24 Hrs Of Le Mans – Volume 2

After the formation of the World Sportscar Championship in 1953, of which Le Mans

was a part, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and many others began

sending multiple cars backed by their respective factories to compete for overall wins

against their competitors. Their competition sometimes resulted in tragedy, as in an

accident during the 1955 race in which Pierre Levegh’s car crashed into a crowd of

spectators, killing more than 80 people. The incident led to the widespread introduction

of safety measures, not only at the circuit but elsewhere in the motorsports world.

However, even though the safety standards improved, so did the speed of the cars;

the move from open-cockpit roadsters to closed-cockpit coupes resulted in speeds of

over 320 kilometers per hour (200 mph) on the Mulsanne. Race cars of the time were

still mostly based on production road cars, but by the end of the 1960s, Ford had

entered the picture with their GT40s, taking four straight wins.

1953 Le Mans Highlights – (13 min.)
Condition (Excellent) – Original 1953 film, presented by Jaguar. (color)

1954 Le Mans Highlights – (18 min.)
Condition (Excellent) – An old Speed TV broadcast (watermark in
corner) of the 1954 Le Mans race, titled “Spitfires at Le Mans”. (color)

1955 Le Mans Highlights – (9 min.)
Condition (Very Good) – The original highlight reel of this race, and
incredibly, only a few moments are spent focusing on what would be the
most horrific crash in auto racing history, where 84 lives were lost. (color)

1955 Le Mans Highlights – (9 min.)
Condition (Very Good) – The original highlight reel of this race, and
incredibly, only a few moments are spent focusing on what would be the
most horrific crash in auto racing history, where 84 lives were lost. (color)

1956 – Lap Of Le Mans – (6 min.)
Condition (Excellent) – An amazing lap of the old Mulsanne Circuit, with
in-car commentary (and camera) by 1955 Le Mans winner Mike Hawthorn.
This footage is so clear it appears to be from a modern historic race, but soon
you see Hawthorn’s Jaguar having to swerve around bicyclists and other
road hazards as he makes his way around the famous track. (b&w)

1959 Le Mans Highlights – (29 min.)
Condition (Excellent) – Original 1957 film, focusing on Aston Martin. (color)

1949-1963 Le Mans Highlights – (41 min.)
Condition (Excellent) – Titled “Racing Through Time”, this is an excellent
year-by-year review of each Le Mans race between 1949-1963. The original
version of this film also covered the pre-1949 years, but we just excerpted the
1949-1963 years to stay in theme with our DVD series. (b&w/color )