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Rollo
2nd May 2013, 01:37
Mike Hawthorn (Le Mans winner 1955) driving a preview lap on the Le Mans track in a Jaguar.(1956!) on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/59410466)

In the words of Jeremy Clarkson in The Sunday Times: "As a petrosexual, I just had a torquegasm"

I think that the D-Type Jaguar is the most beautiful motor car ever produced and seeing this onboard video at Le Mans just made my day.
D28
2nd May 2013, 21:34
Thanks. Very informative video which gives one some idea what the circuit was like in the mid 50s, very rural on a day other than race day.
I was a bit taken back by the casual attitude towards safety, considering this is only 1 year after the catastrophe, all those bicycles and utility vehicles. Hawthorn is taking it easy, but I am surprised the French authorities would have allowed testing without closing the roads. Certainly a different time.
D-Type
2nd May 2013, 23:15
Don't forget that as the car was road-legal, in law Hawthorn was just another motorist and not 'testing' a competition car.
Rollo
2nd May 2013, 23:36
Don't forget that as the car was road-legal in law Hawthorn was just another motorist and not 'testing' a competition car.

I noted that it had number plates on it. Bloody Le Mans cars on the roads... ruining it for everyone :D

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6208/6211541084_6b3cedcbb8.jpg
D-Type
3rd May 2013, 00:21
The 70 mph limit would probably have happened anyway. The government of the day simply capitalised on the AC Cobra test run to justify imposing the limit.
Rollo
4th May 2013, 02:24
AT 4m17s in this video, there is a small boy and his dog sitting under a tree at the side of the road. It's extraordinary that Mike is talking about "safety" but doesn't appear to be wearing a seat-belt.
FAL
4th May 2013, 21:41
It's extraordinary that Mike is talking about "safety" but doesn't appear to be wearing a seat-belt.

In 1956 it would have been very strange if he had been.
FAL
4th May 2013, 21:43
The 70 mph limit would probably have happened anyway. The government of the day simply capitalised on the AC Cobra test run to justify imposing the limit.

Didn't Jack Sears happen to meet Barbara Castle many years later and it was confirmed the Cobra test had nothing whatsoever to do with the imposition of the 70 limit?