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Mike Hawthorn at Le Mans, 1956

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Absolutely amazing. He wasnt hanging about either. Bicycles old Renaults, lord knows what else. I suspect that this would not be allowed nowadays!
 
Wow! 50 years ago and doing 175 on a public road. Priceless!
 
"Quite a lot of traffic about...bicyclists...."
It's not like they couldn't hear him coming!
Very cool video.
 
Amazing!....What a find.

Hawthorn says at the end....
"And on the left is where the big accident happened LAST year.

(That was 52 years ago)
 
That was an amazing, one-of-a-kind piece of vintage footage!!! I love the hi-tech portable mike of the day!!! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
Patton said:
Great footage. How long was the circuit in 1956 and we can estimate average speed.

Patton
Click to expand...

8.364 miles (in '56)

[edit]-the actual race part of the vid is about 4.5 minutes, giving about 111 MPH...but it's hard to tell if the video has been edited for length....the '56 winners, in a D-Jag averaged 104.5 for the entire 24 hours[/edit]
 
Are you sure aeronca? A close look at your T-shirt shows the same fold across the waist!!! Just a colorful guy in a black-and-white world eh? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif
 
I need to change my shorts. I got tired watching that, I couldn't watch for 23 hours and 56 minutes at that speed.
 
Nial,

I thought that the world was in Black & White until 1949.
I guess color came later than I remember.

- Doug
 
Very very fahst indeed!

Thanks.
 
Wow! compelling viewing and compelling reading about 1955. Great vintage stuff, I love the D type Jags.
 
For all the magic of Mike Hawthrone, I think the 1977 Porsche 936 lap that you can get to from that page is a more realistic view of racing at Le Mans.

I was a lowly spectator there 1966, 1971, 1972, 1977. In my view it has to be one of the most complete sporting entertainment events anywhere in the world.
 
The "1955 accident" referred to by Hawthorne was the Pierre Levegh accident which killed Levegh and a large number of spectators. It took Mercedes out of racing for a VERY LONG TIME thereafter.
 
From 1923, the first race, until about 1980 (or so) the Le Mans 24 Hour Race was run on ordinary public roads that were open to traffic 363 days of the year. Yes, the road was made wider, and the curves were smoothed out, and there was Armco everywhere.

Hawthorne's 1956 lap was the way it was except for the official practice day, one day before the race. In earlier years there wasn't even an official practice day. Practice at Le Mans ALWAYS involved avoiding the French farmers riding/driving whatever, whose routine ABSOLUTELY would/could/should not be altered by the racers. The French are like that, you gotta love 'em.

So it is 1971, the summit year of speed at Le Mans. It is 2 days before the big race. There you are, Gaston Dubois, aged 75, on your bike, on your way home after work to embrace your beloved and quaff a glass of the local beer, in the village of Les Hunaudieres.

Imagine the wind blast from the two Porsche 917-30s, 5.4L flat-12, turbocharged, 1100 bhp apiece, the two cars three feet apart, going by you at about 225mph (or more) on the Mulsanne...
 
I'd still like to make it to Le Mans some day. Best I can do is the ALMS racing at our new track here in Utah. I would have loved to have gone in the 50s and 60s, but of course I wasn't born until 1972. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
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