Le Mans 1955 Disaster documantary
Discussion
DJC said:
That D-TYpe wasnt putting out 290 in '55. Add another 20-30 ponies.
The 1955 D-Type was never over 300, it wasn't putting out 290 either.In 1955 it used the same 45 mm Weber carburetters as 1954 but on a slightly modified manifold, while the car's exhaust pipes no longer ended in front of the rear wheel but were continued right the way along underneath the body to emerge at the rear, with the idea of increasing the extractor effect. All these changes brought about an increase in power of some 30 bhp, 270 bhp now being produced at between 5,500 rpm and 6,000 rpm.
I thought it was well judged.
OK, some of the minutiae was factually incorrect but the main purpose of the documentary - AISI - was the exploration of the cause of the accident after the release of previously unseen photos, and some eyewitness accounts of the aftermath.
Among the many "what ifs" that occurred to me was, 'What if Leveigh's SLR had collided with any other car than Macklin's Healy? Maybe the accident would not have happened?'.
OK, some of the minutiae was factually incorrect but the main purpose of the documentary - AISI - was the exploration of the cause of the accident after the release of previously unseen photos, and some eyewitness accounts of the aftermath.
Among the many "what ifs" that occurred to me was, 'What if Leveigh's SLR had collided with any other car than Macklin's Healy? Maybe the accident would not have happened?'.
FourWheelDrift said:
DJC said:
That D-TYpe wasnt putting out 290 in '55. Add another 20-30 ponies.
The 1955 D-Type was never over 300, it wasn't putting out 290 either.In 1955 it used the same 45 mm Weber carburetters as 1954 but on a slightly modified manifold, while the car's exhaust pipes no longer ended in front of the rear wheel but were continued right the way along underneath the body to emerge at the rear, with the idea of increasing the extractor effect. All these changes brought about an increase in power of some 30 bhp, 270 bhp now being produced at between 5,500 rpm and 6,000 rpm.
Olivera said:
DJC said:
This documentary lacks any sort of passion, depth, soul.
Thanks for forming your opinion after only 16 minutes of a 1 hour program, whilst also simultaeneously browsing and posting multiple times on Pistonheads... 
Edited by Olivera on Sunday 16th May 23:40
Im unsure what browing and posting on ph has to do with it. I was also reading about the cricket on the bbc news page, looking at some emails and both ph classifieds and autotrader all roughly at the same time. Your point?
My point though was that 2/3rds of that prog. was rubbish. It only got useful when they started to show the crash footage and then the stills, the slow mo action.
The narrator was Godawful, it was pure read from the script stuff. There was no enthusiasm, no passion and what "depth" there was, for the most part was sensationalist filler about Jag v Merc, Mike v Fangio. Oh and something about Leveigh being the French national hero!
Pretty dreadful I thought. From the moment that the passion-free narrator pronounced the venue as "Le Mon" I knew we were in trouble. Riddled with inaccuracies, WW2 replay cliches, Hawthorn the villain, irrelevant footage and that dreadful Top Gun-style typwewriter font.
Probably most relevant were the absentees - no interview with Stirling Moss who, I suspect, saw the proverbial imminent car crash and politely declined - I've great respect for what Martin Short has achieved but hardly "Mr Le Mans" is he ?
Ask me to do a documentary on the history of the World Snooker Championship (of which I know nothing) and I suspect this is the kind of level that I would arrive at. A missed opportunity.
Probably most relevant were the absentees - no interview with Stirling Moss who, I suspect, saw the proverbial imminent car crash and politely declined - I've great respect for what Martin Short has achieved but hardly "Mr Le Mans" is he ?
Ask me to do a documentary on the history of the World Snooker Championship (of which I know nothing) and I suspect this is the kind of level that I would arrive at. A missed opportunity.
DJC said:
Olivera said:
DJC said:
This documentary lacks any sort of passion, depth, soul.
The narrator was Godawful, it was pure read from the script stuff. Clearly by someone who had, no affinity, knowledge, interest, nor narration skills
Grandad Gaz said:
Why did Macklin's Healey veer across the track like that?
From the footage shown, Hawthorne had just overtaken him.
from what i could gather, hawthorn had just overtaken macklin, then slowed down to come to the pits, macklin surprised by the decelleration of the d-type had to swerve or run into the back of hawthorn so moved to the left inadvertantly hitting a fast approaching levagh. From the footage shown, Hawthorne had just overtaken him.
although there were some facts told in error by the narrator, i thought it was prettty good, especially the eye-witness accounts, they were still visibly shaken by the events. the time fade picture panorama at the end was poignant and respectful
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