1959 Le Mans

1959 — The motorsports world had changed almost overnight: racing was turning green. Two new British marques had broken through to win their first Grands Prix; Cooper at Monaco and long-suffering BRM won a miracle victory at Zandvoort. Then the whole international racing world paused for Le Mans where only one Jaguar D-Type sat with its tail toward the pit counter.

Aston-Martin was now Britain’s premier Le Mans challenger. Aston Lagonda owner David Brown had three DBR1s poised for his most serious assault on the only race that meant anything to him. Brown was disinterested even in the 1959 Sports Car Championship and ignored the first two rounds to concentrate exclusively on Le Mans.

Stirling Moss persuaded him to enter a single car for the Nurburgring 1000Km. Aston had won the German race in ’57 and ’58, and Moss figured his chances against the works Ferrari trio were good. Through sheer force of will and the sort of crystal virtuosity that flavored Moss’ sports car career, he ran down and beat the Ferraris after co-driver Jack Fairman saved the day; reliable Jack had put the lone Aston into a ditch rather than hit a stray Alfa Giulietta. It was just the lift Astons needed two weeks before Le Mans.

Porsche was leading the championship battle and went to Le Mans in its favorite role: giant killer. Ferrari was the giant and reacted with muscle: a trio of refined 3.0-liter Testa Rossas with Pininfarina bodywork out of Fantuzzi – a fresh new icon from Italy. Ferrari had finally relented and fitted Dunlop’s world-beating R5 racing rubber in place of the usual cotton cord Belgian Engleberts. He balanced out his Barletti transporters with a fast Dino 196S for the 2.0-liter class.

It was a fine little group of Aston Martins that John Wyer had assembled: three new DBR1s led by Nurburgring winners Moss and Fairman; elegant Roy Salvadori with Texas strong man Carroll Shelby plus his honor the mayor of Vergeze, Maurice Trintignant, and the gifted Belgian journalist and racer Paul Frere in the third car – all riding on very British Avon tires.

Ferrari and Aston had faced each other during the first late April tests ever held at Le Mans. Modena had focused on psychological warfare. Phil Hill and Cliff Allison were tasked with the destruction of the lap record and the morale of Aston-Martin. Aston sent Jack Fairman and Carroll Shelby to test and learn. They learned that the 12-cylinder Ferraris were too fast for the Aston sixes.

Further development by Moss gained over 400rpm in top gear by fitting a tonneau cover and wheel skirts. But the red cars still had the legs of the Astons. Moss pounded around in his DBR1, tweaking and tuning for the 4:00 o’clock start. Shelby and Salvadori logged a total of four laps in practice and returned to the hotel to fish, drink, eat and play gin. Meanwhile, Wyer plotted and planned and visualized a race that could bend his way. This required a hero. Luckily, Aston had one in stock.

Wyer’s three-car team was in reality a two-car team with a piece of fresh bait. The No. 4 Moss/Fairman DBR1 was a lightweight hot rod with a one-off, high revving engine. The Nos. 5 and 6 cars wore the regular seven main-bearing engines. Moss’ hopes for a Le Mans win were sacrificed for the team.

And, of course, Moss was first away in Wyer’s DBR1 bait-mobile.

First to go for the hook was Behra in the Testa Rossa he shared with Ferrari's new hire Dan Gurney. The No. 12 Ferrari was geared a bit too low, and the Frenchman had made a mess of his start. Not Moss. He led until 5:00 o’clock from Gendebien’s TR and Behra, who had run wild after his poor start and was already third and turning in laps that made Ferrari boss Romolo Tavoni grimace.

Behind Behra, Innes Ireland had the lone D-Type Jaguar well placed. At 5:15, the excited Frenchman with the plastic ear passed Gendebien and Moss and took the lead. Moss played his role to the hilt and reported, on the next pit stop, that he got a huge tow from the Behra Ferrari that bumped his telltale from 5,700 revs to 6050rpm on the run to Mulsanne! He was clearly enjoying himself.

The Aston hare lasted all the way through Fairman’s first shift. Three laps before the end of his stint, Fairman pitted to report fluctuating oil pressure and the Ecurie Ecosse D-Type moved into second place. Moss got one lap into his second shift before a bit of bodywork was ingested through the air intake and destroyed a valve. It wasn’t even dark yet. Salvadori moved the No. 5 DBR1 into third. When the aged Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar quit, the surviving Astons were second (a lap down to Gurney and Behra) and fifth (Frere and Trintignant).

But Behra had run the TR too hard, too early. Gurney stopped just past quarter-distance, the cockpit awash in oil. As night fell, the Shelby/Salvadori Aston ground around to Wyer’s stern orders with, since the departure of the Behra/Gurney Ferrari, a two lap lead from Hill and Gendebien: the ’58 winners were now on a mission to reclaim the time they had left in the pits. Behind them was the other Aston, running a different pace. Then, already up to fourth and sixth overall, the Porsche RSKs played their giant killer role with discipline.

Dawn brought the Germans grief. The fourth place Wolfgang von Trips RSK broke a crankshaft. Then Salvadori felt a vibration and pitted unexpectedly. A thorough inspection revealed no mechanical clues and Salvo was ordered back to fight the relentless advance of the relentless Ferrari. His out lap took six minutes, and Salvo was back with more urgent complaints about further vibrations. Just as the perplexed crew were poised to shove the No. 5 back into the fray, a mechanic saw the problem. It had been hidden by the Aston’s aerodynamic fender skirts: 18in of tread had been stripped off one of the rear tires! Relief and chagrin mingled as the crew pulled the skirt, changed the wheel, refitted the skirt and pushed Salvadori, who had driven almost 60mi on the bare cord of the tire, was sent back to second place. John Wyer was stonily quiet.

By 10:00 o’clock, the Ferrari had a three-lap lead on the Astons. An hour later the winner of the '58 24 Hours were practically four laps ahead. It ended just before noon. The leading Ferrari was in the pits, and an alarmed Gendebien was pointing at the oil pressure gauge. They fiddled with the No. 14 Ferrari for several laps and finally sent it back on the course. When Shelby passed the staggering Ferrari, the aristocratic Belgian spurred his mount. It was too much for the Ferrari and the steaming V12 went to the dead car park with "fuel starvation" named as the official and final culprit. Apparently the steam had boiled the fuel in the six Weber carburetors.

The final four hours were quiet agony for the entire Aston-Martin team. Salvadori’s lap times were well below the 4:12 pace set him by Wyer. Frere and Trintignant were a defensive second at a slightly slower pace. But there was no one left to worry about. Only 13 of the 53 starters survived to race in the warm afternoon, and Jacques Swaters' 250GT Ferrari was 25 laps behind Trintignant and Frere, the first of four Ferrari GT coupes lined up behind the green cars from Feltham.

David Brown was thrilled. His cars had actually done it: Shelby brought DBR1/2 under the checkered flag at 4:00 o’clock. It was a vivid example of intellect over passion, of strategy over speed. David Brown – in the picture above – took a lap of honor with Shelby and Salvadori in the winning car and complained for an entire lap that the young lady who had been dragooned into riding along for color and photographic bait was getting greasy footprints on his expensive jacket. It made Carroll Shelby laugh out loud.

Paul Frere named Stirling Moss as the author of Aston’s Le Mans victory. Frere was eloquent and blunt: Moss’ tireless pre-race work to find speed in the DBR1 made Wyer’s brilliant strategy work.

In the final race of the '59 sports car championship season at Goodwood, Moss did the impossible again. After his DBR1 burned to the ground during a botched pit stop, he jumped into DBR1/2 – the Le Mans winner – and won the race and the World Championship for Aston-Martin.