“Racing’s Deadliest Day” – the 1955 Le Mans tragedy

The “Le Mans start” of the 1955 race.

I just found this article, though it was published not even two weeks ago. The Le Mans accident of 1955 has always been a subject of interest to me. Why? No, no morbid curiosity or something like that, far from it. With Le Mans being a great passion of mine, the tragedy always hits a chord within me. How something so fantastic could have been the stage for such pain and devastation? All the race stories of greatness and passion kind of pale when I think about the tragedy. That being so, I really can’t enumerate how many articles and videos I’ve seen about the 1955 race. Some truly good, yet mostly superficial or just utterly non-factual. However, today I stumbled upon this article by Darrell Hartman. His piece is one of the best I’ve ever seen – factual, well-written and just as important, objective. Unhappily, the majority of stories written about the tragedy try to deflect blame. To glaze over a few details. Hartman, however, exposes (the known) facts – and with facts you can arrive at your own conclusions. The accident happened because of a multitude of factors, however one small detail was the fulcrum to the ensuing disaster.

Nonetheless, whatever were the reasons for the accident, knowing what happened will not make it less of a tragedy. Yet, it will bring enlightenment. Therefore, knowing the facts is always a great thing. So let us be glad that motorsports have evolved enough that something like what happened in 1955 will NEVER happen again. And to ensure that it really never does, let us always be aware of the facts.

Books – 100 Le Mans

“100 Le Mans: A Century at the World’s Greatest Endurance Race” – Glen Smale

Very probably, of all the books that I have, this is one of the very few that got me anxious. “100 Le Mans: A Century at the World’s Greatest Endurance Race”, by Glen Smale, was announced in 2022. Hardcover, 240 pages, with a slip case and chock-full of photos, celebrating Le Mans’ centennial race. Has to be awesome so a must buy, right? When I saw it on Amazon I immediately put it on pre-order, and it should come out in 2023. Well, as soon as the initial euphoria passed, I payed better attention to the price. I know books nowadays are expensive, yet this one was REALLY expensive, especially factoring in shipping fees. So I thought better of it and grudgingly canceled my pre-order 🙄. Oh well, another awesome book that was just too darn expensive…

For every year there’s a small write-up on the race.

I honestly forgot about the book; the centennial Le Mans came, I watched the race and busied myself trying to decide what 2023 models would be must buys. Fast forward to July, 2024. Since Amazon Prime Day was coming, my son asked me to get him a few books. So I went to Amazon and while looking for his books, there’s “100 Le Mans”, on sale. For US$ 27,00 😲. Locally, so no oversea shipping 😲😲. When first announced, the price was over $100, plus shipping.

The pictures are FANTASTIC!

I bought it on the spot and only after paying and confirming my order was good that I remembered that I still needed to order my son’s books 😂. And as expected, I got what I paid for. This is important: do NOT expect it to be the be-all-end-all book about Le Mans. It is a (good) coffee table book, with loads of info and fantastic photographs. For every year there’s a small resume and a few anecdotes of that year’s race (the best part, IMO). Since these anecdotes were the “big” stories of that year, most of them were not news to me, however I still learned a couple new stories. This book is NOT the definitive book on Le Mans up to 2023, despite the title.

Someone doesn’t know squat about racing cars…

Nonetheless, the photography is GREAT, though, there is this caption on one of the fold-out pictures 😖. How the proof-reader could have mistaken a R18 TDI for a M3 GT2 is beyond me… Fortunately I can show the real car in question 😁. I only found that one wrong, yet specially with the older cars that I’m not very familiar with, there could be more mistakes. Honestly, a very small blunder, nothing that would condemn the book. Even so, do I recommend this book? Maybe not. Let’s start with the title. Though the name says 100 Le Mans, it covers 99 years, from 1923 to 2022. That right there tells me that this book came out before the centennial race to be a cash grab. “Let’s milk the cash cow before the centennial race becomes old news…”🤑 I’m sure this book was not intended for the hardcore Le Mans nut, but for the casual fan. Therefor, it will be disappointing for some (like me). Honestly, W-143 has MUCH more general information on Le Mans than 100 Le Mans.

The definition of a coffee table book – great photos and a lot of anecdotal information.

With all that, I would say “100 Le Mans” is more of a light & generic book about Le Mans. I read it from cover to cover (captions and all) in I think about 4-5 hours. A nice read, no doubt, with GREAT photos, yet I would like to taste more meat in my sandwich, you know? Basically, more info, more content. Bottom line, if you want a generic coffee table book on Le Mans, this is a (very?) nice buy. If you want technical statistics, pit lane stories or more detailed information, very probably this is not for you. Even if you can find it for a heavily discounted price. And yes, now I know the reason for the huge price slash…🙄

Caveat emptor.