A six-car accident which took the lives of two drivers happened in the early stages of the 1937 24 Hours of Le Mans, after passing the Maison Blanche. Frenchman René Kippeurt was killed on the spot, Britain's well known racer Pat Fairfield succumbed to his injuries the following Monday. He shared the BMW-powered Frazer Nash #28 with his friend David Murray, a Scottish businessman who fifteen years later founded the Ecurie Ecosse.
At about 16h45 on Saturday, 19 June 1937, while negotiating one of the fast corners approaching the pits during the 8th lap of the race, the inexperienced French amateur driver René Kippeurt lost control of his Bugatti T44 #20 that he shared with country fellow René Poulain. His old Bugatti rolled several times coming to rest in the middle of the road. Fritz Roth, who closely followed, lost control of his BMW 328 #30, went off of the road and somersaulted. Kippeurt's body that was thrown clear, was lying about 100 metres from the wreck. Trying to avoid Roth's car, Fairfield crashed into the Bugatti. The latter was subsequently rammed by the Delahaye 135CS #12 of Jean Trémoulet-Eugéne Chaboud, driven by the first, which in turn was hit by the Talbot T150C #7 driven by Marquis Raphaël Béthenod de las Casas who raced under pseudonym "Raph", and by the Riley TT Sprite #38 of Raoul Forestier. An Adler driven by an unspecified German driver, was also involved in the accident. Forestier managed to get off his car and leaped out onto the track to slow down the oncoming drivers.
Kippeurt was killed instantly. He was 31 years old. Amongst the other drivers involved in the accident, Trémoulet and "Raph" were injured. A few minutes later, Fairfield who suffered perforations in the intestine, was taken to Le Mans' Delageniére Clinic where he was subsequently operated. He succumbed to his abdominal injuries at 06h00 on the following Monday, 21 June 1937.
After the accident the organizers decided to neutralize the race in order to clean the track, where the accident happened. Louis Chiron was forced into a withdraw after the radiator of his Talbot T150C was holed by debris while passing through the wrecks. Several hours later the engine of Raymond Sommer's Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A blew, possibly it occurredin consequence of over-revving, because he missed some gears by slowing down too rapidly to avoid the Maison Blanche pile-up. Robert Benoist-Jean-Pierre Wimille in the Bugatti T57G "Tank" eventually were the winners.
R.I.P
