1960 Formula One season
Rear-engined cars (from Cooper, Lotus, Porsche and BRM) were distinctly more successful than the front-engined designs (from Ferrari, Scarab and Aston Martin).
Ferrari did win their home race when the British teams boycotted the event, opposing the organisers' decision to use the banked circuit.
Three drivers died in racing accidents: American Harry Schell during practice for the 1960 BRDC International Trophy, and Britons Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey, both killed at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
The teams came down to Argentina from Europe in February to start the 1960 season, having competed at the last round of the 1959 championship in Sebring, Florida, in the United States only two months previously.
Stirling Moss was on pole position in Buenos Aires in his Rob Walker Cooper-Climax with Team Lotus driver Innes Ireland alongside, although he had been 1.6 seconds slower in qualifying.
With 12 laps to go, Bonnier suffered engine trouble, and Ireland went into the lead only to have his gear-linkage jam, so he too slipped back, leaving McLaren to win.
There had been a non-championship round at the Goodwood circuit near the southern English coast, the Glover Trophy, won by Innes Ireland in a Lotus.
Brabham passed Bonnier and Moss to take the lead while Brooks spun back down the order, leaving McLaren in fourth place, battling with Phil Hill.
Jim Rathmann won this race, which took place on a holiday-day Monday, in an Offenhauser-powered Watson chassis after a thrilling battle for the lead with Rodger Ward.
Although there were disputes over prize money and several teams withdrew after qualifying, there was still a decent field for the race with Stirling Moss on pole position in his Walker Lotus-Climax.
Stacey passed Ireland on the second lap, but Innes soon took back the place while Bruce McLaren moved ahead of Phil Hill in his Cooper.
Jim Clark had made rapid progress in the early laps and took Gurney's fifth place behind his Lotus teammates Ireland and Stacey.
The Belgian Grand Prix of 1960 was one of the most disastrous races in Formula 1 history, with the weekend claiming two drivers and two others suffering serious injuries in practice.
On lap 20, British BRP Cooper driver Chris Bristow, fighting for sixth with the Ferrari of Willy Mairesse, lost control at Malmedy and crashed.
Three weeks after the disastrous Belgian Grand Prix, the World Championship contenders gathered at the super-fast straights of Reims.
At the start, Graham Hill was caught unprepared, and as he tried to get the BRM off the line, he was hit from behind by the Scuderia Centro Sud Cooper of Maurice Trintignant.
At the same time, motorcycle ace John Surtees re-appeared in a works Lotus, and there was the usual crop of British privateers, including Keith Greene in the Gilby Engineering Cooper-Maserati and Brian Naylor in his JBW-Maserati.
The start saw three cars stall: Graham Hill (his second race running) and the two BRP Coopers of Brooks and Henry Taylor.
With the German Grand Prix being cancelled after safety concerns and complaints about the general quality of the AVUS track in Berlin, there was a month between the British and Portuguese GPs.
At the challenging and dangerous Boavista street circuit in Porto, Stirling Moss made his F1 comeback after being out of action since the disastrous Belgian GP in June.
The only other change of note was that local hero Mario Cabral was found a drive in the second Scuderia Centro Sud Cooper-Maserati.
Despite the accident, pole position went to Team Lotus driver John Surtees, who edged out Dan Gurney's BRM by a few hundredths of a second.
Brabham had a lively fight with Phil Hill until the American crashed, and this became the lead on lap 36 when Surtees went off because oil had leaked onto his pedals.
With the World Championship settled in favour of Jack Brabham and the Italian authorities deciding that the Italian Grand Prix would be held on the combined road and oval course at the Monza Autodrome near Milan (making it the fastest circuit of the year), all the big British teams boycotted the event, citing the fragility, extreme roughness and poor construction of the concrete banking and the field consisted of the works Ferraris, the Coopers of Scuderia Eugenio Castellotti and Scuderia Centro Sud and a few privateers.
To increase the size of the field, Formula 2 cars were allowed, with Porsche turning up with a pair of 718s for Hans Herrmann and Edgar Barth.
In the race, Ginther and Hill led while Mairesse was slowed by team orders to help tow a fourth Ferrari – an F2 car driven by Wolfgang Von Trips – away from the two Porsches.
In the sunny and pleasant southern California weather, Ron Flockhart turned up in the third factory Cooper and Jim Hall made his F1 debut in a private Lotus 18 and Chuck Daigh re-appeared in one of Lance Reventlow's Scarabs.
Moss, by then recovered from his early season injuries, took pole by 0.6 seconds from World Champion Jack Brabham and Dan Gurney in his BRM.
Jim Hall drove an excellent race to run fourth, but he dropped to seventh at the end when his transmission failed, and he had to push the car to the finish line.
