The show must go on

The tragic accident involving so many spectators which happened in the early stages of this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours race at La Sarthe calls for a strong and heartfelt expression of sympathy to all those whose relatives and friends were involved. This, the worst disaster by far in the history of motor racing, has touched-off some panic and irresponsible opinions in the daily press, and it is necessary to take a calm and reasoned view. That the race was continued after the accident has been criticised, yet he who ordered it to go on was undoubtedly wise, because a sudden cessation of racing would have concentrated spectators in the crash area, led to greater alarm and despondency, and jammed local roads, apart from spelling, in all probability, the end of Le Mans.

The French Government wisely banned further road-racing until safety precautions had been investigated. That was sensible, but suggestions that all future motor racing should be banned are farcical. Racing survived the calamities of Paris-Madrid, 1903, Brooklands did not close after crashes involving spectators in 1930 and 1938, and Le Mans will outlive this unhappy and terrible affair of 1955. The Motor thinks that perhaps now is the time to abandon sports-car racing as at present practised, because it is becoming so fast as to be dangerous.

British driver Mike Hawthorn (left) and his team-mate Ivor Bueb (right) secured the win under sombre circumstances