Ferrari crashed, no modern !!!

Watching this pictures made me think, it's incredible that a tiny metal bit with a stamped number can be worth millions of dollars. These cars has no need to be built by the period workers at the Ferrari factory to claim those astronomic values it seems.

 

Yep

 

Great footage indeed, in colour no less. Too bad the transfer to YouTube is such bad quality.

It truly staggers the modern mind that 80 people were killed and that the race just continued (and even established a new 24hr record). It's heard in the commentary as well, the tragedy is mentioned as a mere sideline, really. The celebrating by Mike Hawthorn and everyone else also seems in very bad taste in modern eyes. Amazing that people thought like that in those days. To me, it makes Mercedes' decision all the more remarkable.


Onno

 

Why are we polluting this thread with modern historic car crashes? That is not the point of this thread ...

Modern crashes of historic cars are just examples of waste.
Pete

 

A great deal of quick thinking and discussion went into the decision not to cancel.What it finally came down to was the overarching necessity to keep the quite limited access roads open for all the emergency vehicles to get to and from the track. There were tens of thousands of spectators and to have a mad crush of people and vehicles trying to get away would have made the disaster even worse..tongascrew

 

A very weak argument, IMHO.

1. There was no reason to let the cars just race at full speed through the cloud of smoke on the straight without waving yellows. I understand safety cars were not yet invented, but to continue to race at full speed when visibility was severly restricted was just bizarre.
2. There was no reason to continue the race after the injured were taken away. The accident happened well before nightfall, so the race continued for at least 20 hours after the accident. I do not believe it would take 20 hrs to remove everyone who needed help.
3. There was no reason to celebrate the win.
4. Even the commentary is blasé about the tragedy, even though it was recorded days after it happened. The commentator says " although the event will go down in history as a tragedy, let us not forget the achievement of Mike Hawthorn of winning a tough race and setting a new record distance". He goes on to discuss the glories of the UK participation. There is not even a mention of the number of people killed or injured. Today, that would be unheard of.

It just shows a different attitude in those days. Prudence was not the predominant factor here - perhaps initially, but it doesn't hold up as the main explanation for continuing the race in that fashion, and for that long.


Onno

 

Yes, times were different, very different.Motor racing had an atmosphere of death about it that permiated the sport.It's very difficult to explain it but it was very much a part of the overall fascination.The 1957 Mille Miglia was completed despite the carnage of the Portago crash.Europe particularly had been two self engulfing wars. We had dropped two Atom bombs on Japan.Killing was heralded by every by every boy who wanted that bebe gun for Christmas.[remember the movie] In motoracing wasn't until the likes of Sir Jackie Stewart and others said enough and the world started to listen. Actually the Swiss started it shortly after WW II when they outlawed motor racing in their country. It is still a dangerous sport but the difference now is extraordinary. There are still crashes of every magnitude which bring people to edge of their seats and, though not regularly credited, does help sell tickets. However it's all that much more palatable when drivers for the most part walk away or are taken to hospital just for a checkup and spectators feel safe in their seats. tongascrew

 

I respectfully disagree Onno. Though the attitudes were certainly different, the circumstances infrastructure and means of rescue were nowhere near those of today and they did their best:

1. The comprehensive staffing and protocols of Marshalling did not exist back then, which kept the speeds up through that section. This accident, in part, helped change that.

2. They were woefully unprepared for a mass injury situation, making ambulances scarce and far from rural Le Mans. It required countless hours to evacuate injured, particularly as many also had wandered from the scene. Also, French medical protocols require(d) victims be stabilized on scene *before* being transported (as with Princess Diana 40 years later), which necessitated clear roads for most of the race.

3. I think (but I'm not sure) that the "celebration" was overstated or at least encouraged by press for some photos.

4. There was probably no mention of the number of killed and injured because, to this very day, it's genuinely not known! In post-war France, many went home for treatment and died elsewhere.

This tragedy was a truly catalytic moment in racing and initiated the movement toward safety. John Fitch, co-driver of the Levegh Mercedes watched it unfold from the pit -- He subsequently invented some of the technologies that transformed racetracks and roads, saving hundreds of thousands, including myself (Fitch Barriers). They just weren't prepared as they are today.

 

And they still weren't over 10 years later when you look at the photos of the 1967 race. Yes they had a wall but if a car had flown in the air again the tradegy would have been repeated.

It is easy looking back in hindsight but real changes take time.

We still have street meets today where spectators get killed due to lack of barriers ... for example.
Pete

 

And now for sale by the looks of it
Blue Chip and Competition Cars - Ferrari 275 GTB/C - Alloy 6C

 

Well said.

 

I would agree that it is waste but I would argue that it is important that these wrecks are also seen as a reminder of that.

There definitely is a difference to me of reasons to crash them in period versus after period.

Sometimes carnage is the only way for some to see that.

 

Then create another thread please.

This thread was to create and discuss historic accidents which were very much an important part of Ferrari's racing history.

These modern accidents are very much NOT part of Ferraris racing history. Historic racing is NOT part of any companies racing history, that finished back in the period days for these cars and continued with the replacement moderner car. Period racing that Ferrari Spa cares about is F430's and of course their F1 team

Historic racing is playing, simple as that and anybody that takes it seriously should be taken behind the toilet block and given a good beating. It is about showing off the cars, not about developing driver talent or a career.
Pete

 

Any infos on this one?

http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af153/Gregory_058/13-1_zps0416b141.jpg

 

Isn't it amazing, now if your ferrari gets in a minor fender bender it is devalued by 50%.

 

340 MM Touring Spyder s/n 0294/AM crashed at Supercortemaggiore GP (september 1953) with Hans Ruesch...

 

6 September 1953.
Raced at the 1st Grand Prix Supercortemaggiore of Meran, Italy, by Hans Ruesch, race no. 72, badly crashed, overturned, killing a policeman and hurting several spectators, wreck returned to Modena for repairs. This is why it was rebodied by Scaglietti with a new body similar to a 750 Monza Spider.

Marcel Massini

 

From the Garage Francorchamps files which are now part of my own archive.

Marcel Massini
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Eugenio Castellotti's Crash. Ferrari 801 F1.

The year 1957 was one of the deadliest years for Ferrari drivers: 12 January 1957 Ken Wharton in 750 Monza Spider #0514 M at Ardmore, NZ. Then Castellotti at Modena (see below). Two months later, 12 May 1957, Alfonso De Portago and Edmund Nelson in 335 S Spider #0646 at Guidizzolo during the Mille Miglia. Then 30 May 1957 Antonio Borges Barreto and Piero Carini at the Forez 6 hours in St. Etienne, France, with #0694 MDTR and #0648 MDTR. Then the young factory engineer Andrea Fraschetti on 29 August 1957 at Modena in a 156 Dino F2 #0012. Then Erasmo Simeone "Kammamuri" in a 250 GT LWB Berlinetta #0503 GT on 15 September 1957 at the Cimino-Viterbo hillclimb.

Marcel Massini
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Thank you very much both.
Much appreciated.

Terrible crash..

 

Marcel: What's the story on the car in post #143?

 

the car in #143 looks like a 330GT???

 

250 GTE, early car, can't remember the serial number.

 

Which one is the two-tone PF coupe that is next to the crashed car? Thanks.

john

 

Ferrari 250 GT/E , serial number unknown, plate TO-420836.

June 14th 1962, 1.30 p.m., near Aosta, the entrepreneur Alessandro Rossi crashes against a truck, coming in the opposite direction, due to the too high speed along a bend.

Ciao

Andrea
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