Vintage Racing?

[brian1961]

Thanks for your kind words, Eddie. It took me a good while to type and edit the thread, but it was worth it. Somehow, I felt someone good at loading up You Tube videos would come to my rescue and do as I suggested. I'm not surprised in the least it was you. Thank you, my friend.

Oh, the finger pointing that went on, especially at poor Levegh. He really was made the scapegoat. While he was nowhere near as good as the two greatest drivers in the world at that moment, Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss, doing great battle with another of the top 20, Hawthorn, Levegh did very well with the 300SLR. He was getting better and better.

My aforementioned modeler friend, Tim Dyke, pointed out to me some years back that in the video you posted of the lead-up to the catastrophe, when Mike Hawthorn slammed on his brakes (powerful DISC brakes, mind you!) Austin Healey driver Lance Macklin had to stand on his brakes immediately to prevent smashing into him. However, Lance also pulled over gently, BUT HE PULLED OVER WAY TOO FAR, and so Pierre Levegh hardly had enough room to negotiate the slight bend and pass safely by Macklin. He almost made it, but instead of crunching in Macklin's tail end, it served as a launching pad...........

I watched the clip several times and Tim is absolutely correct. It takes some resolute deep honesty for an Englishman to admit this, too.

Also, lest anyone say anything they might regret, remember all this was happening at 150-160 miles per hour, with Macklin slightly down from his top speed of 145-150 when he braked. Remember in your life when someone hurriedly said to you," THINK FAST!", and tossed something at you at the same time? Reaction time for all of this was in seconds to milliseconds.

I just shake my head at the horror of the whole thing. The first 2 1/2 hours had been perhaps the best actual racing between 2 cars at the Sarthe (Le Mans). The battle between Fangio's Mercedes and Hawthorn's Jaguar was monumental. Everybody was having such a great time....

Eddie, after I wrote my thread response post, I went downstairs to gaze at my fantasy Dinky Toys Mercedes. It's been 17 years since I completed it, but I still get a big kick out of viewing it. Very fulfilling, that project.

Take care, my friend. If you ever want to set up a phone chat, PM me. Recently, another customer of mine and I spent a delightful 2 1/2 hours on the phone. I think we both needed it. ---Brian Powell