Jag's potential speed.

 

[Rruuff Day]

Thanks Rruuff day. It would seem that Mike Hawthorne was embellishing the Jag's potential speed.

Who knows.... Wikipedia is not necessarily gospel either....

 

[Black 03 Z06]

The 1956 LeMans Race Results


Winners:
Overall: 4 Jaguar D-type Flockhart / Sanderson
Sports 3000: 8 Aston Martin DB3S Moss / Collins
Sports 1500: 25 Porsche 550A RS Coupé von Frankenberg / von Trips
Sports 1100: 36 Lotus Eleven Climax Bicknell / Jopp
Sports 750: 40 D.B. Barquette Panhard Laureau / Armagnac
Fastest Laps:
Overall: 1 Jaguar D-type Mike Hawthorn (GB) 4:20.000 186.383 km/h

That equates to a lap in miles per hour of 115.8130269. Can't find another reference to top speed other than what Eric already posted.

 

[Black 03 Z06]

This is another story about the 1956 video with a reference to the tragic 1955 race. I had forgotten that Hawthorn was involved in that accident that took the lives of over 80 spectators. The story from Road and Track is below the video.

At first, this 1956 video seems like just another fascinating item from the racing archives. Driver Mike Hawthorn, with a camera on the tail of his Jaguar D-Type and a microphone slung over his shoulders, narrates a pre-race practice lap around the Circuit de la Sarthe. It's a rare chance to ride along, to see and hear one of Jaguar's most legendary racing machines in the venue where it so thoroughly dominated the competition.

But this seemingly pleasant video makes grim and haunting references to the single most deadly accident in the history of motor racing, in a way that goes totally unnoticed if you don't know what to look for.

First, let's ride along with Hawthorn around the track. Around the 3:26 mark, a glitch makes the video lag behind the audio by about five seconds, a situation which somehow fixes itself by the last few turns of the course. Full screen and decent volume are highly recommended.





Hawthorn's narration is fascinating and informative. His off-the-cuff delivery is impressive, considering that he's driving one of the world's most challenging race courses, at speed, while avoiding cyclists and local traffic trundling along the circuit (can you imagine this happening today?).

But his blitheness is more than a little unsettling. At 5:11, Hawthorn makes an offhand reference to an accident from the year before. "It was just up here on the left, where the terrible accident occurred last year. . ."




Photos: 1955 Jaguar D-Type


"Terrible" doesn't begin to describe the 1955 disaster Hawthorn refers to. Just a few hours into that race, a chain-reaction accident sent the No. 20 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR crashing into the crowd alongside the racetrack. The driver, Pierre Levegh, was killed instantly, thrown from the car as it went airborne and crashed into an embankment. The disintegrating Benz's bodywork and drivetrain components hailed down on the crowd, crushing and decapitating several spectators; the car's fuel tank exploded, setting the magnesium body panels ablaze. The huge fire was made even bigger when unknowing track workers tried to douse it with water. The wreckage burned for several hours. In total, more than 80 spectators were killed, and 120 more injured.

And it was a maneuver by Hawthorn that set the deadly event in motion.




1955 Jaguar D-Type


Hawthorn, in the lead in his Jaguar D-Type, had just passed the Austin-Healey 100 driven by Lance Macklin when he noticed the Jaguar crew signaling him to make a pit stop. Hawthorn braked hard to make the pit entrance; Macklin, in the Austin-Healey, swerved to avoid Hawthorn, ending up right in the path of Levegh's Mercedes, closing in at nearly 150 mph.

Levegh collided with Macklin, the Austin-Healey acting as a ramp that sent the Mercedes flying into the crowd. Macklin's car spun into the pit barrier, ricocheted toward the burning Mercedes, and struck a spectator; miraculously, Macklin emerged unharmed.