From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Pierre Levegh (December 22, 1905 - June 11, 1955) was a French sportsman, mainly remembered for a disaster that killed himself and around 80 spectators during the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1955.
Born Pierre Bouillon in Paris. He took the racing name Levegh in memory of his uncle, a pioneering driver. A world-class ice hockey and tennis player. In motorsport he competed in Formula 1 for the Lago-Talbot team in 1950 and 1951, he competed in six races, retiring in three and scoring no points.
At Le Mans he raced for Talbot in four races, finishing fourth in 1951. In 1952, driving single-handedly, his car suffered an engine failure in the last hour of the race with a four lap lead. This failure was probably caused by a missed gear change due to driver fatigue. In 1953 he came eighth and in 1954 he was involved in an accident in the seventh hour of racing.
In 1955 he was tempted away from Talbot and joined the American John Fitch in racing a Mercedes 300 SLR. In the third hour of racing while on the Tribunes Straight he clipped an Austin-Healey that was forced to make an evasive move after Mike Hawthorn dived into the pits. After hitting an earth bank, the car flew through the air, disintegrating, scattering components into the crowd. Levegh was killed, as were around 80 spectators, while over 100 were injured. The race was continued in order to prevent the spectators from leaving which would have blocked all access roads, and the ambulances.
While Mercedes withdrew from the race as a sign of respect to the victims (and later from motorracing in general for the next 30 years), Mike Hawthorn continued to win the race.
