1956 Le Mans - Mike Hawthorn Jaguar OnBoard Lap

Mike Hawthorn drives a Jaguar D-Type in Le Mans in 1956

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• LeMans
• Jaguar
• D-Type

[zxgcry]

A wonderful piece of rare footage. The lovely sound of that engine and the commentary by Mike Hawthorn makes this clip.What a tragedy for his loss.

[Gruntol5]

Passing cyclists at 100-175 mph - marvellous. Imagine that being tolerated in this day and age. The 50's were a magic, but dangerous, period in motor racing.

[SelfTubeFreak]

He simply overtook a car to stand then immediately on his disc brakes. Just before the car he overtook. That guy went immediately in troubles. He could have drove into Hawthorn's car.

Afther 30 years Mercedes tried it again. They fly away like before. Audi is a tough cake for PSA. Lions play with birds for fun.

[Monterey2am]

Amazing to see this. I'm just learning about mike hawthorn and was recently offered a 1958 mk1 jaguar 3.4 litre, just like the one he died in

[arriviste2020]

One has to say, that the people whom drove those cars had balls, and there is no other phrase for it. pedestrians, motor vehicles, motor cars, Hawthorn just blythely talks on regardless. Absolutely brilliant video. great effort on the presentation and it is greatly appreciated.

[gcrav]

@schanche1965 Most teams withdrew? What did you pull that one out of? And you are dead wrong to say that the film shows Hawthorn making a sudden last-second move towards the pits. It was a smooth, routine, planned move. Macklin made an unforced error and lost control, then gracelessly tried to blame Hawthorn.

[blootmens]

lol: "One of the advantages of this straight is to relax a little". A real man relaxes at 185 MPH :p.

[jsfowler06]

No chance would i be cycling on that road lol. Great film

[Sillach]

Only one year has passed, and all is forgotten, at least 82 people dead but the show must go on.... The man himself died three years later, while trying to overtake a Mercedes 300 SL. I was born one month after this disaster. I developed an interest in motor racing, but when I first came to know about this horrific crash I was truly shattered. Hathworn continued racing, but was there any joy in it after this?

[OfficialNonsense]

Is it just me, or does the audio go badly out of sync after he passes Mulsanne Corner?

[WolfiePeters]

The comment by schanche1965 is incorrect. The film actually demonstrates Hawthorn’s innocence.

Even without the video, the claimed sequence of events that Hawthorn went past a much slower moving car and his subsequent braking caused the slower car to swerve doesn’t make sense. If he was going faster than the slower car, the driver of that car had a lot of time to see Hawthorn’s brake lights and space to manoeuvre.

[McLarenMercedes]

@TroyKling

Most people in Europe at that time still didn't own a car. Especially not those living in huge cities where you could go everywhere using public transport or using a bicycle or scooter.

Speaking of which you burn a lot of fat and keep in shape riding a bicycle. Formula 1 pros use them frequently.