a trip around le mans 1956

[X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X]

Great video, very rare, thankyou !

But most important of all:

Rest in peace Mike Hawthorn !!!

He and Peter Collins were true friends, gentlemen, racers and the kind of real great racedrivers - they lived and droved for fun !!!

[cantor0305]

lol 1:44 french 1956'security !!

[D3ltra]

Typical French!

[Ansharzetec1]

Great video,thank you

[004nation]

Amazing footage! Look how much Le Mans evolved

[Ecosse57]

thanks for sharing this!

[CUNfTucker]

rip the spectators slaughtered by MERCEDES

[muulka]

Getting ready to move off.... Moving off....

Lol

[63gstone]

I wish we had a race like that here in the US. All we do here is drive in a circle.

[gnarkillkicksass]

@63gstone I enjoy watching the sports car series they have in the states on TV here (is it called Speedseries?). Pity because over there you guys have some great circuits (Watkins Glen etc) that it is a wonder why people still follow homogenised oval racing religiously.

[Akemeden]

One year after the teribble crash in 55 where one of the Mercs vent of at the grand stand.. Between 80 and 120 spectators died... So the changes on the track he is talking about is because of that!

[fatsmut]

1:04 should have run the cyclists over lol

[imakedookie]

this reverse?



[66606cl66]

'typical french' i love this guy xd

[imakedookie]

@66606cl66 1:51

[66606cl66]

@imakedookie yup :P

[trent730]

Brilliant.



[knutfheifer]

In those days, people had no concept of speed and the dangers it had, the proof shows in the video, no rails,people walking around and other traffic, no roof supports on car etc etc, probably didnt even have a seatbelt on! and then a year before this, the terrible crash killing a lot of people and the race still went on! wtf!

[MultiJimmyHenry]

@knutfheifer Nobody seemed to care about safety much, for example look at F1 in 1980's 1000hp+ cars with no assists like TC and a lot of tracks with no barriers just open (not with traffic obviously) roads.

[knutfheifer]

@MultiJimmyHenry i know! pretty crazy stuff back then!

[MrEndofhate]

It sure looked different then compared to now, especially thr lack of guardrails.

Stunning video! I love it!

A prime piece of hisrory.

[MrEpop4u]

The best car at the best track at the best time !!

[tejastiger61]

This is an AWESOME history lesson ,.... And to hear the actual voice of the Dapper Anglo bow tied hero is INCREDIBLE... ! ! ! Simply FANTASTIC !

I wish I could shake the hand of the person who took the time to post this GEM of English racing history....... Well done ! BRAVO ! BRAVO ! BRAVO !

[boyimell]

that was very cool

[marygny]

MANY THANKS ALFAOMEGA

[frena323]

185 mph=296 kph.... in that car ¡¡¡¡ really brave drivers.....

[Juihi2]

What a fantastic video!, never heard Mikes voice before

[SwanKong11]

Without a doubt..the coolest racing clip I have ever seen.

[jag5551996]

Hey! Cool Vid. I know the guy who has that car or one exactly the same! It sound lush! My freind went for a ride in it lol

[SelfTubeFreak]

I love the way the car 'breathes'. But this guy Mike Thornthon was AT LEAST partly responsible for what happened the year before. At least he should have had less show. Thanks anyway.

[FU1800]

I think Mike Hawthorn was acquited later

[Gruntol5]

@SelfTubeFreak: " this guy Mike Thornthon"

You might at least get his name right.

"At least he should have had less show" - what on earth does that mean?

Complete nonsense comment.

[rcytb]

how exactly did YOUR comment make this world a better place in which to live?

[Elefant95]

175 - 185mph in a race car with 300bhp, i don't know many cars which can get to that speed with similar weight and horsepower. Without it can be done no problem and the exhaust note of these D Types is jaw dropping.

[oliver5125]

Great trip down memory lane - what a sound!

[WastedCar]

WTF? Traffic on the road!

[WastedCar]

R.I.P. Mike Hawthorn

[BowdenCable]

Those were the days. Real racing drivers.

[87834649]

It was very fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Le Man racing car was very fast from 1923 to 1999.

Modern racing car is also fast, but, It coming good electric things. Such as, paddle shifter, cluch less, and any kinds.

[Factnotfictionpeople]

You wouldn't get away with it nowadays! :-)

[customkey]

I love the sound of the big Jag 6 cylinder engine. Nice close ratios in the gearbox. Skinny tires...note the car twitching as he leaves a relatively slow corner near the beginning of the video.

The cars of today are faster, but none are more beautiful than this Jag.

[leehr777]

Nice to see how it was 29 years before i was on this planet. Look at all the trees old cars people on bikes cool video.

[dz52vr]

Could you imagine that the latest Peugeot or Audi prototype doing this? This was an age that the second world war was close nad that probably life still on the edge everyday.

[WolfieVilans]

It was cool how the drivers had to run to their cars:)

[prideventures]

wow just think about the traffic and driving on the race course like that with those brakes - the Jags had better brakes than others but no where near the braking of even a Honda Accord today.....great driving......

[BillDFC]

Wonderful film. Mike Hawthorn was killed in an accident driving his own car on a public road.Brilliant driver.

[bigcat178]

Wow I thought I would never see this I was 8 when it was done. I have only ever seen bits of it. I am pretty certain this came from the BBC's Sportsview programme of the 1950's the voice over was done by a bloke called Len Martin who used to read the football results as well. It was very high tech for the day MH had an effects mic on his chest they were used to do horse racing and football commenteries. They put a 16mm telecine camera in the footwell of the D and and just hoped it worked.

[irontierney]

lol 'typical french'

[friedgreencorrado]

Outstanding! Where on earth did you find it? I live in the US, and finding sportscar racing footage of the `50s is almost impossible.

[gcmc2]

Hi, this is on a vid done by english motor sport magazine on Jaguar racing history. It goes from Xk120 through C type, D type then Bob Tullius V12 E types and xjs & TWR etc. This also on many historic racing videos / dvds we see a lot of here in Australia like "racing in the fifties" , "racing in the sixties" as well as "the power and the glory" and others I'm sure you could find them on the net Cheers.

[pjwsnooty]

Fabulous historical document. As a young boy at that time I was enthralled by the spectacle of motor racing, when one could still see drivers at work behind the wheel.

Many thanks.

[Rivelution]

awesome video, how did you get it?

[RalphColmar]

Hats of to the Farnham Flyer :-)

[breit72]

Ce document est un joyau de l'histoire des 24 heures... le son de la jaguar y est fabuleux et le circuit de l'époque tout autant... formidable document

[theirontierney123]

the d-type is one of the most rare cars 2 day,imagine crashing it lol

[badgerfan65]

1/3rd thru the track, confronted with a bit of traffic blocking the road, Mike utters "Typical French" ... I damn near fell out of my seat I was laughing so hard...

Great racer, pity he died. I wonder if he had the demons from the '55 crash where he was the spark that initiated the worst crash in racing history... What a great vid, those guys really kicked ass.

[saforius]

fabuleux document

[Mariux91]

awesome video! :)

[the50s60s70s]

The good old Le Mans ... pure racing ... so pure ...

[manouzo]

was that a part of laguna seca sircuit?

[ksz01]

look a the title of this vid...

"a trip around le mans 1956" !!!! :D

[alfaomega]

I hope you are joking, try france

[thevmanvj]

@manouzo This is Circuit de Sarthe at LeMans.

[f1txnhockey]

AWESOME old video AWESOME

[weav8060]

a racer dodging bicycles around hairpins -- wooow!

[fuhrercat]

holy shit i love this audio, that engine sound is the best ive ever heard, modern cars dont sound like this and they should

[Groovyman12]

The jaguar inline-6 engine is reguarded to be one of the best sounding engines ever made. This is why the only car I will drive is an XJ6

[tylerw2238]

I was looking at one for my first car, guy wants to sell it to me for 1000, its a 1986 jag xj6. what do you think? needs a little work i can take care of myself though

[tylerw2238]

I was looking at one for my first car, guy wants to sell it to me for 1000, its a 1986 jag xj6. what do you think? needs a little work i can take care of myself though

[araneus1]

I was 6 when this amazing video was made.

It took me my whole life but I now drive an XJS Soverign. BRG of course! Australian summers test it a bit, but it is magic to drive a big cat.

Thank you to the person who posted this video.

I too would love to know where you came across it.

More stuff from the 50's would be excellent, especially sports cars.

[olarcial]

Perhaps one of the precious videos here. But how could Mike take the risk of driving on the Le Mans open roads after what happened in Le Mans 1955?

I was there in 2005 and bought a book about the 1955 accident.

[monks311]

wow, you could tell is day time. and the track look the same as todays tracks.

[Demis121]

Mike Hawthorn, legend, and a total gent. Britains first world F1 Champion, just two years after this film was shot. Just a few months after that, he was gone.  Would have been amazing to have had his insight into that generation today

[Buran288gto]

What do you mean with gone...like in RIP-gone!?

[Demis121]

Yes, Mike Hawthorn was killed, just three months after winning the world championship, at the Casablancan Morrocco GP, of 1958, when he had a spin in an Austin, and was killed.

[kendrickdavid]

on January 22, 1959, Hawthorn died in an automobile accident on the A3 Guildford bypass. He was driving his British Racing Green highly tuned Jaguar 3.4 sedan (known as the Mark 1 or MK1 Jaguar).

[Buran288gto]

Thx for the answer. Just saw Le Mans this weekend, an to hear Mike Hawthorne talk about them doing 175-185 Mph down the straight. Hat's of to "The old breed" of speeders.

[Threadoflength]

I love the old footage like this.. amazing.

"typical french" lol

[niamhyxoxo]

shit

[cheyne15]

That is one of the finest vids on here. A D-Type Jaguar, with Mike Hawthorn, around Le Mans, 1956... bicycles, punters, cars... I was out there a couple of years ago and you can't get anywhere near the track even under cover of darkness (yes I know it's crazy but the sound, the sound!!)

[redriverman2006]

*Drool* Great find!

[orbassasin]

Look at the size and simplicity of the steering wheel! Not that breaking down is your biggest enemy, not bringing a big enough of a shovel and being able to dig yourself out of the sandbags is.

[supuma]

Insensato!

[jagstang44]

the track is so much different now

[jonnies]

awesome video.

[retrohippie]

So much better than it is now.

[warthogphil]

Too bad Hawthorne was forced to go so slowly, due to all the traffic, but a wonderful bit of footage none the less. The closest I will ever come to a ride in a

D-Type that's for sure.

[GRANTURISSIMUS]

amazing, they'd go 180mph on the main streight!