At 6.20pm, at the end of lap 35 when the first pit-stops were due, the 1955 Le Mans disaster occurred. Having got the order from his Jaguar crew to pit, Hawthorn braked sharply in front of Lance Macklin's Austin-Healey. Macklin then braked hard, getting off the right-hand edge of the track and throwing up dust. Macklin's car then veered back to the centre of the track, into the path of Levegh's Mercedes-Benz, which was running 6th having just gone a lap down. Travelling at 150 mph, Levegh's right-front wheel rode up onto the left rear corner of Macklin's, launching the car into the air and rolling end over end for 80 metres over spectators.