Le Mans 24-hour race

The 300 SLR's unique track record was overshadowed by a serious accident at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the greatest tragedy in the history of motor racing to date. The French guest driver Pierre Levegh, who had already impressed with his stamina in the legendary 24-hour race in 1952 and for this reason had been engaged by race director Alfred Neubauer for the race on 11 June 1955, crashed into the swerving Austin-Healey of Hawthorn's compatriot Lance Macklin at 18:28 h, just under two-and-a-half hours after the start of the race as a result of an unexpected and completely unpredictable driving manoeuvre by Briton Mike Hawthorn.

The unavoidable impact catapulted Levegh's SLR towards the grandstand, where it broke apart a nd caught fire. This accident, which was not his fault, not only cost Pierre Levegh his life, but also those of 83 spectators. Race control allowed the race to continue despite the accident, but shortly after midnight the Daimler-Benz Board of Management decided to withdraw the two remaining 300 SLRs driven by the Fangio/Moss and Kling/Simon teams, who were in the lead at the time, from the race out of respect for the victims.

After the end of the 1955 season Daimler-Benz announced the end of its motorsport involvement on 22 October 1955 during a victory celebration. Even if this departure is repeatedly associated in public with the accident at Le Mans, the actual reason for the departure – documented beyond doubt in the archive files – was the intention to use urgently needed resources previously tied up by the racing department for production vehicle development in future.

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