Today marks the 52nd anniversary of the Le Mans disaster. During this disaster the Mercedes-Benz, being driven by Pierre Levegh, hit the bank by the grandstand and immediately exploded. Parts of the wreckage were blown into the enclosure, killing 77 people originally with the total number adding to over 80 dead.

Always a strong reminder of just how dangerous motor sport can be for anyone, be it driver, marshall or spectator

This also caused Switzerland to ban motoracing

Just a thought, wouldn't this be better in the new Historic motorsport forum?

this disaster was also hieghtened by marshalls spraying water onto the fire, only intensifieing the flames i heard..

Yeah, it didn't help! if you use water it has to be put on in a mist, not a jet. it also doesn't work very well against oil.

Which is why we use Powder and foam now.

wasn't it the water reacting with the magnesium in the car that intensified the fire.

McLaren withdrew from Sportscar racing after that... not returning for many decades... then their cars somersaulted into the woods and they withdrew all over again... <think>

If a fire reaches a certain temperature, and it's a very, very high one, the heat can actually split up the atoms that make up water into their component elements. This is good news for the fire, because as most people will know, water is made from two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. So the firefighters actually add fuel to the fire at this point. Yup, you can set fire to water if you get it hot enough!

<yikes>

Usually only things like paper factories will manage to get that hot though, altough there was a fire in the Summit Hill tunnel where a petrol train caught fire, and it got hot enough to melt the brickwork and send 2/300 feet of flames out the vent shafts....

that seems to be what i read, that a magnesium fire treated with water caused the magnesium to explode into flaming balls, causing more people to become injureed, whilst intensifing the fire at the same time.

this Wikipedia article is pretty good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_Le_Mans_disaster

The problem with tunnel first is that there is no fresh air to cool the surroundings so the fire just gets hotter and hotter.

That is absolutely correct.

When we do our fire training we are reminded that certain substances should NEVER have water poured on them in the event of a fire. Magnesium was one such substance; fortunately no longer used in the motorsport industry.

However, 52 yeas ago I doubt the technology and knowledge was around which is probably why they used water. Sand is the best for putting out a magnesium fire by the way.

I'm not sure that's strictly accurate. Maybe not for chassis or bodywork components, but I have a feeling that you'll find it making up engine cases and swinging arms on quite a few bikes. Not to mention wheels on a lot of cars? I thought F1 cars and the American stuff had mag wheels? The side engine case covers on my Kawasaki are magnesium.....

Don't bring your Kwaker near me please... I don't have any sand to put the fire out with!

Magnesium Alloy wheels are the closest I can think of.

I stand to be corrected here but I thought that magnesium was banned from motorsport. I've looked in my Blue Book (the motorsport bible for Britain) and I can't find any mention of it (banned or otherwise).

I have had a magnesium fire in a pit lane many years ago (it was very pretty!) and we threw sand on it.

To be honest, I've not had another in all my 16 years as a pit marshal which made me make my initial comment.

I don't intend setting fire to it...!! And about 99% of it isn't mag, it just seems to be the clutch and generator covers....

Having checked the FIA 2007 F1 rules.... mag isn't banned. Mag sheet *under* 3mm thick is not permitted. Certain engine bits can be mag alloy. Wheels must be homogenous alloy material but mag isn't mentioned as a yea or nay. Oh, and you're not allowed to set fire to a mag pencil sharpener to impress the kids in science class if it's within 10 metres of the refuelling rid or Kimi's mini bar (similar flammable content).

I think you mean Mercedes, not McLaren.

Doh... School boy error..... <doh>

Indeed it was Mercedes-Benz.... It just goes to show how many don't read what I say <unsure>

Not sure about sportscars, but they didn't come back to F1 until 1992/3 (?) with Sauber. At first they didn't want their name on the car at all just in case it was poo, but as it put some good times in pre-season, they changed their mind and the slogan 'Concept by Mercedes-Benz' appeared on the engine cover....

McLaren were also involved with DTM for a short while too. Although the McLaren F1 Le Mans winning car was of course, powered by BMW.

<clap> <clap> <clap> <1st> <clap> <clap> <clap>

In this day and age it's almost unthinkable that a road-based car could win Le Mans...!

In fairness...

although the McLaren F1 may have been a road going car, it did cost US$1,000,000 <huh>

Did that include mats, road tax and a full tank of petrol? <roflmao>

Cheaper than an Enzo.....

<thumbsup>

However, when Clarkson made his video that featured in in the mid 90's, he claimed that while the sidepods could fit more luggage than a Ford Fiesta, the £25K for a service was a bit much.....

Second two most likely... and a modem connection that could dial into the McLaren HQ and tell then why it had broken down.... (seriously!)

It took a decade and a Bugatti Vyron to beat it... although the McLaren has 3 seats and an optimum driving position...

The Vyron is very impressive in just about every department but it is about excess... while the McLaren is about efficiency... the best heat reflector is gold so the engine bay bulkhead is gold leaf lined, the toolkit is made from a magnesium alloy to save weight... it has no radio etc.

And they could control the car from the factory via the modem too. (well, they couldn't change gears or anything like that)

It may not have had a radio, but it did have a CD player which had to meet Gordon Murrays specifications on size and wait (I think they were as small and as light as possible, hence no radio - it added wait)