Always find these old films interesting , even old Formula 1 ones ......... Team entrant / manager Rob Walker features .....
Rob Walker was the driver of the " other car " involved in the accident on the Guildford By Pass in 1959 which claimed the life of 1958 Formula One World Champion Mike Hawthorn .....
Hawthorn in his Works loaned Jaguar saloon had been racing Walker`s Mercedes Benz ..... Hawthorn overtook Walker just before a bend , lost control , left the road , and was killed .
The police who arrived at the scene advised Walker to keep quiet , so as not to incriminate himself ...... So Walker did , and didn`t ......
Hawthorn was involved in the horrific accident during the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1955 ........ Hawthorn decided to pit his Jaguar , causing Lance Maklin`s Austin Healey , which was just behind Hawthorn , to swerve to avoid him ...... placing the Austin Healey in the path of Pierre Levegh`s fast approaching Mercedes Benz .........
The Austin Healey acted as a take off ramp for the Mercedes , the airborne car crashing just before the grandstands on the pit straight , killing Levegh ............... bits of Mercedes ( mainly the engine plus other parts ) then scythed through the crowds of spectators gathered just before the main grandstands , killing 83 , and injuring many more ...............
Many of those who had been standing up on wooden trestles to get a better view of the racing were instantly decapitated .......
The race continued , despite all of this ......... The organisers later said they decided to let the race continue because if they had stopped it , then large numbers of spectators from other parts of the circuit , unaware of the gravity of the situation , would head for the exits ..... thus hindering the emergency vehicles trying to gain entry to attend to the dead and injured .......
Mike Hawthorn and Jaguar went on to win the race ................ The following morning the French newspapers carried pictures of a smiling Hawthorn , with champagne bottle and winners garland around his neck on their front pages , accompanied by the headlines " Congratulations Mr Hawthorn , we`re glad you`re happy " ............. ( Or words to that effect ) .............