Motorsports
Motorsport is a hugely popular spectator sport with hundreds
of thousands of fans tuning in on TV or attending racetracks all
over the world. Man has always held a fascination for speed and
fast cars and this, over a period of time has been translated
into many different forms of motorsport. In the USA there is Indy
car racing, Nascar, Cart, all very popular and each of them have
big industries built around them.
Motorsport is also big in Europe, the Le Mans being a particularly
famous race meeting. The first Le Mans was held in 26/27 May 1923
and was won by Andre Lagache and Rene Leonard in their 3 litre
Chenard & Walcker. All races since then have been held in
June, with the exceptions of 1956 (July) and 1968 (September).
Traditionally, the race always starts at 16:00 on the Saturday,
although in 1984 the race started at 15:00 due to the conflicting
French General Election. The race has been held every year since
then with the exceptions of 1936, and between 1940 and 1948, when
the Second World War intervened.
In the original configuration, the racetrack used was 10.73 miles
(17.26 km) long, and has subsequently been shortened on several
occasions. The traditional start, where drivers ran across the
track to their racecars, was last used in 1969.
The worst ever motorsport accident unfortunately occurred during
the 1955 Le Mans race. Having voiced his unease at the narrowness
of the straight in front of the pits, Pierre Levegh's Mercedes
struck the rear of an Austin Healey driven by Lance Macklin on
the pit straight. The car rammed the bank, exploded, and its engine
flew into the packed grandstand, killing 80. Levegh died instantly,
and the entire Mercedes team was withdrawn, including Stirling
Moss and Juan-Manuel Fangio. This precipitated the complete withdrawal
from motorsport for Mercedes.
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