The Toyota TS050 Hybrid was a real masterpiece on the track. The petrol 2.4L V6 petrol engine combined with electric engines produce more than 1000HP. See the video from Fernando Alonso driving and you will get feeling what beast this car really is. Enjoy the view:

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It’s live on the circuit screens. The race is sumptuous. BMW, Toyota and Mercedes have been holding each other in a pocket handkerchief for the position of leader for over 4 hours now…

Return to the Thursday before departure. While 3 Mercedes CLR are involved in this edition, it is during the second test session that the sky starts to darken for the brand. On the n°4, Mark Webber, then between Mulsanne and Indianapolis, takes off, falls on the roof, slides on several tens of meters, hits the rail and gets back on his wheels! Pilot’s clear.

It’s a car that the engineers say has a lot of teeth. However, the Germans beat up the bumps a lot, and already a semblance of polemic is born from this accident. Too much support? Poor aerodynamic calculation? The n ° 4 will nevertheless be credited with the 10th time, in 3 ‘ 35 ” 501.

Saturday morning, the light is green for the 45 minutes of the warm-up. The Mercedes come out of the stands and start their first lap. The n°4 has been rebuilt by mechanics always also affutés, and is following in his sisters barn: chicane of the Hunaudières, the passage from the kicker and…a single CLR, with the same Webber at the wheel, decidedly as unhappy as very lucky (no bobo), takes off, and turns again!

This time, number four will stay on the roof. The n ° 5 and 6 Enter immediately in their box, which we close. The excitement is great, the atmosphere more than heavy, the safety conditions of the Mercedes drivers are apparently not, or more, assured.

As a result, the Mercedes stands remain closed for long hours, not to repair a much-damaged car, but to decide whether or not to participate in the two remaining CLR’s, 4th and 7th time of tests. Cars that have nothing to envy their opponents Toyota or BMW in terms of performance, and whose outsider status allows one to imagine a fierce race.

Two successive flights, on the same runway, will not affect the morale of the pilots. In agreement with the Mercedes managers and engineers, they will take the start. Only two aerodynamic elements designed to increase the front support are added to the wings. The cars come out of the boxes, and they go to the starting grid.

The race is on. Well launched, since 2 Toyota, the No. 17 BMW, and the two Mercedes compete for first place.

As Lagorce starts his first stint on the n ° 6, Christophe Bouchut gives the wheel to Peter Dumbreck. It’s about 8: 30, and number 5 is second.

8: 47, all the heads that can turn to the giant screens. The speaker is horrified. The audience is amazed, and the atmosphere is no longer at the party. We’re mortified. Strangely enough, the sound of the race is almost no longer heard.

In the Mulsanne-Indianapolis section, again, the No. 5 chases one of the Toyota GT-One, the nose a few meters from the Japanese aileron, when the German leaves in the sky. One Tower, two towers, three towers in the air, this one goes well above the safety rails and crashes into the shrubs. At very high speed in this part of the circuit, take off, make 3 loops, stroke the top of the young trees present then fall down in the middle of them makes fear the worst for the pilot. The pace car neutralized the race to allow rescue vehicles to reach the area. Lagorce immediately returned to its stand, the metal curtains closed permanently. Bouchut is appalled by the media. It has been more than 10 minutes since the accident occurred, and we learn that Dumbreck exited the cockpit alone, unharmed!!

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In C2, the favourite team, Mercedes (No. 1, 31 and 32) will take advantage of the setbacks of the 905 and the Porsche to take the lead. The best lap in the race will be the work of a certain Michael Schumacher, on the 31 (associated with Wendlinger and Kreutzpointer).

The rebound will occur at 1 p.m. on Sunday when Mazda n ° 55 (Gachot-Herbert-Weidler) will steal the lead from a superheated Mercedes (Schlesser-Mass-Ferté) and finish with 2 and 4 laps ahead of the Jaguar n°35 and 34. This is the first Japanese victory, as well as a rotary engine.

In C1, the fight will have involved 7 Spice, a Lancia, a ROC and an ALD. Only to see the checkered flag, Spice No. 41 will win, as a result, its category.

Note the construction of new stands, guaranteeing better security at the different stables, but less friendly to the public.

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The Jaguar has to refuel. She’s coming up on the Austin Healey on the right. Hawthorn is in direct struggle with Fangio a few tens of meters behind him. He goes past Macklin, and he folds to the right. Levegh, who has just been taken for a ride by the Englishman, will suffer the same punishment by his colleague Fangio who follows him closely.

All this is playing in a very short time, there are four cars standing in a few meters. Hawthorn begins braking in preparation for a refuelling stop. Levegh arrives, from the left, at the height of the Austin Healey, while its pilot dislodges in order to avoid the rear of the Jaguar.

Pierre Levegh had just the time to warn Fangio of a danger, raising his hand, then the Mercedes struck from behind the Austin Healey, and, by a springboard effect, took off, and hit the fascines, to the left, at the beginning of the area of the stands. At this time of the race, and by the fact of an enticing poster, the spectators are always in very large numbers.

The impact is terrible. The No. 20 Mercedes explodes, the front train and the engine continue their course in the public, causing the most fatal accident in the history of Motorsport. Many bodies and wounded were counted, Levegh died instantly, the car did not stop burning. Further on, on the track, The Austin Healey, after having hit, in a tail-end, the pit walls, lies, stopped, with the back badly damaged. Fangio has, by some miracle and without knowing how managed to avoid anyone. He would later point out that he had only a mouse hole left as Macklin was spinning, and that the carcass of No. 20 was in flames.

Charles Fauroux, race Director, made the decision not to stop the event, allowing the arrival and evacuation of the victims that the spectators ‘ departure would have slowed down. A total of 82 people will die in this accident. the final victory went to the Jaguar Hawthorn shared with Bueb.

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