1953 Le Mans

1953 — Jaguar spent no time wallowing in self-pity during the interval between the 1952 and '53 24 Hours. Nor were they fooled or distracted when the FIA created the new World Sports Car Championship, investing the manufacture of automobiles with an elevated status formerly reserved for the Formula 1 World Driving Champion.

Le Mans was the prize. And when the Cunningham-Chrysler C4R of John Fitch and Phil Walters won the first round of the World Sports Car championship at Sebring – American drivers in an American car powered by an American engine – the folks at Coventry, whose cars were third and fourth at Sebring, never blinked. Le Mans '53 would be a reckoning for Jaguar, who saw the 24 Hours as a stand alone, one-race championship eclipsing all European, or, for that matter, worldwide motorsport. New Weber carburetors and Dunlop disc brakes made the latest iteration of the C-Type the best equipped sports racing car of the season.

Aston-Martin was similarly transfixed by the Sarthe and built a new prototype sports car of the same genus as the C-Type. Three new DB3 S roadsters went to Le Mans in '53. Bristol brought a pair of unlovely – but truly aerodynamic – 450 coupes.

Ferrari went the popular and effective brute force route with 4.1- and 4.5-liter entries. Alfa-Romeo was back after Formula 1 titles in ’50 & ’51 with three beautiful 3.5-liter Disco Volante six-cylinder coupes. Juan Fangio had finished second in one of the six-carb coupes in the Targa Florio, which was for the sports car team its first step back into competition. Lancia was on a high; Umberto Maglioli had just won the Targa Florio in one of its Vittorio Jano-designed D20 coupes. The new D20 carried a supercharged DOHC V6, with inboard brakes (still drums, though) all around and a genuine competition quality space frame.

Amedee Gordini took his 2.0-liter sixes out to 2.5 liters. The little French team had covered themselves in glory in ’52 and returned with more power. Maurice Trintignant and Harry Schell had the full 2.5-liter No. 35 car, with Jean Behra and Robert Manzon in the 2.3-liter No. 36. Pierre Levegh was paired with '49 French GP-winner Charles Pozzi for another try with a comprehensively updated twin-plug 4.5 Talbot.

Borgward joined Porsche in the German contingent, and Mercedes-Benz stayed home to prepare a fleet for the '54 Formula 1 season.

Briggs Cunningham was back with his Hemi-powered fleet – a C5R, one C4R and the C4RK coupe. Cunningham also brought along American journalist Tom McCahill, who decided that he and his wife could not possibly do France without Joe, their well-known – to McCahill’s fans – Black Lab. Equipe Cunningham also had a trailer complete with a very well stocked kitchen for which Lucy Cunningham had a Parisian butcher supply enough ground meat for a 24-Hour hamburger supply. The C4Rs were the biggest guns and lined up one-two-three at the head of the 60-car field, just in front of two Cadillac-powered Allards.

The A.C.O. composed a new paragraph limiting a single driver to no more than 18 hours driving during the 24, and marathon man Cunningham’s name was mentioned just as much as Levegh’s during the discussion regarding maximum driving time. The A.C.O. also stretched the distance between refueling and replenishment from 24 to 28 laps. But it was Jaguar that had really changed the rules with the adoption of Dunlop’s new disc brakes.

Charles Faroux had dismissed the C-Types in his pre-race articles, nominating Ferrari as the favorite. The editor and founder of Le Mans sent the field on its way at the traditional stroke of 4:00 o’clock.

Sidney Allard won the first lap grand prix, but Stirling Moss’ Jaguar dispatched him on Lap 2. The first hour was the usual riot of unrestrained hormones and flag waving. Corporations had replaced nations in the war for Le Mans glory, and no company represented Britain as well as Jaguar.

Moss on the new disc-braked C-Type was just ahead of Luigi Villoresi’s works Ferrari and teammate Tony Rolt, surrendering the lead only to have his Webers readjusted. Rolt bounced Villoresi and went out front at once, while Moss began to slash his way back through, passing everyone at will under braking.

The 4.5 Ferrari finally got the lead from the Rolt/Duncan Hamilton Jaguar just before dark. That lasted about two laps, and the big red coupe pitted leaving the way clear for the green car again and demoting the Ferrari to fourth.

The Gordinis spent a miserable Saturday evening. Trintignant in the 2.5-liter car was being marinated in hot oil and finally pitted to wipe the wheel and his gloves clean so he could steer. By 2:00 a.m. the 1.5- and the 2.3-liter Gordinis were holed up in the dead car park, but Trintignant and happy Harry Schell pressed on in blue.

After six hours, the best Italian car was the Sanesi/Careni Alfa Disco. Ferrari’s best hope, the No. 12 Alberto Ascari/Villoresi 4.5 was third, and the leading Jaguar’s pace required everyone to play their game, which was vividly unpleasant without disc brakes. By midnight, the Ferrari had passed the Disco Volante for second, and the first three cars were still on the same lap. The pace was unusually fast and frantic, and Ascari obliterated his old lap record by over 13sec!

The Fitch/Walters Cunningham was in the top five and well within striking distance should the pace provide an opportunity. The mighty Cunningham’s mere physical presence (and, likely, potent exhaust note) disturbed some drivers and frightened others. Edgar Barth was most affected by the regular arrival of the big white roadster.

Walters had a miserable first shift in the C5; an untested plastic bug shield installed hastily on Thursday evening produced weird and powerful air currents in the C5’s cockpit. Walter’s face was raw from windburn when he pitted and ordered that the slab of acrylic be removed and destroyed. His orders were followed without comment, and Fitch spent the evening stalking the British and Italians.

But Moss was coming. By 1:00 a.m. he was seventh and the real race was just beginning. The blown Lancias went on full boost. Two hours later, the Piero Taruffi D20 pitted for the final time with terminal generator problems.

There was a flurry of battle at the front of the field: Moss up to sixth, Fitch to fourth and the leader was averaging nearly 107mph! The second place 4.5 Ferrari was keeping pace just 15sec down the road, and they weren’t even halfway yet. Both Alfa Disco Volantes retired, leaving only the big Ferrari to fight for Italy. Fitch went into third and Moss, who needed no help from attrition, got it anyway and moved up to fifth.

A bad pit stop and a mature and rare moment of caution in the dense mists of false dawn left the Ascari/Villoresi Ferrari two laps down to the Rolt/Hamilton C-Type. Moss was being chased hard by the Marzottos’ 4.1 340MM. At half distance, Jaguars were first, fourth and fifth, with Fitch and Walters on their own lap in third behind the Jaguar and Ferrari.

A moment of electric dread shot though Fitch as he rumbled through White House during his last minutes in the dark; the C5R jumped out of gear! It happened again a lap later, and Fitch was sick with regret. They had come so far only to be betrayed by, what? A clutch? Axle?

It was his knee. Centrifugal force had pushed his leg into the gear lever. The pressure from his leg and the natural tendency of gears to disengage on deceleration had been the culprit. There was no mechanical problem, and Fitch cursed his own, as he put it, "laziness" and raced on renewed.

White House bit again at 6:30 a.m. Tom Cole had been running hard. He had moved from 10th to seventh place in the Vignale-bodied Ferrari 340 MM he shared with three-time winner Luigi Chinetti. The Ferrari skidded at White House and smashed into a farmhouse. Unlike Fitch and Walters, Cole was, like most, driving "European", without a seat belt. When the Ferrari ricocheted across the track, he was heaved into the road and died on impact.

When the sun chased the shadows, Tom Cole’s friends were greeted by his final skid marks each time they entered White House. Walters had a tread peel away from one of his tires and limped in to save the race. Fitch took over but had to pit when the deformed bodywork began to act as a lathe on the new rubber.

The first solid clue regarding the outcome came at 8:30 in the morning. Both the leading Jaguar and the second place Ferrari pitted almost simultaneously. The pits for both cars nearly adjoined. Hamilton relieved Rolt and left the pits, just before the Ferrari, in full RAF "scramble" mode, nearly collecting a small French roadster that was minding his own business. Villoresi left a moment later and the crews and spectators agonized with him as the Ferrari’s Le Mans Achilles’ heel, the clutch, fought for traction regardless of the gear selected.

Moss had put the No. 17 C-Type into second place, but the Cunningham C5R was still strong and slightly faster than either Jag on the Mulsanne. But the big 17-inch drum brakes were tired. The dominant C-Types had found speed in their new Dunlop disc braking system. Their top speed was unimproved from '52, but the time they spent at full throttle was greater thanks to their effective and efficient discs.

By noon, Rolt (climbing into the No. 18 during a pit stop above) and Hamilton were four laps ahead of their pit mate and Moss a lap clear of the C5R. The only Italian car near the front was the privately entered 4.1 340MM of the brothers Marzotto – Paulo and Giannino – just one lap ahead of the amazing Trintignant/Schell Gordini.

By 2:00 o’clock, the public address announced that the leading Jaguar had surpassed the distance record set by Mercedes-Benz a year earlier, and that got a happy response. The final hour passed without incident, save a few fingernails chewed to the quick.

The No. 18 C-Type won from its heroic sister ship by three laps. The first four cars home – including all three works C-Types – had all pierced the 4000km barrier and removed the stain of '52 from the company’s reputation. Ascari had made a joke of his own '52 lap record, and disc brakes had been the key to the extraordinary and unprecedented leap in performance at Le Mans.

Moss had again missed his rightful place; the early stop to adjust his Webers had come between the world’s greatest sports car driver and victory in the world’s greatest sports car race.

Pierre Levegh and Charles Pozzi finished a distant eighth. The Le Mans-obsessed Parisian took no solace from the unspoken statistic that their unremarkable '53 performance would have easily outdistanced the winning 300SLs a year earlier.

The third round of the FIA’s new World Sports Car Championship saw a third marque to win a championship round. Cunningham had taken Sebring, Ferrari had won the Mille Miglia and Jaguar had captured Le Mans.

Ferrari went on to win the first Sports Car World Championship from Jaguar by just three points, but Jaguar had won sports car racing’s ultimate prize and knew it.