The Le Mans disaster killed more than 80 spectators
On this day · 11 June 1955
A single split-second collision turned a celebrated endurance race into the deadliest accident motorsport has ever known.
On 11 June 1955, roughly two and a half hours into the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a chain-reaction collision in front of the main grandstand became the worst catastrophe in racing history. As cars jostled near the pits, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR of French driver Pierre Levegh clipped a slower Austin-Healey, launched into the air, and tore into the packed spectator enclosure.
The car disintegrated on impact. Its engine and other heavy components scythed through the crowd, while the magnesium-alloy bodywork ignited into an intense, hard-to-extinguish fire. Levegh was thrown from the cockpit and killed instantly.
The accident, which was not his fault, cost Levegh his life and those of 83 spectators.
More than seventy others were seriously injured. The toll horrified the sport: several countries suspended motor racing, and Mercedes-Benz withdrew from competition entirely for three decades. Nearly seventy years on, the 1955 Le Mans disaster remains the deadliest single event ever recorded in motorsport.
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