From the motorsport archive: on nowadays in 1955

Motorsport had a tricky time in 1955, as two failures came about sports activities vehicle racing.

On the Le Mans 24 Hours, 83 enthusiasts had been killed and 180 extra injured when a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR was once introduced into the grandstand. Nonetheless essentially the most catastrophic incident in motorsport historical past, it resulted in the main German company right away taking flight from motorsport, now not returning for every other 35 years.

Then simply 3 months later, on the extremely tight and rapid (learn bad) Dundrod boulevard circuit in Eire, 3 drivers crashed fatally. Incomprehensibly on reflection, each races had been allowed to proceed as much as the scheduled end.

We did in finding the faintest of silver linings, with Mercedes’ withdrawal leaving the British automobiles of Jaguar and Vanwall to dominate the staying power racing scene.

The United Kingdom already had arguably the most efficient driving force corps, having gained Le Mans, Dundrod, the Targa Florio, the Mille Miglia and the Goodwood 9 Hours.

Mercedes quitting would additionally get advantages grand prix racing, as it had tediously gained the Formulation 1 name. Just a wonder win for Ferrari in Monaco broke the hegemony, the Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio changing into a three-time champion.

And to our liking, rallying grew in reputation and due to this fact attracted extra producer funding.