10 replies to this topic

[erkelly2]

RE: LEMANS '55:

In less than eight months we will be observing the fiftieth anniversary of the saddest day in auto racing history - the loss of more than eighty spectators and one driver, Pierre Levegh (a pseudonym of Pierre Bouillon), at the 24 Heures du Mans on 11 June 1955.

Motorsport Memorial is preparing complete files about this event. As is our practice we post complete information about racing fatalities. We do not limit the coverage to drivers; we include mechanics, officials, course employees, etc., and, especially, spectators.

We have copies of the list of casualties published in LE FIGARO and Le Monde.

In this thread I will list the names, arranged according to the victims' residential location.

It is our hope that readers of this thread will be able to provide us with some information about each person listed so that their file will be as complete as possible when we publish it. We need Complete name, Birth date, and Birth place, at a minimum. If possible we would appreciate a good photograph and some information regarding each victim's life.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

There were only three victims known not to be from France.


From Belgium:

Mme. Simone Van den Eyden, nee Delavigne
22 years old, a resident of Saint Andre les Bruge.

From the United Kingdom, England:

Jacques (Jack) Diamond
24 years old, a resident of London.

Robert John Loxley
21 years old, a resident of Worcester


The day after the accident, one victim's name remained unknown. Does anyone know who this was?


The lists we are using appear to have been obtained from the same source.

Two victims from France were named Emile Robert, from Cavaillon, and Robert Emile, also from Cavaillon, both with the same age, 34. Is this a duplicate entry of the same person, and if so, which is the correct name?


I will continue with more names in my next posting in a few days.

Rick Kelly, Motorsport Memorial researcher

[Pedro 917]

In less than eight months we will be observing the fiftieth anniversary of the saddest day in auto racing history - the loss of more than eighty spectators and one driver, Pierre Levegh (a pseudonym of Pierre Bouillon), at the 24 Heures du Mans on 11 June 1955.

I'll be "celebrating" my 50th birthday that day.....
I have a "Paris Match" from that week with a complete report of the tragedy. I could send you a scan of the article, just let me know if you're interested.

[dretceterini]

Please scan the article and post it here, or post it somewhere else with the link posted here..


Stu

[Pedro 917]

Well I'm afraid it's too difficult, the magazine measures 27 x 35 cm and so it's too big for the scanner. I could scan them in halves and use photomerge but I'm afraid I'm going to damage the magazine as it's very old. Also many pictures are spread over two pages and the article is 18 pages long with very little text. One thing's clear, it was a horrible crash and I feel some pictures are not suitable for putting them here. Sorry.
FYI : the Paris Match in question is # 325 (18-25 June 1955) and has Fangio on the cover. I bought it on ebay :

[Ray Bell]

Pix Magazine of the same week was likewise simply full of photos of the disaster...

I remember looking at it when I was a kid. I don't know, but I guess there would be somewhere you could access it today, possibly on microfilm?

[jm70]

I just finished reading Brock Yates book "Agains Death and Time", which is primarily about the 1955 racing season. He intimates that the casualties were greater than 100, and that the French were not concerned with foreign nationals when compiling their lists. You post might indicate otherwise, but I thought I would bring up this point.

[Muzza]

Originally posted by jm70
I just finished reading Brock Yates book "Agains Death and Time", which is primarily about the 1955 racing season. He intimates that the casualties were greater than 100, and that the French were not concerned with foreign nationals when compiling their lists. You post might indicate otherwise, but I thought I would bring up this point.

Hello, jm70,

Please be very careful when reading Yates' Against Death and Time: this book has been called by its own editors a work of "faction" - that means, a merging of fiction and action. It is by no means an accurate tale of the 1955 season; it is more a sort of screenplay of a Hollywood production about that terrible season than anything else.

Against Death and Time is to the the 1955 racing season what the movie "Pearl Harbor" directed by Michael May is to facts. Dialogs, events and whole passages of Against Death and Time are product of Yates' understanding of what might have happened - fancy way of saying "imagination".

Just to mention a single example, the narration of Vukovich's story in Against Death and Time sent historians that spent years researching the life of the "Mad Russian" flipping over. I have observed the same reaction from a number of well-reputed racing historians about other segments of the book.

Therefore, and having consulted documents as those that Rick Kelly will soon post here, I take Yates' words about Le Mans 1955 with a large dose of suspicion.

We that consider ourselves members of a certain "racing community" are often very critical of the sensationalist approach with which the most of the non-specialized media covers the subject of racing fatalities, for reasons that are quite well known - lack of respect and a cheap ticket to profit are just two of them. Therefore it is a shame that a popular figure from within the racing circles as Brock Yates would resort to the same tactics.

One may consider Against Death and Time an interesting reading, but please don't call it a racing history book.


Muzza

[SEdward]

I read Yates' book "Enzo Ferrari. The man, the cars, the races" and have refused to by anything written by him since them. Complete tripe from the beginning to the end...

Edward.

[Marc Ceulemans]

Not Pierre BOUILLON: Pierre BOUILLIN...

[bretonbanquet]

Originally posted by Marc Ceulemans
Not Pierre BOUILLON: Pierre BOUILLIN...

I had always thought it was Bouillon too - thanks!

[erkelly2]

I have returned from the blackboard after writing Bouillin 500 times. Nothing like starting off with a
dumb error.

I knew that Paris Match had substantial coverage of Le Mans '55. Does it list the names of the victims or is it mostly photos? If it has the names, please send them on for comparison with what I already have. Keep in mind that we hope to be communicating with friends and relatives of the victims, so let's avoid any unneccesary (and possibly hurtful) photos that do not accomplish the intentions of this thread. Nice cover photo of Fangio - certainly one of the five greatest drivers ever.

Most of the events are well documented. There is an excellent web site devoted to this subject at http://www.germaris.com/le_mans.html currently in French but to also be available soon in English. But the main purpose of this thread is learning about the people who were killed or injured.

There is a new book about this subject which I have on order: "Le Mans '55; The Crash that changed the face of Motor Racing" by C. Hilton. I expect it to arrive here (Oklahoma, USA) in another week or so. When I have read it I will send a review.

Meanwhile, let's continue to focus on the victims and their lives.



Group number two are those who were from Le Mans and the Sarthe dept.:

Marcel BERGES Le Mans

Claude BRUNET Le Mans

Robert DIVARET Le Mans

Michel FOUREY Songe-le-Ganelon

Fernand GESBERT Le Mans

M. LANQUILLE Le Mans

Auguste LEBERTON Le Mans

Daniel PIGNOT Malicorne

Jean POUSSIN Le Mans

Mme. Genevieve QUINTON Le Mans

Jean RETIF La Chartre Sur Loir

Pierre ROUCHY Ecommoy

Jacques RUILLE Louplande

We are hoping that we can obtain at least the dates and locations of birth of the above listed individuals.