You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
A different world. Is it just me who thought this would never be allowed today.
Lunatic drivers nearly knocking down cyclists? Everyday occurrence isn’t it?
Fantastic stuff, proper cars. Would take that over the modern race any day.
Just a modern day Claudio?
Hard to tell the speeds overall but yes, thankfully we take peoples lives a lot more seriously these days.
Lunatic drivers nearly knocking down cyclists? Everyday occurrence isn’t it?
yeah - but these days its he cyclists that have he cameras and uploading the videos to youtube.
Brilliant piece of film.
Great races, great cars.
I drove a D-Type for a few laps once - bloody brilliant!
[img] 
[/img]
Lunatic drivers nearly knocking down cyclists?
As Mike helpfully points out, "they are French"...
Amazing to see the road as it was, ie just the road between Muslanne and Le Mans
Most of the circuit is on public roads. You can drive it today if you like. There's massive barriers on the big straights and gravel traps on the corners. Probably a few gendarmes around too. Last time we drove it, at normal, safe speeds, there were a few tyre tracks into the gravel from other drivers probably going a little faster.
Doesn’t that car sound amazing!
Whats wrong with someone who knows how to drive a car well driving on a road? Scariest thing is someone who doesn’t know what they are doing driving on a road
Oh and cyclist just pulling out in front of cars
He isn’t going very fast, especially compared to race speed. Amazing video though - quality is much better than I expected.
Loved it. Shame he departed the scene too early.
Most of the circuit is on public roads. You can drive it today if you like
well, a straight and a couple of corners around Sarthe are, but that wasn't the point I was making. In Hawthorn's day, it was just a road, connecting some villages, nowadays its part of a circuit that's used by the public, the tarmac is different the camber is designed to shed water at a faster rate, there's furniture for the race, the trees have been cut back and some of the houses demolished.
Came expected the Nutty Boys. Got a bloke driving around. Moving on.
Yep, no baggy trousers to be seen.
That was typical of racing circuits at that time and quite a bit later too, e.g. Spa, Nurburgring. But for maximum madness see Mille Miglia.
That is brilliant!
"Typical french" 😂😂
Wow. It’s up there with the exploits of Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt who managed to compete at Le Mans whilst under the influence:
https://vennmotorsport.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/the-drunken-tale-of-duncan-hamilton/amp/
Scarecly believable today, but when you look back at the 1976 season it’s conceivable that James Hunt would’ve failed a breathalyser more than once, he also used to enjoy a healthy toke before driving to calm his nerves.
There's a series on Motors TV about the history of Le Mans which goes from the 50s up until recently i think. If i remember rightly they last anywhere from 15 minutes up to about an hour and well worth watching if you like this sort of thing.
I'm up to the mid 80s at the minute.
The speed differential between these boys is quite scary, and as for the straight.
Just brilliant!
... his blitheness is more than a little unsettling. At 5:11, Hawthorn makes an offhand reference to an accident from the year before. "It was just up here on the left, where the terrible accident occurred last year.
"Terrible" doesn't begin to describe the 1955 disaster Hawthorn refers to. Just a few hours into that race, a chain-reaction accident sent the No. 20 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR crashing into the crowd alongside the racetrack. The driver, Pierre Levegh, was killed instantly, thrown from the car as it went airborne and crashed into an embankment. The disintegrating Benz's bodywork and drivetrain components hailed down on the crowd, crushing and decapitating several spectators; the car's fuel tank exploded, setting the magnesium body panels ablaze. The huge fire was made even bigger when unknowing track workers tried to douse it with water. The wreckage burned for several hours. In total, more than 80 spectators were killed, and 120 more injured.
I vote madness.
I like the way all the track improvemets he mentions are either 'much faster and safer' or 'safer and faster'.
It was 60 years ago, fairly irrelevant safety-wise, bloody good watch though.
Just think how everything has improved if you want to be miserable about it.