1962 24 Hours of Le Mans
The CSI (Commission Sportive Internationale - the FIA’s regulations body) initiated its new championship aimed specifically for GT cars.
However the Le Mans organisers, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), realised the public popularity of the Sports Car category and formulated their own development of the existing rules.
[1][2][3] The ACO's ideas had the desired effect and there were 79 applications for the race to be reduced to 60 cars to practice for the 55 starting places.
Aside from Ferrari and Maserati, a number of companies arrived with new prototypes including Aston Martin, Tojeiro, TVR, Abarth and OSCA.
SEFAC Ferrari had bounced back from the chaos at the end of 1961, when top designer Carlo Chiti led a walkout of key staff from the company.
[7] Bucking the trend of moving toward mid-engined cars, the new Maserati T151 was a front-engined 3.9-litre V8 generating 360 bhp and an aerodynamic Kamm tail.
[9] Le Mans regulars, the Ecurie Ecosse team, got John Tojeiro to build them a pair of coupés, utilising a mid-mounted 2.5-litre Coventry Climax F1 engine.
Charles Deutsch stayed with Panhard power for the returning works team, while René Bonnet presented his new Djet with Renault engines.
At the recent race at a wet Nürburgring, Colin Chapman’s Lotus 23 driven by Jim Clark had led the whole field.
[16] The previous year's Jaguar E2A prototype had now been homologated as the ‘E-type’ and there were three such cars entered, including Briggs Cunningham’s team again.
Cunningham was co-driven by Le Mans race-winner Roy Salvadori because he could not fit into Brigg's Maserati cars.
The biggest car in the field was the private American-entry Chevrolet Corvette, virtually stock with its 327 cu in (5.4-litre) Stingray engine modified to produce 360 bhp.
[24] On race-week, in the Wednesday evening practice Phil Hill, Ferrari's F1 world champion, broke Mike Hawthorn’s longstanding lap record from 1957 by over two seconds (3:55.1).
With both cars braking late, the Aston Martin punted the Ferrari off into the sandtrap at Mulsanne corner, immediately costing him many laps.
Dick Thompson was the first Maserati to falter (about 8.30pm) when he spun at the Esses with new brake pads, swiping the rear and rupturing his oil-tank.
[29] The Maserati challenge finally died out when the second Cunningham car, of Hansgen/McLaren running 6th, retired in the 12th hour when its differential packed up.
[8] The Ecosse Tojeiro had been running midfield until just before 11pm when Tom Dickson suddenly found himself coasting in neutral in the fast section approaching Maison Blanche.
[11] The big Chevrolet V8 had likewise been running midfield but soon after the halfway mark Jack Turner accidentally put the car into reverse at the Mulsanne corner.
There was still drama for Gendebien though when he narrowly missed a big accident with a backmarker that was stopped in the middle of the road after spinning in the dawn light.
[16][6] This moved up the new Ferrari GTOs onto the podium: Pierre Noblet's privateer entry ahead of the NART modified-GTO of Grossman/Roberts and the Equipe Nationale Belge car of “Beurlys”/”Eldé”.
Positions remained relatively static for the last four hours, excepting the American Ferrari that slipped to sixth with starter-motor problems.
Noblet/Guichet improved from their 3rd-place from the previous year, winning the GT division and finishing a clear 12 laps ahead of the Belgian GTO.
[34] The ‘old-fashioned’ Morgan soldiered on throughout and after their sole competition Equipe Chardonnet AC Ace retired after only four hours, the finished 13th and claimed the GT 2-litre class win.
His fourth win made Olivier Gendebien became the most successful driver at Le Mans – until the arrival of the legendary Jacky Ickx at the end of the decade.
[21] Likewise, this was the last hurrah for the original Ecurie Ecosse team, who had won the race outright in 1956 and 1957 with the Jaguar D-type.
Paul Armagnac, twice a winner of the Performance Index for DB, had recently built a new circuit at Nogaro in south-western France.
