Two In The Think Tank - 329 - The 1955 Le Mans Disaster (with Cass Paige)

Episode Date: February 9, 2022

The 24 hour of Le Mans has been described as "probably the world’s best-known automobile race." But in 1955 it was rocked by an accident so devastating, it changed the world of motor racing forever. Joining us on this episode is special guest Cass Paige.Support the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: dogoonpod.com or patreon.com/DoGoOnPod Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-Topic See us live: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2022/shows/the-quiz-show See Matt live: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2022/shows/honk-honk-hubba-hubba-ring-a-ding-ding Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/ Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader Thomas REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/why-champagne-on-the-podium-12706 https://www.gq.com.au/fitness/sport/the-most-iconic-moments-in-le-mans-history/image-gallery/645d00e7de7b16c7dbbf1982eec38fd7?pos=9https://www.theguardian.com/sport/1955/jun/13/motorracing http://www.ewilkins.com/wilko/lemans.htm https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2015/06/11/six-decades-on-a-look-back-at-the-tragedy-of-the-1955-24-hours-of-le-mans Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just jumping in really quickly at the start of today's episode to tell you about some upcoming opportunities to see us live in the flesh. And you can see us live at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2024. We are doing three live podcasts on Sundays at 3.30 at Basement Comedy Club, April 7, 14 and 21. You can get tickets at dogo1pod.com. Matt, you're also doing some shows around the country. That's right. I'm doing shows with Saren Jayamana, who's been on the show before. We're going to be in Perth in January, Adelaide in February, Melbourne through the festival in April, and then Brisbane after that. I'm also doing Who Knew It's in Perth and Adelaide. Details for all that stuff at mattstuartcomedy.com.

We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Welcome to another episode of Do Go On. My name is Dave Warnocki and as always I'm here with Matt Stewart. Hello Matt.

Hey Dave, so good to be here. And not as always, but we are joined by a very special guest, our dear friend from Sand Span's Radio, Cass Page is here. Aw, that's a lovely introduction. Hi Cass, and it's all true. Aw. So good to have you back Cass. It's good to be back. Last time you were here you heard me talking about the real Robinson Crusoe.

That's right. Oh I do. That room was big. Yes we were sitting in the main studio at the old Stupid Old Studios. Yeah that was massive. It felt luxurious. It felt luxurious because we all had really long corded mics as well. It felt like we were filming a music video. Yeah, that's right. We were being very, very COVID safe, but it was impossible to hear each other as we were hundreds of meters away. Yeah, no, that was good. I have no idea if that was six months ago or two years.

It was sometime in the COVID past. Definitely in the past. Yeah, I reckon it was definitely in the past if I was going to have a guess. Yeah, I'd say that. Yeah, I reckon so. Yeah, good past. Yeah, I reckon I was definitely in the past if I was going to have a guess. Yeah, I'd say that. Yeah, I reckon so. Yeah, good pick. Hey, Cass. Yes.

Do you know how this show works? Because I'll explain it to you if you don't. And maybe for new listeners. Maybe I'll just do it anyway. Just play it dumb, I reckon, yeah. Well, I don't know what a podcast is. Where are the faces? I can't read the expressions.

Okay, well, I've got to go way back to the start. We're coming from a long way behind. A podcast is... Oh, fuck. I shouldn't want to read the expressions. Okay, well, I've got to go way back to the start. We're coming from a long way behind. A podcast is... Oh, fuck. I shouldn't start. I don't know how to end it. Oh, no. There once was a man named Steve.

It's like a radio show on your phone. That'll do. That'll do. Anyway, this show in particular works when the three of us, Cass, you're now one of the three of us. One of us goes away and researches now one of the three of us. Yes. One of us goes away and researches a topic often suggested by a listener and then writes up a report, almost like an old high school report, brings it back to the class and reads it out to the other two.

The person who's done the research has kept the topic a secret and they get us onto the topic with a question. This week, Dave is doing the report. Dave, what is your question? All right, my question for both of you is what prestigious motorsport race is held every year in France and is won by the car?

Le Mans. Le Mans. It is. It's the car that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours and the answer is, I'm afraid you're wrong. It's Le Mans. Fuck. So I'm going to have to give the answer is, I'm afraid you're wrong. It's Le Mans. Fuck. So I'm going to have to give the point to Cass there.

Yes. Damn it. Who waited until the end of the question. You know a bit about this race, obviously? No. Is this the one where you're allowed to have a motorbike and sometimes people make a film about it? I don't think.

Steve McQueen has made a Le Mans film. Okay. He also rode the motorbike in The Great Escape That is the only connection I'm making Okie dokie Are you thinking of one that's like a cross country This one's like a round and around I think But it just goes for ages Yeah I'm thinking of a big straight line

Are you thinking of Darker or something I'm thinking of speed Land or something? Oh, right. I think I might be thinking of... I'm thinking of speed, not distance. Land speed records. Yeah, yeah. Right, no, this one, it is almost like a traditional race. And like Matt says, you go around a very long track, you do laps. But it's rather than who comes first isn't whoever does it the quickest a certain distance.

It's whoever does the most laps in 24 hours. So speed is still important. You want to go quick. But I'll explain why it's whoever does the most laps in 24 hours. So speed is still important. You want to go quick, but I'll explain why it's slightly different. But it doesn't always go smoothly because specifically this week I'm doing the story of the 1955 Le Mans disaster. Okay. Oh, that doesn't sound good. Surely, you know, you could have picked the 1974 Le Mans success story.

Yeah, exactly. A very fun yet boring tale. It's just like, and they just kept going around faster and faster and safely. Sometimes a bit slow, but you know what? Some people did more laps than other people. And isn't that what's important in the day? And everyone lived happily ever after because everyone lived. So this one has been suggested by a few people.

Thank you to Josh Wilcock from Brighton, Joe from Brisbane, and, of course, Ben Johnson from Milton Keynes in the UK, who's been very keen for us to cover this topic over the years. Has he been? I've seen him post in our Patreon group a few times. I put this up for a vote for our Patreon and supporters at dogoonpod.com where I put up three disaster topics. And Ben even got in the group and said, guys, you've got to vote for C.

I've been pushing for it for years. So, Ben, we're finally doing it, mate. So, the first 24 Hour of Le Mans for Context was held in 1923, a time when Grand Prix motor racing was the dominant form of motorsport throughout Europe. Grand Prix motor racing was the dominant form of motorsport throughout Europe. Grand Prix motor racing eventually evolved into what we know today as Formula One or F1. And much like it is today, back then it was all about who could drive the fastest. Imagine if there was a time where it was something else.

Who could drive the swerviest? Was that drift racing? Yeah. So it was a classic race to see who could build and race the fastest machines. That's what the normal one is. In comparison, the aim of the 24-hour of Le Mans was to test who could build the most reliable cars. Right.

So Volvo would have been big. Are they reliable? No, they're safe. That seems like a competition for the common man yeah you know toyota corolla versus a mazda 3 let's see you keep the engine going for three months see who's still going we should turn um crash test dummies into some sort of contest oh yeah what are you thinking? I reckon you could, I don't know, maybe covering every element of the car. Or what about, like, haircuts?

Who gets the cutest, crassest dummy haircut? Part number one is hair and makeup. Part number two is artists come in and paint the different elements of the car in different colors. Part number three is the crash. And then when you look at the dummies afterwards, if they've got green on them, that means the steering wheel hit them. You know? Then we can test the car safety, but also how hot you can be.

Yeah, swimsuit. Or they drag the corpse out and go, this one looks pretty hot, actually. Yeah. Still got it. You get style points. So if the car's crashed and gotten a bit mangled, but the seatbelt imprint has really merged nicely with the airbag. Oh, yeah, right.

Does a little bit of a sponge print pattern. Yeah, that's nice. Yeah, maybe the seatbelt for the winner would be a sash saying, Mr. Crash Test or whatever. I passed the crash test. we'll get trump involved yeah i think this could be big really big mr crash i mean a mr or mrs yeah women can get killed in cars too yeah i apologize we gotta get a fact check on that i was picturing hot men crash test dummies and that's on me. Yeah, women can also be objectifiably hot. Come on. That's true.

I was picturing a Brad Pitt type. Oh, you're always picturing a Brad Pitt type. That's your go-to dummy. Yeah. Oh, yeah. A real handsome man. He's right up there with Jimmy Garoppolo, quarterback for the 49ers. God damn, he's handsome. I haven't seen this man.

I don't know this man either. Well, you'll see him and you'll be like, that is a handsome man. I think we're missing out. Yeah. Yeah. We're recording this pre-Super Bowl, but I assume he's just won it. He puts the superb in Super Bowl, am I right? He's just won the award for hottest Super Bowl player.

Yeah. Won the award for if I were a ball, he would be the person holding the ball, please. Thank you. I want to be a ball for Jimmy Grappler to throw. Oh, Jimmy G, throw me. I want to be a wide receiver. All right. So, Lamont, the competition was designed to boost and promote technical innovation

and encourage the development of the automotive industry. That's the outset. Sounds great. And this is like a time when cars are evolving pretty quickly in the early 20s. Sometimes I think about times like this in the past and I'm like, it just, it would have been so exciting because, I mean, we've got some new technology now

but there's so many scams and we're all a bit wary. But back but back then people who were doing scams we didn't know there were scams can you imagine when tupperware got invented and someone's like hey your food will get keep fresh for a week and you're like oh my god and then all the plastic stuff comes out and we don't know plastic's bad yet so then everyone's in there being like hey we don't have to carry metal or glass around it It's lighter. It doesn't scratch because the whole thing's coloured. Like all the colours are vibrant. They're vibrant colours.

How cool would it have been? And people didn't know. We discovered once on an episode that a Ponzi scheme is named after a guy called Ponzi who just had a scheme. Also, he wasn't the person who invented it. It was a woman in the same town. Is that true? I was reading something that was saying that the first Ponzi scheme was actually by a woman who lived in the same town.

And it's like, oh, God, where are the girl bosses? Can't even be original. My girl boss history. You can't have stepped me on my toes a bit here. I'm actually the feminist of the pod. Oh, I'm so sorry. I should know my place. Yeah, please.

Just if you're going to, if we're ever going to talk about a women can do it too, that's sort of my area, if you don't mind. I'll leave it to you then. But Dave did the report about this Ponzi guy, didn't you? Did you mention that? No, I talked about the guy who sold the Eiffel Tower twice. What? Yeah, it was a scam.

People thought they were buying it. He got away with it too. We've also done a report on the history of Tupperware. Yeah, that was a bonus report. I think. A Patreon bonus episode. We're running out of topics. We've done them all.

Name something, Cass. We've done it. That's why Dave's having us specifically do Le Mans 1954. We've done all the other Le Mans. I don't want to burn future topics. The good thing is one happens every year, so we've got a new one coming up this year. Just got to wait.

It's a time game now. So at Le Mans, teams compete to create... I like Le Mans. They create reliable and fuel-efficient vehicles that need little pit stops. Rather than race for a certain amount of laps or distance like they do in F1, the winner of Le Mans is the team that's covered

the most distance over 24 hours. Drivers and racing teams strive for speed and avoiding mechanical damage, as well as managing the car's fuel, oil, tyres and braking materials. So you can't just go flat out the whole time because you risk your car breaking down. Because in F1, they have to replace the wheels every couple of laps, right? Yes. Tyres. I think it's a couple of times per race often.

Yeah. But with this, there's actual rules about how often you can do your pit stop. You can't pit until like lap 35 or something. Oh. And it's the same with the oil, the fuel. So you've got to really time it properly. And that's part of it. There's a lot of scheming.

Cool. This is what's called an endurance race, which is now its own category, with Le Mans being the oldest active endurance racing event. Le Mans has some unique rules in the world of motorsport, one of which is that the cars must be switched off while refuelling in the pits. Like in F1, they try and do everything in about two seconds flat, change the tyres, refuel, all that sort of stuff. But in Le Mans, you've got to turn the car off.

Not only is this safer and less of a fire hazard, but it's also a test of reliability as cars with the guaranteed ability to restart many times under race conditions are harder to make. So you've got to factor that in as well. Does that mean at the little pit stop they've got the signs that you have at the petrol station? Please turn off car. Turn off engine.

Do not attach this hose to this one. No mobile phone. No mobile phone. My friend from uni when he was 18 pulled in to fill up his car at the petrol station and the thing wasn't working and then he just hears an announcement over the PA, you're too young. You're too young to fuel the car. He's like, I'm 18.

You're too young to fuel the car. I thought that someone had sent their 12-year-old kid out to fill the car up. That sounds like gods looking down. Atrophia. Step away from the fuel pump. That's interesting. I think I saw a Mythbusters once that debunked the mobile phones can spark a fire thing. I watched that one and they just kept going until it did.

But it took a lot of effort. A lot of phones? A lot of, I think a lot of phones. They had to get on a really big phone. And they had to enclose the space because petrol stations are often open air. Do they have to set the phone on fire? They also had to use a lighter. They had to do so much to make it work.

Yeah, everyone ignores that rule, right? Yeah, I think so. I think it's still a rule. Yeah, but the photos of the phones, sorry, the pictographs are still very old phones. Right. Like you've got a 12 number keypad. Yeah, the one you're pulling up the antenna on. And the phone is on fire.

Sorry. Because no one can or rather should drive for 24 hours straight, drivers race in teams, sharing just one vehicle and then swapping when they pit stop. It used to be teams of two, but now these days three drivers have to share it. The race is run in June on one of the shortest nights of the year in France to get maximum daylight.

But it's also often really hot and the conditions inside the car are quite unbearable right well that's good you gotta see if the aircon's gonna hold out yeah that's right you gotta have the aircon going full belt the racetrack itself is named the circuit de la sarte the mate like anything in french just sounds fancy what does that mean uh bum shaped track or something? Is that just circle, circle, circle? Like, it's key? Like, what is...

It's just how French people say circuit and then de la sarte. I don't know what that means. But it consists of both permanent track and public roads temporarily closed for the race. So there's a bit that's always there and then they also block off. So the town's probably like, for God's sake. Le Mans on again.

It's car day. The track has changed a lot over the decades. Originally, it was 17 kilometres or 10 miles long. These days, it's just 13.5km or 8.4 miles long. The track also used to feature the Mulsanne Straight, which is a famously long piece of road that was 6km or 3.7 miles long, meaning drivers could hit ludicrous speeds. Up to 85% of the lap time is spent on full throttle, so this puts immense stress on engines and drivetrain components. So it's a pretty brutal, brutal track. Did you say they got rid of the long stretch of road?

Yes, they did for safety reasons. That's good. Which we will talk about. Oh, did they get rid of the track this year that we're discussing? They will put in some safety measures, but it's an ever

evolving thing. The track changes has changed lots over the years because of further incidents but the biggest incident is 1955 which we'll talk about but the inaugural 24 hour of le mans event was in 1923 and both the race and festivities took place throughout the streets of le mans in northwestern france and that's where it gets its name it's very close to that town it's on the outskirts that race had had 33 entrants, of which 30 finished, which is quite remarkable considering they started just minutes

after a hailstorm had come through. Oh, wow. In fact, it wasn't until the 1993 Le Mans that 33 cars again finished the whole race. So people constantly retire because they either crash or their car more commonly just gives up. Yeah. It's like it is more brutal than it sounds it's sort of it's like you drive around in a circle

for a day yeah it doesn't sound that bad how can it be yeah or even doing an eight hour shift of driving in a circle yeah i feel like you'd feel like you were leaning one way by the end of the day right yeah for sure that's why the eight mark, they go in reverse just to sort of balance it out. They hit it into reverse. They put one arm over the seat behind them and they just do that for eight hours. Backing it up. How am I doing back there? I mean, that would be a good test of car.

They should do another Le Mans. Yeah, the 24-hour reverse. Le Nom. And you just back it up the whole time. You just hear a constant beep, beep. You just

got another guy outside being like, you good? You good? Yeah, no, you good. You good. You good. Watch your back right. Nah, that's good. Straighten up. You good. I'll tap the back when you're good. Watch your back right. Nah, that's good. Straighten up. Straighten up. You're good. I'll tap the back when you're good.

I love when people do that, but then they go from good to stop so quickly. Good, good, good. No, no, no, no, no. Hey, just say. Yeah, we need a medium thing here. I always, because yelling, every time I do this, I try and put a thumbs up in view of the driver,

and as it starts to get a bit close, I start tilting it down. Like an old emperor. So there's like thumbs up, thumbs up, getting a bit closer. Oh, we're at 45. We're at 45. And then it'll, then they'll get really close and I'll just thumbs down. You good?

And this is all good stuff for a podcast, but the one I reckon works really well is people do like their hands apart how big the gap is. So as you're backing back, they go on like this and the gap shrinking. That's much more helpful than just giving a thumbs up. Well, I think the thumbs are much more helpful than just going, yep, yep, yep.

But with the hands thing, do the people also audibly communicate or it gets to crashing and their hands are just hands? They're just smushing their hands. Well, as soon as your hands are touching, you're praying for the driver. Yeah, that's right. God rest your soul. You good? You good? You good?

That's not what I'm saying. So the inaugural Le Mans was run by two French drivers who were driving in a Chinard Welker, a French car that I've never heard of. Looking at the history of Le Mans, there was a bunch of car companies

that no longer exist and haven't been anywhere near my lifetime. All up, they covered 2,209 kilometres in 24 hours, which seems like

That sounds pretty good. What's that? How big is Australia? What's that kph? It's not quite 100, is it? But back in 1923, that's 100 years ago. Going that non-stop for 24 hours is amazing.

Yeah, but they're going on curvy roads and stuff, and it's not a race race. Yeah, but by comparison, modern competitors often cover well over 5,000 kilometres in the day. Wow, that's amazing. The record was set in 2010 when 5,410 kilometres or 3,360 miles was covered. Having something that I know what it is. Yeah, how many MCGs is that? Yeah, how many laps of the MCG? How many MCGs do we have?

I think while you're looking that up, I was just thinking about all these car companies that have gone. I think that was like in the early days. I think all these little businesses would make cars and they'd, you know, so they'd come and go, little businesses that would fail. But it would just be, I think some of those were just, you know, an engineer with a small team or sometimes making them himself.

Oh, that's nice. Yeah, it's kind of cool. I was reading a little bit recently about the history early history of of um the motor industry and it was it was interesting like i think uh henry ford started up this company and then what do they call it uh i can't remember this is one of this this is before for. Was it Henry? Henry, yeah. And he left. He called it Henry.

But he left it and it got renamed the Cadillac Company. And then Dodge, the company Dodge. Oh, yeah. The Dodge brothers, I think, were involved in that earlier. It was just like this tiny little industry with all these little companies. I suppose making a car is pretty weird. Yeah. And not everyone knows

how to do it. Like, we've got mechanics now, but back in the day. Yeah, there were mechanics really waiting for the moment the cars were invented.

They were like, oh, finally, now I've got something to do. On day one, they've been doing nothing with these pistons. Their instructor's like,

guys, honestly, most of you probably won't get a job out of this. You're doing it for the love. So for context, Cass, I don't know if this will help you at all. The distance from Melbourne to Cairns and back is about 5,500 kilometres. That helps heaps.

That is insane. So you could drive to Cairns in 12 hours, these guys. Holy shit. But if you're doing it on public roads at the moment, if we left Melbourne right now, it would take us 31 hours. I've considered driving up to Queensland before and then I stopped considering it. It was too big.

And that's not just to Queensland. I've never been that far north. Oh, yeah. Isn't Cairns like up-ish? Cairns up-up. Yeah, it's very, it's FNQ. I think, isn't like Melbourne to Brisbane and then is about halfway, I think, and't like Melbourne to Brisbane and then is

about halfway, I think, and then Brisbane to the top is another half. Is that right? Something like that. Our states are very large. Yeah, and it's weird because I think of growing up, thought of Brisbane, Gold Coast as that's Queensland, but that's right down the bottom corner. Yeah, just inside, really.

So, a few things have changed over the years. That's the first one, 1923. Until the 70s, Le Mans was famous for the Le Mans start, which had drivers start outside their vehicles, run to their cars, start the engines and drive off. Like a game show or something. Yeah, seriously. And if you watch videos of it, it is pretty chaotic because there's all these cars.

Usually, it's a grid formation. You qualify, like in Formula 1. Oh, yeah. If you're the fastest, you're at the front. If you're the slowest, you're formation. You qualify like in Formula One. Oh, yeah. If you're the fastest, you're at the front. If you're the slowest, you're at the back. Like in Mario Kart as well, I suppose. But with this one, you're all lined up in the pits and you run to your car and you all just try and go as quickly as possible.

And obviously you get a bottleneck on that first corner. Yeah. That sounds very like Mr. Magoo, Mr. Bean. I'm thinking a goofy fella when I'm thinking about this. This goofy fella race. Is the footage in slight, is it slightly sped up when you watch the footage? Yeah. Because, you know, a lot of old footage is slightly sped up a little bit.

Benny Hill music. No one bends their knees properly. It's too much or not at all. So this proved to be quite dangerous, so the procedure was changed, but not until the 70s. It's gone on to be coveted in the world of motorsport, and Britannica describes the race as probably the world's best-known automobile race. Oh.

Okay. They say that that's still the case? Yeah. More than Bathurst. That's interesting. Second only to Mount Panorama. Come on. What about Brockie?

Brockie. King of the Mountain. Dick Johnson, hey? What about Dick? Dickie. Well, today Le Mans is one of the eight races that compose the International Automobile Federation World Endurance Championship. So there's a bunch of these endurance races where it is a timed event. But the race is part of what is known as the triple crown of motorsport,

the EGOT of the racing world. And you're never going to believe it, but Bathurst isn't in the three. Can you believe it? Politics, I'm guessing. So we've got Le Mans. Yeah. What, like Sandown? The Sandown 500?

It's weird. You'd think it'd be Bathurst. No, Clips all made it. No, it's an unofficial list of the most prestigious motor races in the world. And if you get the triple crown of motorsport, that's if you win them all

in one career the races are the Indianapolis 500 in America the 24 hour of Le Mans and the Monaco Grand Prix oh

that's interesting yeah that's just one race one race in a calendar in a big competition and they're all very different races

has anyone ever gone close only one person has won all three Jack Brabham well you know I thought I just had a swing you know have a crash And they're all very different races. Has anyone ever gone close? Only one person has won all three. Jack Brabham. I thought I just had a swing, you know. Have a crack. How cool would that have been if that was right?

It would be so good. Really good. Cass, do you want to have a crack as well? Brocky. Oh, sorry. Sorry, Cass. As a feminist, I thought I'd answer for you. Thank you.

It's really good to be spoken for. Tony Martin. Tony Martin. Tony Martin. Now, the actor or the comedian? Yes. Both speed demons. I think Tony Martin, Martin Now the actor Or the comedian Yes Both speed demons I think

Tony Martin Two first names A lot of people Have both four Some people Don't have last names My ears are burning Shut up Stuart

I think I think that's a safe bet I think that's a common It's a common enough name That I don't think There's a bad chance For the Tony Martin Tony Martin

It is in that Sort of category of name. The only person who's won all three of the Triple Crown Motorsport is British driver Graham Hill. That is in the same category of name, isn't it? He could be a comedian or a talk show host or an actor. Yes, Hill tonight. So some people replace the Monaco Grand Prix with the entire Formula One World Championship.

They say to win the Triple Crown, you've got to win the Indianapolis 500, you've got to win Le Mans, you've got to be a champion of Formula One. That makes more sense to me. Right. And the answer is don't worry because Graham Hill also won the championship in 1962 and 1968. So even by that, even that metric, he is the only one who's ever done it. Love it.

Sadly, he died in a plane crash in 1975. He's a car man. Yeah. Just down the ground. in a plane crash in 1975. He's a car man. Yeah. Should have stayed on the ground. Shouldn't have been in the sky. Like Icarus, yeah. His son, Damon Hill, also won the Formula One World Championship in 1996.

I was wondering if there was a connection there. When I was a kid, Damon Hill, he was a big deal for a little while. He was a big guy. Do you remember him? You seem like a guy who'd like Formula One. Because my dad's really into motorsport. I say you seem like that. What I meant was

I've got a memory of you being into it. I think that is allowed. Okay, great. There's a bit of a history of father-son drivers in motorsport. Probably my favourite Le Mans story concerns French driver Louis Rosier, who entered the 1950 Le Mans with his son Jean-Louis.

So the whole race goes for 24 hours right the senior rosier drove for 23 hours and 15 minutes only stopping to have a break in the middle so he could go to the bathroom change the rocker shaft of his car personally clean up the mess from said work and then have some lunch he only let his son drive two laps but incredibly they still won. That is, when you said there's a lot of father-son teams, it's like, hey, that kind of makes sense. Like you, it's like how a lot of cooks and chefs will have influence from like their parents.

It's one of those things that it's a pass down skill. And it's also very funny that he was like, no, mate, you don't get to drive the car. No, I don't trust you. Oh, yeah, my son can do it. My boy, we did it together. Yeah, because technically they are both champions of Le Mans, but really he's like, I do not trust you borrowing my Ferrari.

That's the most dad thing I've ever heard in my life. I love that. Le Mans is also the race that started the tradition of winning drivers, showering each other in champagne. Oh, how did that start? Really glad that sentence finished. I love driving. I love being in motorsport.

The best thing is just how much care we have for each other as drivers. Showering the winners. We clean each other, lather each other up. It's just really nice. Well-oiled machine on the field, well-oiled machine off track. Track, on the track, off the track. Off the track were well-lathered machines. Since 1950, the winner of the race has been given a bottle of champagne

to be like, congratulations, here you go. Oh, and they just waste it? That sucks. I mean, I personally don't like champagne, so I sort of understand, but give it to someone who wants it. Don't just waste it. And it's proper, like, Shandon stuff. But in 1960s...

So, first of all, you used to get the bottle of champagne. I imagine you'd drink it. You'd treasure it, whatever. But in 1966, a year that nothing else happened in the world of sport... Cass, I'll just stop Dave there. That is actually the year that the Saints won their one and only AFL slash AFL Premiership. Yeah. And Matt talks about it a lot.

It was also the year that the Super Bowl basically was born. That year a deal was made that the AFL and NFL would come together and play an end-of-year championship that went on to be called the Super Bowl. We did last week did an episode about the Super Bowl. And the Chicago Bulls were founded in 1966. Oh my god. I didn't know. I honestly thought when I wrote Nothing Else Happened in the World of Sport that nothing did, but there you go.

England won the Football World Cup. Football World? They won the Football World Cup. Yeah, good on them. But also in 1966, Matt, if you want to add to your list, Joe Siffett, a driver, accidentally shot off the top of the bottle that he was given and it showered the public.

And everyone was like, oh, this is a bit of fun. It started as an accident. That's so funny. I've always wondered, because the champagne, the fizzy stuff, would it feel nice or would it feel immediately sticky? Because it's not as sugary as Coke or like a soda. Because you think you're getting like soda splash on you, like immediately awful.

But if it's not as sugary, would it be nice? And if the bubbles are a bit gentler? I mean, it's still grape juice, right? So it would be pretty sticky. Yeah, I imagine it would suck, but everyone seems to have a good time. Yeah, so sometimes you see them cleaning out their eyes like, oh my God, this hurts.

It doesn't. I don't like the idea of it. I'm not a big fan of being sticky. And that's why you've never won. You've come fourth every time on purpose. Don't want to get on the podium. Yeah. I've got a fear of podium.

Not on the splash, though. Yeah. So that's the first one, 1966. According to the 24-hour of Le Mans website, spectators wanted more. And the following year, Dan Gurney, a talented and cheerful prankster of a driver, this is, again, Le Mans website, spectators wanted more. And the following year, Dan Gurney, a talented and cheerful prankster of a driver, this is again Le Mans words,

forever changed the destiny of the famous bubbles. The American winner for Ford decided to reproduce the scene from 1966, shaking the bottle that he'd been given. The cork exploded out of the bottle and the public rejoiced. And the rest is history. So they do it every year now. And now it's in multiple sports. Like when uh australia won the ashes yeah and that made the news a lot because uh uzman kwaja's uh muslim and he so he can't have alcohol on him i think so

they started spraying it and and uzman kwaja had to like leap off the podium so he wouldn't get – and then the captain – this is what made it make news. The new Australian captain, Pat Cummings, is like – told everyone, he's like, don't do that. Our teammate can't be here if you do that. And the story's being written like, now that's leadership. This guy, he saw that one of the – it's like, I think that it feels, it kind of felt like just common decency, but also. It feels very trying to pick the bar off off the ground

and be like, look what I found. Yeah, yeah. But still, I mean, I guess if, yeah, if that's growth then good on you Australian cricket. It's really interesting when the bar is on the floor and we applaud someone, even if they get over it by way of tripping. Yeah.

But even Kawaja also, he's like tweeted about it saying it made him feel really respected and stuff. So it was a nice story. That is good. But it kind of feels like, you know, if your friend's got a food allergy and you're like, oh,

cool. I didn't put gluten in the cake. They're like, oh my God, you didn't put gluten in the cake. Like, yeah, it would make you sick.

Why would I put gluten in the cake? They're like, that's really kind of you didn't put gluten in the cake? It's like, yeah, it would make you sick. Why would I put gluten in the cake? They're like, that's really kind of you. I'm like, is it? I don't think that's kind. I think it would have been mean if I put gluten in the cake. No, it's kind, and I'm contacting journalists to talk about it. So that's the story of the champagne and where that's all come from. But one of the most well-known Le Mans is 1955,

and it is not remembered for the right reasons, but it did change motorsport forever. The 1955 24-hour event was the 23rd edition of Le Mans and took place June 11 and June 12 that year. And between 250,000 and 300,000 spectators packed out the stands. Say that again? 250,000 to 300,000 spectators turned up. That's ridiculous, right?

Huge. It's very, very... That's like three MCGs. Whoa. That's like enough people to line up from here to Cans and back. Holy shit. And at the time, Ferrari were the reigning Le Mans champions, and they arrived with the new 735 LM.

When I think of reliable cars, I think Ferraris. Just something, I don't want a flashy car. I just want a nice, reliable A to B car. I just want to get there. I know I'm going to get there. I know I'm going to get there safely. And, you know, their emblem's a horse. The most stable and normal animal.

And I want to get there, and I don't want anyone to look at me. No. Yeah. Arrive in peace. What do they say? Move in silence. Make my moves in silence. That's me.

That's Ferrari. That's Ferrari. And you say it's a super reliable car. My mum worked as a librarian and as part of- I classically drive a lot of Ferraris. Yeah, of course. If you look in the parking lot at the Eltham Library, it was absolutely ridiculous.

Wall-to-wall Ferrari. But they carried in their catalogue a bunch of manuals for different cars so people could do works on things like Toyota Corollas, Mazda 3s, sort of very common cars. But one day a lady came in and asked if they had the catalogue on a very specific type of Ferrari because she wanted to do her own service. And it's like, if you can afford a Ferrari,

surely you can pay a mechanic to look after it. And some people do it as a hobby, Dave. She might have just been wanting to get her hands dirty, get to work. Yeah. Have you ever had that moment in your life where... I'm going to say no immediately. You think of a task and you're like, oh, you know what? Maybe I could do that.

Do you know what something – Still no. Well, hey, this is horribly depressing, but I've started to be doing a lot more for myself recently because it'll be things like, oh, you know, make a purse or like knit a top or whatever. Or do my own safe electronics works. Because like kids do it every day for free.

Yeah, the kids can do it. So why can't I do it? That's a good point, Cass. And how have you gone? Oh, fine. Still alive. Yeah, still alive. It's completely fine.

It's completely fine. It's completely fine. Sounds pretty defensive. So Ferrari rock up. They're the defending champions. They've got this new car powered by a straight six engine derived from the previous year's Formula One car. So they're looking hot. Jaguar had thrown all of their resources at winning the race in an attempt to regain the crown they'd won two years previously. So they'd been on top recently, but Ferrari's taken over.

Their team, Jaguar, consisted of 1953 winners Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton. But more importantly for our story, they also had a car with up-and-coming English star Mike Hawthorne, who'd been stolen from Ferrari. It's a real Hollywood-sounding name to me. Yeah, that sounds like a man who's been poached. For sure. That sounds like, yeah, you can imagine that man.

He's working on his own Ferrari. He's under the hood. And Hawthorne was paired with rookie and fellow Englishman Ivor Buerb. So they're one team, and I'm going to talk about Mike Hawthorne quite a bit, so remember him. So Ferrari and Jaguar, they're the favourites. However, Mercedes were certainly ones to watch, fresh from a triumphant debut of their new 300 SLR in the Mille Miglia,

which is a 1,000-mile race made up of public roads across Italy. That sounds fun. They just drive across Italy. So does that mean the public roads are still open? So they are doing a race while like Nona's ducking to the shop? Get out of the way. I imagine they're closing the roads. I think it would be more fun if they were open to the public.

Oh, for sure. And if you're like, you've got people crossing in front of you. Oh, yeah, you still have to give way for pedestrians. We're trying to figure out if it's a reliable car. Like reliable cars need to deal with these things. Absolutely. You need to be able to brake really suddenly for the cyclist. You need to be able to brake really suddenly when the light turns yellow

and you haven't really been in this area very much and you don't know how long it's going to take you to get across the crossings. You just slam on your brakes because you don't want your demerits or anything. Oh, my goodness. That's the other thing. They had to stick to the speed limit. They start off the race with their actual license. They've got to time it so they're not going through school zones

between 2 and 3.30 or whatever it is. A lot of navigation here. So Mercedes had three teams, but the lead car was driven by Sterling Moss. Oh! Incredible name. An acclaimed British Formula One driver who would go on to be called the greatest driver

never to win the Formula One World Championship. Wow. I prefer Sterling Moss. Yeah, that's a bit of a mouthful. Sterling Moss is a very cool name. Very cool name. I'm picturing, like, a forgery in an elven garden. How beautiful.

Sterling Moss. Very good. So he just won the Mille Miglia and he was again to race for Mercedes, teaming up with another absolute giant of motorsport, Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio. Another fantastic name. Fangio had already won two Formula One World Championships at this stage and he would go on to win three more, a record that stood until Michael Schumacher broke it 46 years later.

Fangio still holds the highest winning percentage in Formula One history at 46.15%, winning 24 of the 52 F1 races that he entered. Wow, that's ridiculous. Yeah, he is very, very, very important for the sport. And if that's not enough, my dad had a poster of him in his study so you know he's the real deal. Oh, yeah.

Fangio. My dad would talk about him. You'd have to... I know that driving the car is the important bit. Oh, yeah. But did he only start winning after the poaching or... like how much of his car no so uh mike hawthorne was the one that was poached and joe was uh driving for a few different teams oh okay so he he got a near 50 record for multiple different makers yeah i

guess that's what i'm asking like yeah because it's winning more in a certain car or it feels like like that definitely comes into it, right? Because it's one sport where it's like, you know, running, it's you. It's all on you. But yeah, this is like horse racing. Like, what if the horse sucks? Yeah, he raced for Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes and Ferrari. Yeah, that feels like that confirms he's pretty handy.

Yeah, that's good. That's very good. He's got the heaviest foot in the game. He's still seen as one of the greatest of all time. Yeah, it feels like that should be true. Nicknamed El Maestro the Master or The Teacher. Oh. El Maestro.

Now that's a nickname. And The Teacher? That's a good one because the implication that he shared is knowledge. Yeah. I love that. He went to the Cuban Grand Prix once and he was so famous that someone kidnapped him

for like a political stunt and I think he later said they treated me very well and then when they were telling him about why they were kidnapping him he was like, I don't mind. I don't care.

Don't get me into the politics. I don't care. Let me teach you driving. Yeah, let me teach you. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that they've got an incredible team. Sterling Moss is a very good driver. Fangio, one of the greatest drivers of all time. They're driving for Mercedes.

Mercedes also had an American, John Fitch, who was paired up with one of the elder statesmen of French motor racing, Pierre Lévesque. Also, I've heard it pronounced elder statesmen of French motor racing, Pierre Léves. Also, I've heard it pronounced Lévesque, but I will say Pierre Léves. So observers were anticipating a tight contest between the three teams, Ferrari, Jaguar, Mercedes. Yeah. Other manufacturers, you've probably heard of most of these, included Maserati, Aston Martin, Porsche, MG, and a private entry of an Austin Healey

driven by an F1 driver from England, Lance Macklin. Really cool names. A lot of cool names, and I've fired out a lot there. So to recap, to try and get some of these in your minds, recap the main players in our story. I remember there's dozens of drivers in the event, but we've got a Mercedes driven by Fangio and Sterling Moss, another Mercedes driven by Pierre Leveille, Frenchman.

Jaguar had Mike Hawthorne. And Lance Macklin was driving an Austin Healey. And it should be pointed out that every time these drivers got into their cars, they were potentially risking their lives. Before this race, eight drivers had already died at the same track whilst competing in Le Mans. And in Formula One, which had only been launched five years earlier, seven men had died, including two in the month before Le Mans 1955.

Wow. So it'd be just front of mind. Yeah. And so these accidents, they're not uncommon. And they're driving really, really quick. And the cars have gotten really fast in an incredibly short amount of time. Yeah, so the safety stuff hasn't kept up necessarily. Yeah, it hasn't quite kept up, yeah.

Wow. And they're racing on the same tracks too that were built for slower cars. Yeah. The 1955 race started off with the traditional running start. Drivers running to get behind the wheel and just take off. Love it. And it was an exciting kick-off. Remember that it's supposed to be an endurance event,

more a marathon than a sprint, some would say. But both Mercedes and Jaguar didn't seem to get the memo because early on Fangio for Mercedes and Hawthorne for Jaguar were repeatedly swapping lap records, just pushing each other to go faster and faster and faster. This is despite Fangio's delayed start caused when his trouser leg snagged on a gear shift lever. Despite that, he was still able to get up to the front, but he was delayed.

Yeah, it makes that running start seem so ridiculous when you realise that they're about to drive for a day. Yeah. And it's such a small... Yeah, exactly. And you'll get an extra few metres if you run rather than walk. Yeah, and you'll get to extra few metres if you run rather than walk. Yeah, and you'll get to the bottleneck anyway,

so you're just going to stop yourself. Unless you think you can get out in front and zoom off. That's right. If you're first to the bottleneck, who cares? You zoom out. But, yeah, it just feels like it's going to even out over 24 hours. Yeah, that's just too much. It's not like, oh, my goodness. You had to get in front of the bottleneck and be like, that's what

did it for me. I stayed in the front the entire race. Well, often that does happen a lot in Formula 1. That's why it's so coveted to be qualified first. Because often people will lead from start to finish. Really? Because you just get out in front and you know, you get 18, 20 seconds in front of the car

behind you. It's a lifetime in a Formula 1 car. That sounds like a boring spectator sport. Oh, yeah, it's dull when that happens. It's not every time, but it just happens quite a bit. Especially at Monaco, that Grand Prix that is part of the triple crown because that's actually on the streets of Monaco. It's a street circuit and it's just tight winding corners the whole time so there's no way really to overtake.

I wasn't there at race time but I went to Monaco and saw some of those streets. I just went there for a day. It's an interesting place. Just a place that's built on cash. Cash and casinos. Yeah. And not paying tax.

Yeah. You pay to become a citizen, don't you? Some big chunk of cash to get in and then you don't have to paying tax. Yeah. Yeah, don't you? You pay to become a citizen, don't you? Some big chunk of cash to get in and then you don't have to pay tax. That's why all the Formula One drivers and tennis players all have their residence as Monaco so they don't pay their millions of dollars of tax to their home countries. That's cool. A kind thing to do. Oh, dear.

Hey, the roads you grew up on, don't pay for them for the next generation. Yeah, that's right. Often they've accelerated through their country's academies to be the top of their field and then they leave. People poorer than me want healthcare? No. No. I have the opportunity to help fund someone's cancer treatment.

I'm not going to do that. I'd rather a pool. I think a lot of them, though, have their own foundations, right? And they'd be like, I'm choosing where the money goes. I don't trust the government with taxes. I imagine that's what they would justify. I have the Gregson Foundation, and I give my money to these kids that I like.

These kids, my children. Yeah, Greg Jr. Greg. And Greg Jr. Jr. So Fangio and Mercedes and Hawthorne and Jaguar are pushing each other. According to GQ, Mike Hawthorne had beef with Mercedes and fostered a personal reason to beat them. GQ writes, quote, Hawthorne's open antipathy towards the German manufacturer

following the death of a close relative during the Second World War merely added to this determination to crush the Mercedes challenge. Wait, that's like an Anglo-German beef. Is that what he means? It's like it was a war. Sounds delicious. Yeah, because this is... Waggo. Put me down one of those. Anglo-German. beef. Is that what he means? It's like it was a war. Sounds delicious. Wagyu.

Put me down one of those. Is it coming in pie form? It's only 10 years after the Second World War was finished and he's gone. They're Germany's most famous car manufacturer. I'm going to crush them. By lap four, Mercedes, Jaguar and Ferrari cars filled the top eight places.

So they're really leaving the rest of the field for dead. So the favourites were performing as well as expected. After an hour, Ferrari made a mistake, letting Fangio in the Mercedes and Hawthorne in the Jaguar to the front of the race. Still exchanging lap records, which was finally set by Mike Hawthorne. Then at 6.20pm, at the end of lap 35, when the pit stops were due, disaster struck.

At this stage, Mike Hawthorne in the Jaguar was leading. He flew past Lance Macklin in the much slower Austin Healy. He's lapping him. Yeah. He's a full lap in front. But having got the order from his Jaguar crew to head into the pits to fill up on fuel, Hawthorne braked sharply and turned in front of Macklin, who he'd just overtaken. So he pulls in front and then goes,

oh, I've got to go in here, brake. He's really cutting someone off. The Jaguar had great brakes and Hawthorne slowed really quickly. Macklin and the Austin Healey attempted to brake but couldn't in time, so he had to swerve around the Jaguar that he saw now rapidly approaching him. Oh my God. So he swerved to the left and hit the brakes

and then pulled back into the middle of the track. But this put him into the path of Pierre Leveille who was driving a Mercedes behind him. The Frenchman in the Mercedes was doing 150 miles or 230 kilometers an hour and had no time to brake. And his front right wheels smashed into the back of Macklin. Leve simply had no time to evade collision. And with possibly his last action,

raised his hand, warning Fangio who was behind him. Fangio later said that this action saved his life. He said, I was doing 260 kilometers an hour. Just before we reached the first pits, warning Fangio, who was behind him. Fangio later said that this action saved his life. He said, I was doing 260 kilometres an hour. Just before we reached the first pits, I saw in front of me, hardly more than 50 metres away,

LeVay suddenly raise his hand. Oh, my God. He was warning me of some danger I could not see. I braked, but at that speed, there was no question of pulling up in a few metres. Everything occurred so quickly that I could not see all that happened. I saw LeVay shoot off to the right, while Macklin's Austin Healy was thrown to the left in front of me. How it got through and missed Macklin, I don't know. So he kept going. He's safe. LeVay was

certainly not as lucky. He's the one that's just put his hand up. He drove up the back left of Macklin's car, which launched LeVay into the air and catapulted him off the track and onto an embankment. He basically accidentally used the back of Macklin as a ramp. Yeah. Oh, God. And this all happens in like a split second, all these actions. And this is within, like after the first hour, did you say? It's 35 laps in, so it's a couple of hours in.

And this is all because. Yeah, two hours into the race. That's so early. It's so early. So early. All because the Jaguar, he could have done another lap. Yes, but he at the last second went, oh, I've got to pull to the pits, braked. So it's just like an instinct.

Instinct thing. And then the guy behind him had to swerve. And then because he swerved, the guy behind him, LeVay rammed him and flew into the air. Really unlucky timing, I guess. But, yeah. I just, that's so soon in like thinking about like when you do anything long haul you have to do like even if you do like a shift for eight hours like two hours in flies past pretty quickly yeah you are planning for a

very long thing so for 24 hours i can't imagine how quickly that would you people who like 300,000 people showing up on their chairs being like, oh, yeah, well, nothing – it's only the first couple of hours. Yeah, nothing will happen for a bit. Yeah, let's go get a fromage. Like pick me up some croissant. Croissant, sorry. Maybe a pomme.

A pomme. Pomme de terre. Yeah, maybe a pomme de terre. A pomme. Café au lait. Maybe a pain au chocolat. Maybe an escargot. Are there any French restaurants nearby?

Because I'm feeling like for lunch. Yeah, I forgot about the 300,000 as well. Are they there for the whole 24 hours? They come in bits and pieces. There's about seven people watching at any one time. And they're also very spread out because the track is multiple miles per long. Miles long per long. A kid would watch someone die from flying out the top of a car, right?

Yes, well, let me talk about that. So, LeVay was thrown from his car. He's the one that launched up into the air. He was launched back onto the track where he died instantly. During this period in motorsport, cars were more combustible and drivers less shielded from the effects of a crash and therefore chose not to wear seatbelts. Preferring to be thrown clear of a car in the event of a crash rather than get trapped inside and probably get burnt. Looking at the footage of the crash,

it's hard to imagine LeVay surviving either way. His car, there was nothing left. Holy shit. His car landed on the embankment between the spectators and the track, bounced, then slammed into a concrete stairwell structure and disintegrated. The car flew over spectators and rolled end over end for 80 metres. Debris from his disintegrating car flew into the crowd,

including his engine block, suspension, radiator and the bonnet of his car. It was a grisly scene and that is putting it lightly. Holy shit. Did anyone in the crowd get hurt? Yes. Very much so. Debris flew as far as 100 metres, crushing people in its wake, and then the rear of the car also burst into flames.

Made of magnesium, it burst into flames as fuel ignited and showered the area with white-hot sparks, and things were made worse by rescue workers who were unfamiliar with magnesium fires who poured water over the inferno, which greatly intensified the fire. You're not supposed to put water under magnesium fire. See, you would, I reckon, they've got to be told that. Oh, for sure.

For sure. Because I'm not blind. I would also assume that water puts out fire. Oh, man, I'd be throwing water on it straight away. Oh, my God. I'd see fire. My brain would turn off and I would have that little fire, you know, the little bear who teaches you about fire when you're in school.

Did he tell you to stop, drop and roll? Yeah. Did he mention magnesium fires? No, he didn't go into magnesium fires. Where's the education? The standards have dropped far too low. Because of that, it ended up burning for hours. Oh, my God.

Macklin, who'd been rammed at 250 kilometres an hour, he's the one that braked and then LeVay drove into the back of that, it ended up burning for hours. Oh, my God. Macklin, who'd been rammed at 250 kilometres an hour, he's the one that braked and then LeVay drove into the back of him, he spun into the wall before sliding across the track, running into and injuring four people, but somehow both they and the driver escaped serious injury. Oh, that's great news. Because, yeah, I mean, I don't know. Obviously, the poor bloke who died had nothing to do with it.

How awful is the guy? Calls the accident feeling. But the guy on the Austin, Acklin, he didn't do it. All he did was be. Follow his dream. Yeah, follow his dream. And now, yeah, I guess you can't. I don't know why I'm searching for someone to blame here.

But it does feel unfortunate that a guy driving that fast doesn't have the poise to think, I can't just pull in front of this guy and brake. It feels like you should have that in your mind that you can't do that. I'm sure it's in everyone's minds now from 1978 onwards. Well, they're thinking about it. So Macklin didn't kill anyone, but they weren't the only spectators hit. LaVey's car flying into the crowd caused an unbelievable death toll.

Oh my God. Between 80 and 84 people were killed. Holy shit. I know. It's like, it's huge. And a further 120 were injured. In the stands, people used advertising banners to carry the injured and the dead, while others frantically searched for loved ones.

And two priests, who just happened to be in attendance performed last rites on the victims where they lay. It was intense scenes. Mike Hawthorne, who had overshot the pits, the jag, came in a lap later, because he didn't even get into the pits because he braked too late. Yes. Oh, my God.

I mean, not that it would have been worth it if he got into the pits. As long as he got into the pits. But just like, that's what you should have just done anyway. Yeah. You've cost yourself a bit of time and a lot of lives. Yeah. And he came in a lap later. Is he still going, oh, the Germans can't wait to get my revenge on these bad Germans who killed my uncle.

Well, he's come in a lap later with tears streaming down his face. He was unsurprisingly distraught. And despite his reluctance, Ivor Buerb, his co-driver, was ordered to take over because that's right, they didn't cancel the race. Oh, my God. Jesus. The track's on fire.

The track's on fire. The stands are on fire. People are dying. People are very injured. People are trying to turn the advertising into things. They're starting to put out a magnesium fire that will burn for hours. Yeah. Yeah.

It feels like time to pull the pin. Yeah. Sometimes you've got to wrap it up. Sometimes calling it's a brave move. Yeah. So these days if something this severe happened, they'd wave a red flag indicating it's too dangerous to continue. The race would be instantly cancelled. But the race organisers back then, after being later criticised for this decision, defended themselves by saying that if they'd cancelled

the race, the hundreds of thousands of spectators all would have left at the same time and this would have blocked the roads for emergency services. You go, okay. They also said cancelling the race would have cost them lots of money. Okay. Well, you could have stopped at the first thing. You could have, yeah.

I mean, they can cancel the race and shut the door. Yeah, they could go, all right, everyone in the, you can't leave yet. Obviously, we've got to let the ambulance in. Yeah, so a lot of people have been. I think people would understand. People have been really critical and said they just would have made an announcement and everyone would have understood. Like, so it's not a great excuse.

So the race continued. Meanwhile, it should be noted that few drivers or crews understood the severity of the accident or the growing death toll even hours after it happened. To quote from a Guardian article written the day after, quote, on the other side of the track, it was several hours before many people knew of the crashes. They danced in the open air and rode on funfair roundabouts. Because it's miles long. Some people are so far away, they've got no idea it's happened.

And no official announcement was made over the loudspeaker. Yeah, the drivers wouldn't even know. Like you'd see someone crash, you'd see someone fly out. And I'm sure there are some guesses you could have made, but like if you didn't see how it ended up. And it happened so quick that, you know, they'd be on another part of the track. They could probably come around and see.

You'd see the car on fire but you wouldn't know. And also the sad reality of the race is that people do die at the event. The month before, two F1 drivers had died. But not normally 84 people in the crowd. No, the spectators are usually safe. But you might see the car on fire and go jeez, I hope LeVay's alright.

I don't know because it's the days before these days you got radio communication between the drivers it's all recorded all that sort of stuff but like you know do waves they were waving people into the pits that you can't wave up a sign saying 80 people are dead yeah yeah but they definitely could have told the crowd a severe incident has happened yeah if you're planning to if you crash your car get flown out of it, you would see a crashed car on fire, be like, well, he got out. Yeah, hopefully he's okay. Yeah, you'd be like, oh, not all hope would be lost at that point. You'd be like, oh, cool, well,

none of us are doing our seatbelts off. American driver John Fitch, who was the now deceased LaVey's teammate, had been standing with LaVey's wife when the accident happened. She was understandably distraught and he stayed with her, only leaving to make a phone call to his family to let them know that he was alive. He was thinking, this is going to be big news. They might be confused as to who was driving the car at the time because they're teammates.

I'm so glad you didn't say they made him drive the backup car. Oh, my God. You get out there. It was... Well, they're like, Fitz, you get out there it was well they're like fish you get out there the car is on fire only leaving to drive another 35 minutes yeah so he went to make a phone call it was then that he overheard a journalist reporting that it was already thought that 65 spectators had been killed and only then did the true gravity of the situation become apparent even to him he raced

back to his mercedes team and urged them to withdraw from the race he's like this is this is crazy so we've got to stop the race yeah he also argued that continuing to compete would be a public relations disaster for mercedes-benz regardless if they went on to win or if they lost they were already worried about their image as a german manufacturer only a decade after the end of the Second World War. Right. He was like, he knew that this is the way the team would respond. He's thinking this is a nightmare. We've got to stop this race. I've just watched my teammate die.

But to get the multi-billion dollar company to respond, I've got to tell them that it's bad for their image. Yeah. That's, yeah, it's amazing. It's interesting because I'm thinking they're not worried about PR. This is in the 50s. It feels like I'm picturing this in black and white and it's interesting because I'm thinking they're not worried about PR. This is in the 50s. It feels like I'm picturing this in black and white. That's not that long ago.

No. Yeah, Chuck Berry's making records at this time and stuff. Yeah, I'm having to keep thinking. This is actually pretty recent. My dad was a toddler. Some of the drivers racing around the track are still alive. Oh, there you go. They're very old.

Team manager Alfred Neubauer from Mercedes had already reached the same conclusion but did not have the authority to make a decision to pull the race. Slash the tyres. You had to shoot them out. Cause another accident. Oh, this backfired. The decision had to be made at the highest level and clearance to retire from the race was only received

after all the company directors had been contacted and given their assent, which took until around midnight. So hours later. They waited until 1.45 in the morning when less spectators were around and quietly called their cars off the track into the pits. At the time, they were running first and third overall with Fangio still in the lead. But they just said, come off the track into the pits. At the time, they were running first and third overall with Fangio still in the lead. But they just said, come off the track.

To quote from GQ, a senior member of the Mercedes team approached Jaguar at this time to suggest that they too might like to retire from the race. Why is Cawthon not still going around, is he? He is driving round and round. And Mercedes said to Jag, maybe you could leave in an act of solidarity. This is fucked up.

The Jaguar team leader was a man possibly aptly named. His name, Lofty England. Oh, my God. Lofty England. Oh, wow. No first names in that one. And just double checking, Jaguar, that's the car that caused this accident. Michael Thornton's the guy who braked.

So he's still just crying. And he was distraught and they've sent him back out. Yeah, so they sent his teammate out for a bit and then now they've been swapping like usual. Oh, you stopped crying? Up you go. Lofty declined to stop and they continued to race. Their car, driven by either Ivor Buerb and Michael Thorne,

who remembers the man who's braking into the pits, started the chain reaction of crash, went on to win the race, winning by a margin of five laps. This was 22 hours after the accident. Jesus. So they just kept going. God knows how you concentrate after thinking about that. And you're driving past it on fire every 15 minutes.

Oh, my God. I know this is – you know those would-you-rather questions. I've had a would-you- you rather question where someone's like, just say something really horrible to you happens. Like you're involved in like a car accident or something. Would you rather it happens at the start of the day or the end of the day? Like in the morning, like right as you wake up or like right as you're going home, like to go to bed.

Like if you get into an accident and there's like a death or a really serious injury, which one? This is a grim would you rather, but I guess they're all pretty grim. They're all really grim. This one. Probably the morning. That's the thing. Cause it's like, you, do you want time to be able to process it through the day at night?

Maybe you can go to sleep. How could you sleep? Yeah, I know. You, at least in the day you, you've got, you can get, you can, you can call people. Yeah. That's the longest day of your life. Exactly. You know, there's – So, you know, this would be one of the questions someone asked you once 10 years ago

and you're just like, well, this is going to haunt me for the rest of my life. So I'm thinking about this. So this guy not only – because does it start in the morning or the afternoon? It starts in the afternoon. So he is doing both he is having it happen at night but also having to work yeah there's no way he'd be able to process any of it right you just yeah i would be surprised if he had any memory of the day yeah just flying around a track at an average of 200 kilometers an hour yeah and so they won there was no victory celebration out of respect but winner michael

thorne was still still distraught but he was photographed smiling on a podium drinking from the victor's bottle of champagne okay uh the french magazine le auto journal published this ill-judged moment with a sarcastic quote underneath it which translates as to your health mr hawthorne so yeah apparently he was really upset but he just happened to smile when someone took a photo with a sarcastic quote underneath it, which translates as, to your health, Mr. Hawthorne. So yeah, apparently he wasn't really upset, but he just happened to smile when someone took a photo of him. And then that became the moment. Look, if you're going into a situation

where you are overwhelmed by any emotion, your brain legitimately starts shutting sections off. So you're able to process what's happening. And it starts with your frontal lobe, which has like, you know, your short-term memory and a bunch of other stuff in it that you know i think that's what switches off when you're drunk or something um so i wouldn't be surprised if someone just aimed a camera at him and he reflexed he really needs

he needed the team hierarchy to look after him here and say we're not doing a champagne ceremony on the graves of all these people. It would have been so weird to be like, okay, cool, now you have to go up to the podium. It's like, oh. Yeah. That's wild. That's wild that they did a champagne ceremony. Yeah.

I don't know. Well, this is before the champagne. I was going to say I don't know if they did the spray, but this was before that. So thank God that that didn't know. Well, this is before the champagne. I was going to say, I don't know if they did the spray, but this was before that. So thank God that that didn't happen. As the huge death toll and magnitude of the catastrophe came to light, the world was shocked and the reaction was swift. The death toll led to an immediate temporary ban on all motorsport in France,

Spain, Switzerland, West Germany, and other nations until racetracks could be brought to a higher safety standard. Good. Switzerland banned all racing on motor circuits following the tragedy, and they didn't hold a race again until the first Zurich E-Prix, which was held as a round of the All-Electronic Formula E Championship in 2018. Wow. That was the next race they had.

Holy shit. This is like, what, 60 years? Yeah, that's amazing They were playing it real safe The other countries brought back motorsport Basically a few months later, most of them But Switzerland really took it seriously An inquiry was of course held

And this is again from GQ Which has a great article that I will of course link to. The official inquiry cleared all drivers of any fault and instead pointed out that the track was woefully unprepared for a race of such speed. The course had been built in 1923 when cars had a top speed of 60 miles per hour, about 100km. It had only minor adjustments since then,

in spite of the fact that the cars could now reach speeds three times as fast. So, yeah, it wasn't ready for that. Doesn't sound like the organisers had the wellbeing of anyone at heart. Yeah. Think of the stockholders. Yeah. Easy to say, in hindsight, of course. Of course.

But sometimes you go with the flow on something and you assume everything will be okay. What's that bias where you assume it's like optimism bias or something? I don't think anything will happen to us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Accidents, they happen, but not to me. Yeah, you hear about tragedies, but they happen in different places to different people.

Yeah, not at this inadequately set up racetrack that I've got a big race, 24-hour race happening. Yeah. Oh, man. So, yeah. So, Mike Hawthorne was cleared in a pretty thorough investigation. Yeah, but even though the inquiry found no one specifically to blame, many suggested that Mike Hawthorne had cut in front of macklin and break too hard including macklin himself the guy had been rammed there were reports that immediately after the incident hawthorne had been weeping and admitted that he'd caused the accident but after the race he vehemently denied culpability and in his 1958

biography a couple years later he again denied responsibility Macklin, who had braked and been rammed by LaVey behind, took offence to this as he thought it implied that the disaster was his fault, so he sued for libel. The claim was still unresolved when on one wet January day in 1959, Hawthorne himself was killed driving his Jaguar on the Guildford Bypass. Ironically, he was... This is not in a race. Oh, my God. He was just driving. Ironically, he was, this is not in a race. Oh, my God.

He was just driving. Ironically, he was overtaking a Mercedes at the time, and he drove into a truck. His friend, Rob Walker, who was driving the Mercedes, later admitted that they'd been racing at the time. They weren't supposed to be. They were on a street. Yeah, shit.

So he, it was a Jaguar overtaking a Mercedes. Yeah. That's spooky. That's spooky. Oh. That's spooky. But in the accident, it was him overtaking an Austin, right? Yeah, that's right. But the Mercedes.

Was the one that parted. Yeah, still. Yeah, that's. Austin's still a car. Vaguely rings a bell. Austin is a. Yeah. You think of Aston? Maybe I'm thinking of Aston Martin.

Oh, that's why I thought of Tony Martin. Tony Aston Martin. But yeah, that's... I think him denying any... I'd be interested to hear who he did blame for the accident if he's saying he didn't have any... He wasn't at fault. Or if it was more of a, wow, the world's crazy sometimes. Yeah.

And no one can be responsible for anything. It is certainly a chain reaction, but he is at the front of the chain. Yes. And like a split second decision, but geez, a disastrous split second decision. You'd never think that it would, that would happen because, sure people die, but no one kills 80 people in the

crowd. That never happened. That hasn't happened since. Like it's super freaky. The horror of the crash caused some drivers present, including American driver John Fitch, who'd been LeVay's teammate after completing the season with the Mercedes, Phil Waters, who was offered a drive with Ferrari for the rest of the season, and Sherwood Johnston to retire from racing. They just, yeah, I think that's fair enough. I don't want to do that anymore.

Somehow this became less fun that day. Fangio continued to race, but he never raced at Le Mans again. Never went back. Mercedes-Benz withdrew from all factory-sponsored motorsports. So they pulled the pin on all motorsports, something they didn't reverse until 1987. So they were out for 30 years after that. Improvements were made to the track at Le Mans

and the stand in the pit straight was demolished. The distance between the track and spectators increased and the pit straight was redesigned and widened to remove the kink just before the start-finish line and to give room for a deceleration lane. Because before that, the pit lane had just been right there. Right. That right there right it braked really hard so they made it a bit safer the pits complex was pulled down and rebuilt giving more room to the teams but thereby limiting spaces to 52 starters rather than the previous 60 but obviously safety first yeah despite the safety improvements the following

year when le mans was run in July, French driver Louis Henry was killed when his car flipped. Mike Hawthorne and Ivor Bweeb returned the following year and again recorded the fastest lap, but overall their team finished sixth. Can you believe he came back? Yeah, it just feels like he's really blocked it out. It was just like he's just gone just uh bad luck and it's not something that could have been helped yeah do you know what stiff upper lip keep

calm and whatever they say in england carry on carry on keep calm keep driving in jacua yeah i feel like there are a couple of i mean there's a million reactions you can have to a tragedy but one is then they're all fine. They're all reasonable to be like, oh, that's scary. Don't want to do that again. Fine. Like, oh, don't want to go back to that place again. Completely fine.

But to also be like, well, it's not going to happen twice. I'll keep going. Yeah, what are the odds? What are the odds? What are the odds? You know, that was the worst driving tragedy of all time. There's no way I'm going to be in both. Yeah, me coming back is actually good luck for the race.

If you think of statistics. That's right. I'm not going to win the triple crown of motorsport tragedies, surely. Surely. Surely. But also they had, I'm imagining, all those new changes came into effect. New changes.

That's the thing where you've said two words that... What do you call it? A tautology? Tautology, yeah. The changes were... They came into effect for 1956, did they? Yeah, that's right. And they actually started the race a month later than usual

because it took them, they went flat out all year to redesign the track pull down the pits pull down the stand, build all new stuff but yeah, amazingly they were good to go 13 months later Surely, just to finish some good can come from the disaster

well I'm pleased to say that it kind of did the death of his teammate LeVay left an impression on the American driver John Fitch. Fitch later devoted a great deal of effort to the task of increasing the safety of motorsports and driving in general, resulting in his company Impact Attenuation Incorporated. His innovations were characterized not only by the effectiveness but also by their real-world practicality as affordable and easily installed maintained solutions. He devised the Fitch barrier system seen frequently on American highways,

which you might have seen in movies. We don't have it here. They're yellow plastic barrels filled with sand and placed along highways to absorb impacts. I have seen them in films. Since being used in the late 1960s, it's estimated that they've saved as many as 17,000 them. Yeah. In films. Since being used in the late 1960s, it's estimated that they've saved as many as 17,000 lives. Wow.

And that's just one of many inventions he came up with. Fitch died in 2012 at the age of 95. On your Fitchy. He was around for a long time. So that's maybe some good that you could say came from it, but that is overall my report on the 1955 Le Mans disaster, which remains and hopefully will forever remain the most catastrophic crash in motorsport history.

I'd never heard of that. No. Like Le Mans, familiar. Not very, but I'd never heard of that. So it's one little flick of the wheel and what, 90 people died? Yeah, closing in on 90 people, yeah. Yeah, that's amazing. When I was worried that that was just the beginning when the race went on,

I thought, I'm like, oh, they're going to keep racing. Oh, this story isn't over. Oh, no. No, they're going to keep crashing. Yeah, so I'm glad at least that it ended there but freaking hell oh man you go to watch a bit a bit of sport yeah just a great day out last thing you see is the hood of a car and it just sounds like it sounds like a horoscope you know like yeah pits of car falling from the sky everything's on fire and there's video of it and it is filmed in 1955

and i'm kind of blessed that it is because it's a bit grainy. It's black and white. But even from that, you watch it and go, oh, God. Yeah. Yes, it's graphic even though that it is. If it was full HD colour, I don't think I could bring myself to watch it. It seems like you'd have a spew having a watch. And it happened so quickly.

So suddenly it's just this flaming ball. It's like flying through the crowd unbelievably fast. And how cool is it that he gave that signal and saved the car behind? Yeah. Amazing that his reflex, because that would have been a split second as well. Yeah, that's the last thing he ever did. That was his last action and it saved Fangio. It saved at least the driver behind him his life,

but maybe he flips into the crowd. Yeah, that's right. At the very least saved one of the greatest driver of all time's life. Yeah. So that's, that's pretty cool. Um, yeah. I wonder what, uh, if, uh, Ben Johnson, who's been so keen to get this up as a topic, if he's a car racing fan or, or like a car crash fan, what, what's he into?

I think he might, I think he is into racing, yeah. It's a big sport in England, isn't it, car racing? Yes, big deal over there. They don't have a Bathurst, but they've got their own. That's all right. We can't all have a Bathurst. That's true. Yeah, and it's not fair to put that pressure on the rest of the world

to have a Bathurst. That's true. You're just going to come up short every time. Yeah, not everyone can have a Bathurst. But, you know, you can, yeah, try. Yeah, well, I'm sure they've got roads in England. Shoot for the Bathurst, land on Monaco. Land on a Silverstone or something.

Yeah. to clean water. We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from Indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Well, that brings us to everyone's favourite section of the show, Cass. I'm sure it's your favourite section. Yes, we got the formalities out of the way. Now it's on to the fun stuff. This is where we thank a bunch of our great supporters.

Less people die in this section. Oh, yes. Well, traditionally. Traditionally. I mean, they said that about the Le Mans, didn't they? That's right, exactly. For a while, that was the race with the least amount of deaths. For me, the one's the one where people die.

We also get to find out a bit about each other. That's the beauty of this. Oh, yeah, learning. We've loved one. And we kick it off with a section called Fat Quote or Question. Jess normally does the jingle. The words are Fat Quote or Question. You want to put in a melody that feels appropriate? Fat Quote or Question. Jess normally does the jingle. The words are Fat Quote or Question. You want to put in a melody that feels appropriate?

Fat Quote or Question. Ding. He always remembers the ding. That was really good. I loved it. That was sort of a jazzy number. Yeah. I'm in the 50s jingle mood.

Yeah, I loved it. So if you want to get involved, listeners, you can go to patreon.com slash dogoonpod or dogoonpod.com. And for this first section, the quote or question section if you sign up to the sydney schoenberg deluxe memorial edition level you have to give us a fact quote or a question i read them out on the show i don't read them out beforehand so um hopefully they're not fucked so far so good yeah that's right cast they also get to give themselves a title. Okay. Oh, okay.

First up, we've got Paul McNally, who's given himself the title of Captain Panic. Oh, that sounds like, oh, is that a superhero or is that like an, is that like an emo band? Yeah. Oh, yes. How cool would that be? Captain Panic. I like it. Captain Pan yes. How cool would that be? Captain Panic. I like it. Captain Panic.

Yes. Captain Panic of the disco, sort of. So Paul, a.k.a. Captain Panic, has given us a quote, which is, oh, hang on, there's a bit of a preamble here. All right. Hello, all. This isn't really a quote, but I will explain. I'm sitting at home

this morning and later on i'm bringing my wife and newborn son home from the hospital i decided to make a little compendium of time stamped things for him newspaper articles etc so i'm using my quote as an audio one my quote is this uh tom i got the name and he's written it phonetically for me so if you mean this is the thing me saying this is something you want to play for your son i better not fuck it up don't play that bit until he's of an age where he can hear words like fuck seven the age of reason, as John Farnham once sang. Tom Orse. Tom Orse? Tom Orse, I think.

All right, I'm going with that. Tom Orse McNally, I love you with all my heart. Your dad is so happy you've arrived. Your mum is amazing, and as I battle through ISOFIX seats, prams, nappies, feeding regimes, I know it's all worth it because I will always take care of you and keep you happy and safe. I hope this message makes you feel happy

and I'm definitely playing it on your 21st birthday party night for your friends. You just swore at a party. P.S. Jesus Christ, I hope this message isn't at the end of a murder episode. Don't worry. There was just a death toll of 85 people. Thank you for indulging the sentimental fool. Happy New Year to you all and stay safe.

Thank you very much, Paul. Oh, that is... Oh, congrats to your family. I clutched my heart. That was so lovely. Dave, any quick messages for Tom Ors? Tom Ors, happy birthday. Obviously, you've come this far and you're going to go even further.

Yeah. If this has been played at your 21st, here's to 21 more and hopefully play it again at the 47th. Everyone charge their glasses. And beer bongs. It's the 21st, remember. Are people still drinking in the future? Yeah.

I don't know. They vape their beer now. Cass, any messages for Tomas? Are you often people being like, you can do anything you want in this world, and they mean the really big goal things? And you absolutely can. Any goal can be broken down to a task.

Task is the thing you do in one sitting. You're fine. You can do anything. But, like, you could literally do anything. Like, you could, if you go into But like, you could literally do anything. Like you could, if you go into any shop, you could rob that shop immediately. And the choice not to is what makes you who you are.

And the choice to do those things, you know, I think learning that you have a choice to do any given thing in your life, good or bad is very freeing. So make good choices. That's right. And so Tomas, do not rob that shop.

Yeah. Unless, you know, you're in a real right. And so Tomas, do not rob that shop. Yeah. Unless, you know, you're in a real bind. Yeah. I mean, I don't know about in the future, but they often factor shoplifting into the price if you don't. So yeah, if you don't, your basics will be stolen from if you pay full price. Yeah. I mean, and you might be at a stage in your life where you don't want to shoplift, and that's amazing.

That means you're holding it up for those who can't afford not to. Community service. Well done, Tom Ors. I hope I'm saying it right. And if you could just follow me on Twitter, that'd be great. I'm sure Twitter is still a very big medium. Still relevant.

That's like, yeah, go on. And yeah, send me a telegram. Yeah, I don't know what ISOFIX seats are, but good luck with that, Paul, as you battle. Battles his way through ISOFIX seats. It must be some sort of baby-related seats. Baby retaining device. Yes.

Well, good luck, Paul. I've typed in ISOFIX seats, and it's come up with childcarseats.org.au. Gotcha. Oh, they are annoying to install. Yeah, well, the pressure as well, right? Oh, my God. Imagine.

I'm in a car accident episode. Oh, no. I mean, I guess that's why it's complicated. Like, you either can't do it or it is perfectly done. And that's what you want. Right. You want to be frustrated until you it or it is perfectly done. And that's what you want. Right. You want to be frustrated until you know that it is completely secure. Like you want something that you can't get wrong

so it's nearly impossible to get right. Yes. Yes. Because otherwise, anyway, I won't follow that thought. Okay, so. The longest 21st speech ever. Thank you very much, Paul. That was lovely.

Next one comes from Alex Bache, or Bacche. And Alex has the title, President of Do Go On's Pittsburgh Chapter. Go Penguins. Love it. Alex has offered a fact. Alex writes, hey, yins. I don't know what that is. Is that Pittsburgh lingo? Hey, yins. I don't know what that is. Is that Pittsburgh lingo?

Hey, yins, with a Z. Oh, I mean, I could have just read the very next thing. That's Pittsburghese for y'all. Love it. Was that our fact? Is that the end of the sentence? That's a great fact. You literally type in yins and it comes up with dictionary definition.

In Western Pennsylvania, you used to refer to more than one person. How yins guys doing comes up with a dictionary definition in western pennsylvania you used to refer to more than one person how yin's guys doing oh that's great oh how yin's guys doing more than ever we need words like that these sort of like collective words sort of non-gendered and yin's to me sounds like a winner yeah english literally has a lexical gap other languages don't have that gap if you make a little chart of being like single, first person, second person, we have a hole in ours because we don't have a plural for you. Yeah, I think I use use. Yeah, which is it is people filling a lexical gap that we don't have

and it makes language more effective and then people get annoyed at it. To those people I say, show me the dictionary for the year that language was done. Show me when it was done. Yeah. Show me when it was finished. Yeah. Yeah. Yins, show us. I'm already working it in.

Anyway, so Alex continues. I bring another Pittsburgh fact to you. Oh, that's right. Alex has been giving us some great Pittsburgh facts. Has there been one so far? Maybe more. Did you know that all three of our major pro sports teams, can you name them?

He's written them here, or Alex has written them here. In the NFL. Steelers. Yes. Major League Baseball. Pirates. Yes. And NHL?

Pittsburgh Panthers? I just said this one. Oh, Penguins. Yes. Sorry, NHL. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do know that. Go Penguins.

And our minor league soccer team, the Riverhounds. Oh, come on. I was about to say it. He was right on the, I could see his mouth. I love that. Poised for Riverhounds. Riverhounds. Riverhounds.

Lock it in. They all wear the same colours, which are? Blue. No. Purple and. Is it black and white? Close. Black and.

Red. Yellow. Yes. Black and gold. Ah. That's right. Like the home brand. So all of their teams wear that colour.

Yeah, they're all wearing black and gold. That's great. This is a fact, I guess. It saves on uniform costs. I like that. For sure. We are the only city in the US to do this, and to my knowledge, the only city in the world.

If you are curious, the colors come from William Pitt's coat of arms. The city is also named after him. P.S. I do love all the ways you pronounce my last name. And, Matt, you even came up the my all-time favorite mispronunciation last time, but it is pronounced Batchy. I think I said that in one of my attempts today. Anyways, thanks for the laughs and happy new year. Hey, Alex Batchy, happy new year to you too.

And apologies when I forget that and do it all again next time. Hell yeah. Go Pirates. Batchy. Go Penguins. I think I say Alex Bache because it sounds similar to that Sydney to Hobart yacht, which is like El Abache, which would just be a brand of something. But didn't it used to

win that boat race? Elabache is a skin, it's where you get facials. Right. They also sponsored a successful boat. There you go.

The only thing I can think of is Wild Oats 11. Yeah, Wild Oats. Isn't it weird that we know names of racing yachts? That's so funny. Isn't it weird that we know names of racing yachts? That's so funny. Isn't it weird that I also know all the teams in Pittsburgh for some culture?

That's true, yeah. How did you know that? I don't really know. Pirates, I reckon, is the trickiest one. Yeah, I don't know. Just know a few of the teams. Just absorb it somehow. Yeah, because it would have been mentioned on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or something.

Yeah, yeah, probably. And even though he was from West Philadelphia, not Pittsburgh. Yeah. I didn't even mean that there was a Pennsylvania connection. No, but we just watched a lot of American stuff growing up. Would have come up on some TV show. Thank you so much, Alex. Next one comes from

Dominic Stevenson, who has the title Hermit. Is that in capitals? The way he said it, Hermit. Dominic's asking a question, which is what is the most trouble you ever

got in at school and why? Man, that was so long ago. What century was it for you, sir? Oh, I'll stay back. I ended up being there for a couple of centuries. Cass, you're most recently out of school. Any memories? I think the most trouble I got into at school,

I famously faced zero consequences for any of my actions. But there was one day, cause I was chronically late and it really upset my parents who were like, if only they would give you some sort of consequences action, cause it will affect your later life. And they just didn't. Um, but one day I was late and I can't remember why I was late, but I do remember I was in tears and I was at my locker and my friend who was also running late happened to meet me at the locker. And she oh my god are you all right you know when you're a teen um and they found me crying at my locker with my friend they're like oh can't be late um and instead of making us go to class they put us in a room gave us like an immediate detention of

some sort and made us write lines and it was so strange because every time i would think back on it i was like wait you saw a crying child and said no class for you go write lines yeah we had to write a hundred lines or something i cannot remember anything about what the lines were but i do remember that at one stage the light was shining really beautifully through the window and the room was carpeted so uh you know when you see like a sunbeam and all the dust particles float yeah and i remember both of us sitting in the room watching all the dust particles being like you know what this is a really beautiful day i'm glad we're together and we just had a really lovely time and we didn't have to go to class and that's the most trouble like that's

the consequence i faced yeah you learned a real lesson there dave how about you? Obviously I was a high school bad boy. Were you in Weed Hornet at high school? Yeah, in year 7 and 8. Oh, was that early? Yeah, for sure. Weed Hornet was my I played in lots of bands in school cast but my first one was a punk band called

Weed Hornet. That comes up every second or third episode. Named after Whippersnipper. In the garage where we rehearse. Oh, that rules. We released one EP with four songs on it that we recorded at a recording studio. And if I can find a copy of it, I'm thinking that we could do a Patreon episode

where we go through it. That would be awesome. We made a hundred copies and I don't know. Sell their hotcakes. But the most trouble I can remember getting in is I wasn't in very much trouble at school, but one time in year seven in food tech or home economics or whatever you call the cooking class, which I was terrible at, me and my partner were accused of terrorism when- I didn't

do a lot bad at school. I mean, I dabbled in terrorism. We'd accidentally left the gas stove on and the teacher was like, you're trying to blow up the school. You gotta go see the principal. And we were like, no, we're just really bad at cooking. I promise we're stupid.

Please. She leapt to trying to blow up the school. Yeah, you're trying to kill us all. Oh, my God. No way are we doing that. Like, just how bad I am at food tech. I once forgot to cook the bacon in a meal when it was like – and it was too late.

So I just hid it under tomato and cheese and everyone else at the end gets to eat theirs. And the teacher's like, oh, why aren't you eating yours? I'm like, oh, I don't feel very well, really. But she didn't notice that my bacon was completely uncooked under there. You wouldn't have felt very well if you did either. No. Isn't bacon cured?

Don't we cure it before we put it in? I can't give that advice. I definitely would not. I wouldn't be eating raw bacon. It's not raw. If the listeners eat raw bacon cured, let us know how it goes. Don't eat it. Do not do that.

You're not meant to. Look at the packet. If the packet says you're not allowed to do it, then follow the packet. It'd be very chewy, wouldn't it, if it was uncooked? I haven't had bacon in a while. You eat uncooked bacon all the time? Yes, cured. It's fine.

Don't do it though. I could just have guts of steel because I've done it forever. Healthline.com. Eating raw bacon can increase your risk of foodborne illnesses such as toxoplasmosis and tapeworms. Therefore, it's unsafe to eat raw bacon. Okay, don't eat raw bacon. Yeah, okay.

I think that's good advice. I can't think of the – I think I was a uh obedient sort of kid i remember one time i got i got sent home for having a beard i think what was the teacher jealous yeah but i yeah they yeah i think they just weren't allowed like it was one of those really inconsistently enforced rules. Oh, yeah. Like, because, I mean, I had it the day before as well, you know.

Yeah. You did a full day. Yeah, I was going to say, like, how did a beard happen without them noticing? So, yeah, it was just, I guess, teachers are humans who. Pull out the tape measure and go, that's three mil. Yeah. You know the rule. It's only 2.5, mate.

Because both my parents are teachers i feel like i always uh i just you know i just didn't want to i always wanted to be good to the teachers yeah so i don't think i don't really don't think i got in trouble that much i mean with mates and stuff i was on the edge of them doing fuck things but uh and maybe i got a little bit of trouble just by association but i think generally i was pretty good i just can't remember so fucking long ago just sad i'll talk to some mates soon and i'll come back with some stories um good question dominic but you didn't you broke the one rule i ask everyone who asks a question to answer a question dominic did not do that i reckon dominic's got some great tales.

If you're asking that question, you've got a good answer. So you've got to hit us back, Dominic, with what trouble you got in at school. That must have been stuff. I just can't. I really can't think of anything. Thank you, Dominic. Final one is from Colin Wright.

Colin's title is, Actually, Colin's little brother Lee, with whom he shares the subscription, though I may have forgot to pay him this month. Sorry, Colin. Okay. Okay. Colin slash Lee has offered us this fact.

Fun fact is how it starts. Yep. Love that. Fun fact exclamation mark. Love fact. Fun fact is how it starts. Yep. Love that. Fun fact exclamation mark. Love fact. And, geez, you're lucky, Lee, that Jess isn't here because Cass is sitting in for Jess. And Jess normally says if it's a fun fact or not. She's pretty brutal.

I feel like Cass is going to be more open to fun. But we'll find out. I'm open to fun, but I like having it. So you're gonna be you're gonna be you're gonna be strict on the ruling as well i think look if i'm open to fun because i want to have fun yes so you've got further to fall with me okay my heart is open but it is a cliff all right so lee writes you recently learned on the Kangaroo Kicker episode that the badger mascot of the University of Wisconsin is named Bucky. This is fun because you gave me the same nickname back on the 119th episode, Queens of the Sydney Underground.

I was a supporter just on the shout out level at the time. And the gangster name you gave me based on the town i lived in at the time was buckeye arizona uh was lee bucky wright but this fact is even more fun because i was born and raised in wisconsin whoa now that's nominative determinism i. That's great, Lee. Yeah, so we did an episode way back about Aussie gangsters and then at the end we gave some of our shout-out people nicknames and amazingly, like 150 episodes later, we talked about a mascot with the same nickname we gave him. Well, that is fun.

Oh, thank God. I think that is fun. Imagine being little Bucky. Yeah. Having a listen, having a moan, having another listen all this year later. Oh, that would be three years, wouldn't it? It's beautiful. Oh, no, that's fun.

It's a nice fact too. Yeah, like a nice fact. Thank you so much, Colin, Dominic, Alex, and Paul. Bucky. We do also, I know Cass, you're thinking, well, Dominic, Alex, and Paul. Bucky. We do also, I know, Cass, you're thinking, well, the shout-out section's over. It is only just beginning. Whoa, ho, ho. The next section we shout-out to people

who've been supporting us on the shout-out level for a little while. And Jess only comes up with a little game based on the topic we just talked about. For instance, that one years back, we gave everyone a gangster name because we're doing an episode about Aussie gangsters. Ah, yes. And I think last time I was here we gave everyone a task.

Yes, that's right. In the survival group. That's right. So I don't know if you've got any thoughts on what we can offer. Some sort of broom-broom related thing. Some sort of car related thing. Yeah, maybe we can give them a vehicle to race in the Le Mans. That's fine.

Okay, yes. What car are you driving in the Le Mans? All right. If I can kick it off, if that's okay with you two, I would love to thank from Winchester in Great Britain, Rebecca White. Or Flintstone Car. Oh, pedal power. Pedal power that whole way.

And because you talk about it, you've got to turn it off, you've got to refuel. Don't have to worry about refueling at all. Yeah, Flintstone car. Oh, pedal power. Pedal power that whole way. And because you talk about it, you've got to turn it off, you've got to refuel. Don't worry about refueling at all. Yeah, that's true. You'll catch up with the other cars because you don't have to leave the track. That's right. The only refueling you've got to do is a bit of lunch and you need to have like a big dinosaur steak on the side.

Exactly. Fill the car with bananas. You're ready to go. Yeah. Great. Cheers to you, Rebecca White. Enjoy that for 24 hours. Brutal. Hopefully your co-driver. Yeah, exactly. Enjoy that for 24 hours. Brutal.

Hopefully your co-driver. Yeah, exactly. You're in a team. Yeah. Yeah, hopefully Fred is your co-driver because he's got form. I'd also love to thank from Strathmore in Victoria, Australia, Chris Armstrong. Novelty car shaped like a big fist and you drive through a window in the ring on the ring finger.

That's great. That's fun. Fist car. Fist car. And coming up last place, we have fist car. I think it would be good in an accident too. Wouldn't it just be able to absorb the crash? Yeah, that's right.

Or destroy your opponents. yeah well if the little window is on the ring then and finally from me from la combe in canada it's cole bouchard cole bouchard what about cole bouchard's driving around a tank oh yeah which obviously they don't go that quick. I think they can go quite fast these days, but not 200 or 300 k an hour. But if you crush your opponents or blow them up. I don't think you have to take the corners in a tank. I think you take the corners.

You get to pick with the rotors. Awesome. Yeah, I think Col Cole Bouchard. Is that how you'd say that? I think that's a great name. Great name, yeah. Is it? Let's have a look.

Yeah, because there's that tennis player, Eugenie Bouchard, who is pronounced that way. You're probably correct. Also Canadian. But what about Butchard? Oh, Cole Butchard. Yeah, that's great too. Really butchered that name, didn't we?

Cole the Butcher Butchered In his tank Mowing down the opposition Fuck We're in a grim car race now Dave, do you want to thank a few? I would love to thank a few I'd like to thank from Brooklyn in New York It is OK So NYC

Ooh, I think OK So NYc if i'm thinking nyc i'm thinking rollerbladers it's it's a conga line you're you're you know gritty new york cass what do you think you're thinking i'm thinking i'm walking here and i'm thinking you're laden there i'm blading here and i gotta get out of your way it doesn't matter if i'm walking here and I'm thinking you're laden there. I'm blading here. And I've got to get out of your way. It doesn't matter if I'm walking here. You're too fast. Yeah.

And you've got blade in your name. It's scary. I'd clear the track. I'd clear the track for roller blade. Yeah, I think that is so New York, roller blades. I mean, I've only spent a few days there, but. That's all you need. I didn't see anyone rollerblading but i felt like they were probably around yeah yeah yeah you can feel that you feel that i walked along the

the chelsea what's that the chelsea highline or whatever it's called and it feels like rollerbladers would fit in there yeah i know that's not in brooklyn but racing around the track i love it yeah it's on wheels it's on the track yeah it's on tracks it's on the track for a tank uh thank you okay so nyc i'd like to thank also now from reservoir a place we are very close to at time of recording jimmy williamson jimmy williamson we are inside you right now uh what are you thinking j Jimmy Williamson? Reservoir that. It's not you, Jimmy. Obviously. I mean, we're in your ears. Yeah.

That's true too. Maybe true on both counts. What about? What's a classic reservoirian mode of transport? For whatever reason, I'm getting novelty lock and key set. I don't know how we'd motorize that. Okay. That's all I've been getting. Novelty lock and key set? Maybe don't know how we'd motorize that. That's all I've been getting.

Novelty lock and key set? Maybe because it's jimmying something. Okay. I know. I think that's great. I mean, we've already done the car shaped like a fist. Maybe now we can do a motorbike shaped like a lock and key. Oh, that's fun.

Yes. Okay. So the back, so the front prong, wheel. Yeah. Back prong, the handle, bigger wheel. Yes. You lie down face first. Oh, wheel. Yeah. Back prong, the handle, bigger wheel. Yes. You lie down face first. Oh, shit, yeah.

You have a... It's like a luge type of... Yeah, it's almost like a skeleton. It is, but you lean forward instead of back. I saw some footage of the, of like some trials for the skeleton at the upcoming Winter Olympics,

or is it upcoming? Yeah, yeah. And it has got to be the most full-on sport in the world, right up there, for mainstream sport at an Olympics, on your belly, flying down like an ice water slide. I don't know how fast they go, but it is hectic. That's scary. Have you seen it?

It's wild. But your neck's not meant to be like that. Yeah, they must be looking up to see, right? You couldn't just... If you weren't looking... Oh, that's so scary to think about. But then if you were looking, you'd get a sore neck. Yeah.

So... Where's the safety to the sportsman? I feel like if you're not looking, you're going to get an even sore neck when you crash. So we've got Jimmy in a lock and key motorbike. Motorbike. I love it. And I would love to thank from Sheffield in Great Britain.

Man, I've got some good names this week. The Funkasaurus. The Funkasaurus. Okay, what are you thinking of the Funkasaurus? Oh, well, I mean, when I think funk, I think of, you know, Bootsy Collins maybe. Like one of those low rider hot wheel. Yeah. Like a hot.

In the shape of a bass guitar. Hot ride in the shape of a bass guitar. The Funkasaurus from Sheffield. Thanks so much for your support. Love it. I think what's happened is I used to, in the last few months, I've changed my system with these shout outs. And I think the names used to come from the mailing address,

the way that I export them. And now this is how they actually present themselves. So I think we're just going to get more names like this from now on. Not that there's heaps of them, but it's whatever they put in is there. Hey, I appreciate it. That's what they want to be known as. That's what I want to call them. Exactly.

Ah, the Funkasaurus is so good. When I think of Sheffield, Great Britain, I think Funk. Funk. And dinosaurs, what do you get when you mush them together? A lot of oil, I'll tell you what. So they're Dave Street. Cass, do you want me to shout out the last three? Are you up for shouting out a few?

Let's give them a shout. Okay. Next up, we have, all the way from St. Paul, Sadie Fisher. St. Paul, Man of City. St. Paul, from the Twin Cities. Go Timberwolves. Is that right? No. So St. Paul's a Twin Cities, St. Paul and Minnesota, right?

No, Minneapolis, Minnesota's a state. Gotcha. Yeah, so Sadie Fisher. What about twins? Is there like a motorcycle sidecar type situation? Oh, sidecars though. Two sidecars? Yes!

And somewhere else there's two motorcycles that have been mushed together. That is so good. Yeah, double sidecar. Motorized sidecars. That's fun. Why hasn't anyone done that? Yeah. Why don't you make the whole motorbike out of the sidecar. Motorized sidecars. That's fun. Why hasn't anyone done that? Yeah. Why don't make the whole motorbike out of the

sidecar? Well, Sadie has answered that question. Yes, is what Sadie answered. Sadie, that's a great way to get around Le Mans. It feels lower. Closer to the ground, safer. So, next up

from Kilburn, Adelaide, South Australia, we've got Kirby Primer. Kirby Primer. Wow, that's another fantastic name. Kirby, of course, I learned when I was on Gamey Game, is like a kind of blob in a computer game and eats things. Is that right? Yeah, Kirby is also how you could describe the Monaco racetrack.

Yeah, it's very Kirby. Very Kirby. So Kirby Primer. I think Kirby Primer gets around on one of those bouncy things. You know those? Oh, Space Hopper. Space Hopper, yeah. Gets around on a Space Hopper.

Oh, boing, boing. Yeah. I don't know if it, like in Bathurst, it's one race, but there used to be a lot of different classes. So you'd even get hobbyists. There actually is classes in the Montauk. Right, fantastic. And we've added a new class, space hopper.

Well, let me just tell you from BBC, Roger Austin, 19, is now the official record holder for the furthest distance travelled on a space hopper in 24 hours. Oh, my God. So it already exists. There's already a LeMond. The teenager from Missionhampton near Stroud bounced for four miles. That's not that far.

No, they've been 24 hours. Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. He likes to get tired. Yeah. Maybe he went to bed. Had quite a big nap in the middle of that. I'm picturing that Kirby Prime's space opera is coloured

and drawn on face to look like Kirby there. Oh, that is fun. Can I just say this record has since been broken. I'm on Guinness World Records now. 21st of March, 2021. Someone in Belgium, 32.8 kilometres. Guinness World Records now. 21st of March 2021. Someone in Belgium 32.8 kilometres. Okay. That seems better.

They've done like three laps of Le Mans in 20 miles. Thank you so much, Kirby. And finally, Cass. Finally from Kahiba. Is that right? Kaiba? I don't know. I'm not familiar with it. Kahiba, Jamaica. Oh, I want to take you.

John Draker. Oh, that is good stuff. Only actually Kahiba from New South Wales in Australia. Absolutely. Oh, I want to take you. John Draker. Oh, man, that's so good because I was reading that going. I didn't even read that.

So I was thinking we've got a Jamaican supporter. This is awesome. You do not. You are still an absolute legend. And John, what is John driving around on? It's got to be a penny farthing. Oh, there he is.

He's up top. Yeah. Motorized or he's pedaling? No, pedaling. Love it. We have not been kind to most of you. Most of you are having a brutal 24 hours coming up. Please make it stop. Good luck, John.

And thank you so much for your support as well as Kirby, Sadie, the Funkasaurus, Jimmy, SoNYC, Cole, Chris, and Rebecca. And the last thing we need to do, Cass, is invite a few people in our Triptych Club. These are supporters who have been on the shout-out level for three years straight. And once they are brought into the Triptych Club, Dave's – this is a bit of theatre of the mind. We're in the club. I'm standing on the door. I've got the velvet rope.

I lift it. I've got the clipboard. I read out their names. They run into the club. Dave's standing on the stage with a mic, hyping the crowd up, which is everyone who's already been inducted. And he sort of hypes them up.

And then normally Jess gives Dave a bit of positive feedback just because, you know, it takes a lot to be a hype man. Yeah, exactly. Thank you. Who hypes the hype man? Jess normally also comes up with a cocktail based on the topic. So what is the Le Mans cocktail? Okay.

We're getting bottom of the shelf vodka. It's giving gasoline. We've splashed a bit of Coke Zero into it. Yes. No, actually, no, we're getting Diet Coke. Like the one that has a bit of the worst flavor. Okay. Oh, maybe it was Coke No Sugar for a while.

One of them had a bad flavor. Whatever that one is to give us that tang of bad. Okay. And a bit of the gasoline color. We will also be floating a layer of, I think, tequila on top and setting it on fire. Okay, great. That's fantastic. It sounds tasty and distasteful all at once.

And Dave, you've normally booked a band as well to play? Yes, we are in celebration of our French roots this week. It's Daft Punk. Reforming. Daft Punk. For the club. Last time we had a Sands Pants person on the show, Zamit, did not know who Daft Punk was. It's something I thought about later. I was like, you don't know Daft Punk? But you know how annoying it is when people go, you don't know a thing I like, you don't know Daft Punk, but you know how annoying it is when people go, you don't know a thing I know? You haven't seen The Godfather?

So I went home and I closed my eyes in bed and thought, why did you say that? You didn't know Daft Punk. That's fine and cool. Sometimes it is. There's a difference because I have had moments where someone's like, I've never heard of that. And you're like, wait, how did you avoid it?

It's not like, oh, my God, you haven't seen it because the i think the best way when someone says that is especially for something you love you're like we're about to have a sleepover and watch a movie together how nice yeah it was like oh i haven't heard this album i was like you are about to have such a good time yeah about it after you do but um yeah sometimes it's just baffling that someone's avoided something for so long yeah i just I think that's what I was like. Wow, they were really big. How did you not know? I was pretty shocked at that.

Loser, you don't know Dolph Pong. What, do you not listen to the radio for 20 years? I actually don't even own a TV. All right, so there's two inductees this week. Dave, are you ready? Have you got your hype muscles? Who am I hyping? Let me hype, hype, hype.

Firstly, from Tracy in California, it's Trevor Hammond. Ooh, the hammer. Oh, that was good. That was good. Oh, wow. This is even better. It sounds like she's being genuine. Just genuine sounding compliments.

That's really great. And from St. Joseph in Illinois in the United States, it's Nate. Oh, more like great. Okay. No, that's still fun. I like it. I've got four letters to work with here. Nate.

Nate, more like my new best mate. My mate. He's great. He wasn't late. I was thirsty, but now you're here. I am satiate. That doesn't quite work. It was fate.

Anyway, thank you very much, Nate and Trevor. Welcome in. Make yourselves at home. Have a good time. Thanks, guys. Enjoy your beverage. Please blow it out first. Yeah.

Well, that brings us to the end of the episode. Dave, is there anything else we need to tell people before we go? Oh, we are doing a show at the Comedy Festival, which we haven't mentioned in this episode, and we've actually sold some tickets to it, like quite a lot, which is really nice. So thank you so much to everyone who's done that. It's a quiz show.

We're on the quiz host, and I'm going to quiz Matt and Jess with a guest each week. There's three Mondays in April at the Comedy Festival. We're at the famous Melbourne Town Hall on Monday nights at 9 o'clock. And the topic is a subject from History, Cass. Oh, we've all been in that. Yes. Yes.

I lived a lot of my life in there. So obviously we've got some experts from History, Matt and Jess, and I'll be quizzing them on a certain topic each week. It's a different show every week. Lots of great guests. And you can get tickets at comedyfestival.com.au. It's called Do Go On, The Quiz Show.

And while you're there, why not get a ticket to my show with Alistair Trombeau-Burchell, which is called... Honk Honk. Honk Honk, Hubba Hubba. Ring-a-ding. Ring-a-ding-ding. It's catchy and that's why I certainly remember it. And that's on for the second half of the festival.

Don't come on a Monday if you want to see me because i'm being replaced by angus gordon i mean go see that show if you want to but i'm going to be at the quiz show instead so come uh to the quiz show and then come see me and al one of the other nights it'd be so cool to see you there uh but in the meantime yes you can fill our ear holes with the voice of cas page on many, many podcasts that come out every week. Yeah. All it does is burst them through. So sanspantsradio.com. Everything on there is great.

See what you like. We've got a few. We've got comedy. We've got culture. We've got adventures as well. D&D is for nerds. Love an adventure. Yep.

Playing D&D with your mates. That's what it is. My mates, not your mates. That's what it is. My mates, not your mates. Just a nice time. You can listen to me playing with your mates. Hey, Cass. Yes.

Thanks so much for joining us. Now, we always ask this at the end of the episode. Do you want to come back next week and play for the jackpot? Or do you want to take what you've already got? Yeah, you can take what you've got now. So I could head off with all the knowledge and memories I have now or I could double that, you're saying, potentially? Yep. I'm going to go for the double.

Okay. Well, that's exciting. See you next week. Laters. Oh, yeah. Thanks so much and goodbye. Bye. We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water.

We can acknowledge indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future.