‘I saw the horror – a fireball coming out of the sky’: How a horrific crash at Le Mans changed motorsport forever

It has been 65 years since the worst crash in motorsport history. More than 80 people died, most of them innocent spectators. Mick O'Hare on how the sport recovered

Crash scene at the 1955 race (Getty)

On 10 June 2018 an extraordinary thing happened. A motor race took place in Switzerland. Sounds pretty mundane, especially if you are no fan of motorsport, but the reason it was so remarkable is that it was the first to take place in that country for 63 years. And that’s because in 1955 motor racing was banned in Switzerland, seemingly forever. The Swiss Grand Prix – then a regular feature on the Formula 1 calendar – was cancelled and circuit racing outlawed. How so?

Sport is often overburdened with hyperbole. A missed penalty is a disaster, a skewed putt a tragedy. But on 11 June 1955 at Le Mans in north-west France real tragedy struck. In the space of 10 seconds, 84 people were killed in the worst accident in motor racing history.

The sport is self-evidently dangerous. Far less so today, however, than it was all those decades ago. Three-time Formula 1 world champion Jackie Stewart is fond of saying that during his era in the 1960s and early seventies a racing driver had a one-in-three chance of dying before retirement.