Le Mans tragedy sports car sold

Auction house Bonhams said the blue 1953 Austin-Healey 100 Special Test Car prototype two-seater was the most expensive Austin-Healey sold at auction after bids were taken at Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge, Surrey.

The car was directly involved in the catastrophic Le Mans Disaster of 1955, in which Mercedes racing driver Pierre Levegh and 83 spectators were killed, and a further 120 people injured.

While driven by Englishman Lance Macklin in the French endurance race, it was rammed from behind by Frenchman Pierre Levegh’s Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR.

Levegh’s car fireballed into the crowd and caused the disaster.