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Approximately three hours into the 1955 edition of the famous 'Le mans' race. Pierre Levegh crash his car at high speed. Lance Macklin's evasive maneuver brought him in the path of Pierre. Pierre's faster Slr 300 ran up the side of Lance Macklin's Austin-Healey launching the Mercedes up in the air, striking high on a retaining wall (the irony) which made the Mercedes disintegrate sending shrapnel into the spectators. 82 people were killed and well over a 100 injured. Pierre Levegh was killed when he was thrown from the car with his skull cracked. Lance Macklin was uninjured. The race was continued in order to prevent spectators from leaving, which would have blocked off the access roads and the ambulances. Mike Hawthorn who initiated the crash by cutting in front of Lance Macklin in a late attempt to pit ended up winning the race.