Jean-Louis Lafosse's Fatal Crash @ Le Mans 1981
- 5 months ago
During the qualifying sessions Ragnotti, with a lap of 3min40.32s - good enough for the tenth spot on the starting grid - was faster than Lafosse, and it was decided that the first should take the green flag. The pole position was won by the Porsche 936 of Ickx and Bell; the Rondeaus were slotted fourth (Pescarolo-Tambay), fifth (Rondeau-Jaussaud), tenth (Ragnotti-Lafosse), fifteenth (Migault-Spice) and twenty-eighth (Schlesser-Haran-Streiff).
Contrary to tradition, the race was to start at 15h00 - one hour earlier than usual, due to the general elections in France. Ragnotti imposed a quick rhythm and, thanks also to a timely fuel strategy, running as high as third at the end of the first hour. After eighteen laps the car was brought to the pits for refueling and a change of drivers. Lafosse left the pits at 16h12, but just ten minutes later he came back for a few adjustments, before leaving again one minute later. Approximately at the same time Thierry Boutsen would suffer a massive accident just before the Mulsanne kink, when his WM P81-Peugeot was traveling at some 350 km/h (217.5 km/h). The car hit the guard-rail and lost the entire rear end; Boutsen was untouched, but the marshal Thierry Mabillat was killed and two of his colleagues were seriously injured. The race was neutralized and, for the first time in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans the cars were driven around the circuit at slow speed and led by the pace car. The race was resumed twenty-nine minutes later.
Lafosse concluded the second hour of the race in seventh place and continued to increase his pace as the car gets lighter and lighter. And it was then, at 17h03 of Saturday, 13 June 1981, that tragedy struck. Less than half-an-hour after the green flag was flown again, Lafosse, still in seventh place and just about to complete his stint, was driving down the Mulsanne straight a little behind the Lola T600-Ford of Guy Edwards-Emilio de Villota-Juan Fernández, at the moment with the first at the wheel. Suddenly, a little before the restaurants located along the main straight, a point where the Group 6 cars were already at full speed in fifth gear, the Rondeau turned sharply to the right - probably due to a collapse of the front-right suspension - impacting the guard rail in a terrible shunt, right before a marshal post. Two marshals, Mr. Galliene and Mr. Hardy, were hit by the car and its debris and were seriously injured. The Rondeau bounced back, spinning across the track, and crashing against the left guard-rail before stopping in the middle of the course hundreds of meters ahead. The car was completely destroyed, particularly its front end; Lafosse, fully exposed, was killed instantly. Some attributed Lafosse’s death to the fact that he preferred racing with the safety belts very loose, but the sheer violence of the crash and the level of damage experienced by the Rondeau made the accident unsurviveable.
R.I.P
Contrary to tradition, the race was to start at 15h00 - one hour earlier than usual, due to the general elections in France. Ragnotti imposed a quick rhythm and, thanks also to a timely fuel strategy, running as high as third at the end of the first hour. After eighteen laps the car was brought to the pits for refueling and a change of drivers. Lafosse left the pits at 16h12, but just ten minutes later he came back for a few adjustments, before leaving again one minute later. Approximately at the same time Thierry Boutsen would suffer a massive accident just before the Mulsanne kink, when his WM P81-Peugeot was traveling at some 350 km/h (217.5 km/h). The car hit the guard-rail and lost the entire rear end; Boutsen was untouched, but the marshal Thierry Mabillat was killed and two of his colleagues were seriously injured. The race was neutralized and, for the first time in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans the cars were driven around the circuit at slow speed and led by the pace car. The race was resumed twenty-nine minutes later.
Lafosse concluded the second hour of the race in seventh place and continued to increase his pace as the car gets lighter and lighter. And it was then, at 17h03 of Saturday, 13 June 1981, that tragedy struck. Less than half-an-hour after the green flag was flown again, Lafosse, still in seventh place and just about to complete his stint, was driving down the Mulsanne straight a little behind the Lola T600-Ford of Guy Edwards-Emilio de Villota-Juan Fernández, at the moment with the first at the wheel. Suddenly, a little before the restaurants located along the main straight, a point where the Group 6 cars were already at full speed in fifth gear, the Rondeau turned sharply to the right - probably due to a collapse of the front-right suspension - impacting the guard rail in a terrible shunt, right before a marshal post. Two marshals, Mr. Galliene and Mr. Hardy, were hit by the car and its debris and were seriously injured. The Rondeau bounced back, spinning across the track, and crashing against the left guard-rail before stopping in the middle of the course hundreds of meters ahead. The car was completely destroyed, particularly its front end; Lafosse, fully exposed, was killed instantly. Some attributed Lafosse’s death to the fact that he preferred racing with the safety belts very loose, but the sheer violence of the crash and the level of damage experienced by the Rondeau made the accident unsurviveable.
R.I.P