A beautiful lap of Le Mans onboard with Mike Hawthorne in 1956
"Cyclists everywhere... typical French"
Before you say goodbye to Le Mans for another year, after an incredible weekend's racing, you should have a watch of a clip from 1956 where the great Mike Hawthorne takes us round the circuit.
The video and sound quality are incredibly good for a clip that is 61 years old. Mike Hawthorne was set up with a chest-mounted microphone to allow him to give a running commentary, whilst a rear-mounted camera was positioned for a gorgeous onboard view.
Hawthorne had a short but highly successful career at the pinnacle of motorsport. He won the ill-fated 1955 Le Mans and was the first Formula 1 champion from the United Kingdom in 1958, retiring afterwards.
The onboard footage is great to watch, but the video is made by the voice of Hawthrone taking us through the famous roads.
He had to be quite careful as "there was quite a lot of traffic on the road." It's not like he is driving a race-prepared Jaguar D-Type.
My personal favourite quote is when Hawthorne passes some casual cyclists on his lap. "Cyclists everywhere... typical French."
Watch the beautiful clip in its entirety below:
Credit to Duke Video for the clip
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Comments (11)
With stunning footage like this, I think it would be keen to have modern high performance digital simulation games open a franchise of retro races using old race cars that ran in the 50s. Complete with the old farm houses still in place and lack of safety barriers. Build a carreer from 1950 through 1985. Watch how the tracks change over time...
Wonderful bit of history.
So atmospheric of the era of brilliant gentlemen amateurs racing for manufacturers. I love the cycles and looked out for the knotted handkerchief hat among those helping in the pitlane at the start - must be a Brit
Brilliant video and commentary !!!
Great video! Le Mans has changed considerably over the years.