New Film about Le Mans
Discussion
The article below was in my local paper on Monday. Unfortunately, I'd already thrown the paper away before someone told me the article was there. Hence the terrible state of the scan! Couldn't find anything on the web.
New doc been made for the BBC about the 1955 Le Mans tragedy. If anyone is in the North West there is a screening at the Railway pub in Greenfield (near Oldham) next Tuesday night. The film is made by the same guy who made "Lap of the Gods" and "Chasing the Dream" which are both excellent.
New doc been made for the BBC about the 1955 Le Mans tragedy. If anyone is in the North West there is a screening at the Railway pub in Greenfield (near Oldham) next Tuesday night. The film is made by the same guy who made "Lap of the Gods" and "Chasing the Dream" which are both excellent.
Interesting.
This year we were having lunch in La Chartre sur le Loir when one of our party noticed some books about the 1955 disaster in the window of a local shop. I gave him a bit of background about it as he hadn't really heard about it before.
He asked where it took place and all I could tell him at the time was that it was somewhere near the bottom end of the start / finish straight.
As we left the stands after the race to wander down onto the track via, we went down a flight of steps and there, on the wall, was a plaque in memory of the people who died during the accident. Had never seen it before, and was actually quite moving in an odd way.
I really hope the film handles the event in a sympathetic way (purely based on the previous excellent films by this lot, I'm confident it will) because having seen the usual brief bits of footage of the crash, I'm not sure I'm entirely keen on watching an entire film about it to be quite honest.
Couple of weeks back there was an article in La Maine Libre one of the local papers here. It went into the race in detail and they interviewd an old French guy who has a piece of Mercedes in him like shrapnel from the war. Aluminium pieces in his back and head.
The went into detail as how there were not enough ambulances and he was taken away in a van, and the hospitals struggled to cope.
Just dug the paper out of the recycle bin.
79 dead 178 injured.
Sorry I don't have a scanner here to post the article.
As a result of this motor racing was banned in Switzerland which is why there are no circuits in Switzerland. Some friends (Swiss) come to Le Mans to drive the circuit along with other cicuits round the rest of Europe.
The went into detail as how there were not enough ambulances and he was taken away in a van, and the hospitals struggled to cope.
Just dug the paper out of the recycle bin.
79 dead 178 injured.
Sorry I don't have a scanner here to post the article.
As a result of this motor racing was banned in Switzerland which is why there are no circuits in Switzerland. Some friends (Swiss) come to Le Mans to drive the circuit along with other cicuits round the rest of Europe.
I was on holiday in the south of France two years ago, and the guy I rented the villa from noticed my Le Mans t-shirt, and mentioned he lived there out of season. I asked if he'd been to the race, and he said not since 1955 - turns out he was a boy scout, and was pressed into service as a stretcher bearer, and saw some things that a young boy would never forget. Given I spend a lot of time in pitlane, you sort of forget how exposed everyone was back then....
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