1960 24 Hours of Le Mans
Faced with a must-win result to take the World Championship, Ferrari came well-prepared and with 13 entries, from the works and privateer teams.
The race was barely three hours old when torrential rain hit the circuit causing a number of accidents and issues as water got into the engines.
In the end its Sports and GT cars taking 7 of the top 8 places, with only the Aston Martin of the Scottish Border Reivers team in 3rd breaking the sequence.
But it was the minimum height and width of widescreens (based on those of GT cars) that caused controversy and after the first round in Argentina a number of senior drivers had protested about the danger in poor weather.
[3] With the new fuel-tank sizes, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) dropped the minimum distance between fuel refills but kept the 25-lap limit for the other fluids.
[3][6] The ACO received 72 entries for the event, of which only 58 were allowed to practice trying to qualify for the 55 places on the grid (increasing by one from the 54 of previous years).
Belgian Gendebien was paired with compatriot Paul Frère (who had been second in 1959 for Aston Martin), while Hill was driving with fellow Ferrari F1 team-member Wolfgang von Trips.
A 1959-model Testarossa was also run by Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team (NART), driven by the younger Rodriguez brother, Ricardo and André Pilette.
Three cars were entered, driven by Casner himself with Jim Jeffords, Gino Munaron/Giorgio Scarlatti, while Masten Gregory and Chuck Daigh drove the updated original prototype.
Ecurie Ecosse entered the 6-year old D-Type that had finished 2nd in 1957, modified with an enlarged windscreen and luggage hump, detracting from its formerly elegant lines.
The Aston Martin that won that race had been bought by Ian Baillie, a Major in the Grenadier Guards who had Jack Fairman as co-driver.
Working with the new rules, they fitted two cars with special 1606cc engines (generating 180 bhp) to put them into the 2-litre category with the consequent bigger fuel tank.
Edgar Barth / Wolfgang Seidel drove the regular RS60, supported again by the two privateer entries from Carel Godin de Beaufort and Jean Kerguen.
It was also the lightest car in the field, only 567 kg (1,250 lb)[4] In the next class down, S-1000, two works DB-Panhards would vie with Austin-Healey returning to the circuit with their new Sprite.
In the busy smallest class there were eleven entries including four DB-Panhards, as well as Stanguellini, OSCA and a trio of cars from Fiat performance-specialists Abarth.
Stopping the heavy cars would be an issue and many thought they would suffer from brake problems on the tight corners like at the end of the long Mulsanne Straight.
There were also entries from the new Italian Scuderia Serenissima, Graham Whitehead (changing from running Jaguar and Aston Martin) and Le Mans local Fernand Tavano who had only received his car at the start of the week.
On Wednesday evening after having just done a fast qualifying lap, Dan Gurney in his Jaguar E2A collided at 150 mph (240 km/h) with Fritz d’Orey's Sc.
The five Testarossas, led by Gendebien, were 2nd through 6th, then came the Ecosse Jaguar, Scarlatti's Maserati and Tavano leading the GT classes ahead of Clark in 10th.
Two of the Ferraris, pushing hard to keep up with the Maserati were caught out and both von Trips and Scarfiotti ran out of fuel ending up marooned out on the track on their 22nd lap.
[26][27] Bill Kimberley had just taken over Cunningham's Corvette, sent out by his team manager on slick tyres when he aquaplaned off at Maison Blanche, rolled end-over-end twice then slid down the grass ending right side up.
Gunther/Mairesse led the chase ahead of the NART Ferrari and Ecosse Jaguar then, a lap further back, the Aston Martin & Tavano leading the GT classes.
Going into the night, with the better handling Aston Martin, and superb car control, Clark and Salvadori were able to catch up and overtake the Ferraris, getting up to second place soon after 11pm.
About 8.15am, with Gendebien/ Frère now holding a 5-lap lead,[33] the Ginther/Mairesse Ferrari's gearbox gave up, handing second place back to the NART car, now well ahead of the Aston Martin.
Fetching ice from their VIP tent, the crew packed it around the engine instructing the driver to do 10-minute laps, attracting great attention from the crowd.
Coming home third, a further four laps adrift, was 1959 winner Roy Salvadori with Jim Clark in their Aston Martin, breaking up the Ferrari train.
[37] But it was the two surviving Lotus Elites that carried off the Thermal Efficiency prize – the works car just beating the French privateer entry.
The Belgian Prince de Mérode was the honorary starter in his role as President of the FIA, and on hand to congratulate his countrymen at the end of the race.
[39][4] After this success, Paul Frère retired from racing, to resume his regular employment as a motoring journalist, and consultant on motor-racing regulations.
Taken from Quentin Spurring's book, officially licensed by the ACO Championship points were awarded for the first six places in each race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1.
