Particular motor races have a special place for many enthusiasts. The Indianapolis 500, Daytona, your national grand prix, the Monaco Grand Prix or Italian Grand Prix are typical and justified calls. One that continues to hold appeal for many Brits is the Vingt Quatre Heures du Mans – the Le Mans 24 Hours. Held every spring from 1923 to 1939 and then again from 1949, it combines endurance, glamour, history and dogged achievement in what is recognised as one of the world’s leading motor sport events, and has attracted manufacturers from around the world. Is there any other single event outside North America Henry Ford II would have put that much effort into?
We Brits have a special place for it – the history of success by Bentley (1924, 1927–1930, 2003) and Jaguar (1951, 1953, 1955–1957, 1988, 1990) are enough to secure that, along with the success of British drivers – more Brits have won than any other nationality, led by Derek Bell with six wins. Every June, there’s a large number of British enthusiasts camped in the surrounding forests for the weekend and also for the bi-annual Le Mans Classic in July.
The (clockwise) circuit is comprised partly of discrete track and partly public road, obviously closed for the occasion and fitted with safety barriers.
It has inevitably evolved over the years but elements of the public road are easily discernible though.
This video is of Mike Hawthorn, driving a Jaguar D Type in 1956, as a publicity event during practice in the preceding days to the race. Hawthorn had won the previous year (the year of the tragic disaster when 84 spectators were killed).
Hawthorn, equipped with state of the 1956 art in car camera and recording equipment, takes us round the circuit, avoiding cyclists and routine traffic. He still laps in well under five minutes, compared with the fastest lap in the race of four minutes twenty seconds, which he claimed. For reference, the fastest lap in 2020 was 3 minutes 36 seconds – the winning Toyota did 387 laps compared to 1956’s 300.
Hawthorn had mechanical issues – a cracked fuel line caused a misfire and cost him and his co-driver Ivor Bueb over 20 laps but they fought back to a creditable sixth place, with fastest lap as well.
Another Jaguar, driven by Ninian Sanderson and Ron Flockhart won, from Stirling Moss and Peter Collins in an Aston Martin DB3S and a Ferrari 625LM third. Quite a podium. And the winning car, below, has recently been auctioned for over $21million, a record for a British car
Jaguar won again in 1957, to claim a hat trick.
Hawthorn had a parallel career as a grand prix driver, and in 1958 won the Formula 1 Championship for Ferrari, the first British driver to do so, just pipping Moss to the title and losing his close friend and teammate Peter Collins at the Nurburgring. He promptly retired, at the top of his game and as survivor, only to die in a road accident just a few months later.
Hawthorn is sometimes overlooked, having a lower profile now than Stirling Moss and Jackie Stewart, for example, but his achievements, bravery and sportsmanship deserve note and respect, as well as his “work hard, play hard” attitude. And, yes, he always raced wearing a bow tie.
Thanks Roger, for this really interesting Sunday morning read. The film of the entire route is great. I wish I had viewed this before watching the Ford v. Ferrari movie several months back.
I loved the crude mobile tech with the engine’s electrical system buzzing through into the recording. It had to be quite impressive for its time, though.
It’s so sad that so many of these racing heroes died behind the wheel (on the road, as you said, in Hawthorne’s case). Am I remembering correctly that Hawthorn was initially disqualified in that last race of the ’58 F1 season? Moss apparently petitioned that his finish be reinstated, and in doing so, lost the title for himself. If that’s not a lesson in sportsmanship, nothing is.
EDIT: I just looked it up…it was the Portuguese Grand Prix where this happened, not the final race at the ‘Ring.
Indeed it was Portugal, and often (and fairly) cited as an example of Moss’s sportsmanship.
Great video! That was cool. Thanks!
A great video. Hawthorn actually had health issues, not that he let them interfere with his social life, but it is likely or possible that his fatal accident was caused by a medical event.
Great video! I had come across this one before, and it is really a remarkable feeling to be riding along with one of the great drivers, complete with his own commentary. Wonder who got to see this when it was first made; it would have been quite impressive on the big screen.
Another similar clip I have seen on YouTube that I would recommend searching for is a segment from an old documentary of some kind that includes a full-color first-person ride on the Monaco Grand Prix circuit in 1962 (I don’t know how to embed it here, just search for “Monaco 1962” and it should come up). I recommend wearing headphones, it’s in stereo and the engine sounds are incredible. And if anyone figures out what the camera car is let me know, you can only see the top of the windshield and the leading edge of the hood but my guess is M-B 190SL.
While not the same car as Steve McQueens they are both gorgeous creations. Even with that microphone stuck in his helmet in cannot suppress its sonorous song.
I was ever destined to be a future CC reader, as the ’68 born me had absolutely no interest in GP or sportscar/LeMan type racers after about the mid-’60’s. Oh dear, born an old fart, it seems.
I’ve seen this video before, and it’s quite the artifact. He reaches 100mph in a few spots, and, inadvertently causing me amusement, talks of Mulsanne as being “relaxing” for the driver – at 170mph in the race – exactly as he threads his 100mph needle between an on-coming bike and the one he’s passing, all without a closed track. Eeek!
A bit more soberly, he mentions the “terrible” pits accident of ‘the ’55 LeMans, without mentioning that 80+ people died horrible deaths or that he was (arguably) the cause of it. He doesn’t have the name for being personable as Fangio or Moss does, in fact, if some stories are to be believed, he might’nt have been a particularly nice guy. That said, I recently saw video of a then 92-y.o. John Fitch, driver of the other Mercedes with Moss in ’55, saying that Moss was livid with him for suggesting Mercedes pull out of the race they were leading, so that dents the Moss aura a little! (Though like many, I’ve met Moss in Oz in ’82 as a 14 y.o., in the carpark at Melbourne’s Sandown raceway, and he was an absolutely ordinary, very decent man). Hawthorn went on to win the ’55 in his D-type, perhaps not the most honorable of triumphs in the circumstances: Jaguar refused to pull out even though Mercedes had.
” He doesn’t have the name for being personable as Fangio or Moss does,”
I’ve never heard that before – by all accounts he was a very sociable chap. More easy-going than Moss perhaps. I was only five years old when I met him, so I can’t verify this personally….
I’m very conflicted on Hawthorne. He should’ve pulled out of the race in ’55 when Porsche and Mercedes did so, because who wants to win under those circumstances? Not only with so many deaths, but when the competition pulls out of the race on human grounds and he didn’t? Especially so when he caused the accident and didn’t seem to be particularly concerned about it. That win wasn’t worth it in my humble opinion, it only made him look heartless and callous.
Also, it may have been a medical issue leading to his death, but he was racing against a Mercedes 300SL on public roads with his race prepped Jaguar 3.4-litre. There’s no way in hell they were driving within legal limits, leading to him careening off the road and killing himself. A race driver driving that fast on public roads? It’s stupid, unnecessary and totally unforgivable to risk other people’s lives in that way. He had only himself to blame for that crash…
Sorry, but at LeMans he wasn’t driving for team Hawthorn, he was driving for team Jaguar. It was up to Jaguar to decide to carry-on or withdraw.
As an Edinburgh boy I feel duty bound to point out that 1956 was a (the) all-Scottish victory – Ecurie Ecosse with two Scottish drivers. Autosport magazine changed its title from red to blue to mark the occasion. (I remember them doing that again when Colin McRae won his world title)
Ecurie Ecosse finished 1-2 in ’57 but with Ivor Bueb paired with Flockhart in the winning car.
Regarding racecar drivers racing on the road. My three friends that used to race amateur stockcars with 500-700 HP engines. One commented “a regular car is like driving a gulf cart compared to a racecar.” I can attest to this as they all set the cruise control to “Grampa” or at least 5 below the minimum. So I agree. You’ve got to be a major league jackass to be a professional racer and race on the road endangering others lives.