1962 Le Mans

1962 — Sometimes the political winds are effected by the Bernoulli Principle, and good intentions are simply blown away.

The 3.0-liter prototype sports cars were banished from Le Mans. In their place, a new Experimental GT category was created, allegedly to foster competition among true GT cars. Moss’ magnificent ‘61 drive in the NART-entered 250 SWB Ferrari was mentioned. Enzo Ferrari said he wasn’t interested in the new class. Which should have set off alarm bells from Paris to Coventry to Feltham. But when he sent a new 250GTO to Sebring for reigning World Champion and Le Mans expert Phil Hill and three-time Le Mans winner Olivier Gendebien, the rest of the world saw the sincerity in his words. Especially since the front line Experimentals at Sebring were updated 3.0-liter Testa Rossas out of Luigi Chinetti’s NART stable.

But it was the Nurburgring 1000Km that chilled the A.C.O., Ferrari and everyone else who thought they had a handle on the new rules. Colin Chapman entered a new Lotus 23 prototype with a 1.5-liter Ford twin-cam engine. Clark left everyone flat footed for 12 agonizing laps until fumes in the cockpit and a sticking throttle took him out. Ian Walker Racing had entered a pair of 23s and the 1.0-liter car had finished eighth overall and won its class.

The new Lotus sports racers had "class killer" written all over them. When they got to Le Mans the scrutineers took out both works entries with the sort of twisted logic that only makes sense once each summer. Chapman had two 23s; a 1.0-liter Ford and a 750cc Climax-powered Index of Performance sure thing. The front wheels were affixed via four-studs each, the rear with six. No, said the A.C.O.: the spare will not serve both axles. Go away. Chapman had new four-bolt rears whipped up at the works overnight and flown to the Sarthe. No, said the A.C.O. man again: this cannot possibly be safe and certainly not in the esprit of the rules.

Chapman stormed away from the Sarthe with a vow never to return. He was good to his word. Besides he had to change the course of Formula 1 in 1962 and carried it off without the fat Index of Performance paycheck. Porsche behaved with far more restraint and left its 2.0-liter eight-cylinder coupes at home rather than fight a scrutineering war with the A.C.O. Or perhaps they were not sure they could survive 24 hours. Either way Porsche works drivers Dan Gurney and Jo Bonnier shared a private Ferrari.

Ferrari just bagged everyone with his new Le Mans Experimental 330LM. In all there were 15 Ferraris; V12s, V6s and a sui generis 268 V8 for ’61 French GP winner Giancarlo Baghetti and Ludovico Scarfiotti. Crosstown ex-rival Maserati had three new 4.0-liter V8 coupes: two from Briggs Cunningham and one from Maserati France. The 450S-based Kamm-tail coupes were the ultimate Mulsanne Monsters, the fastest cars down Hunaudiers touching nearly 180mph. Roy Salvadori was tipped to share one of the big V8s but couldn’t fit his six foot-plus frame under the roof and was ultimately paired with Briggs Cunningham himself in an E-Type Jaguar coupe.

Aston-Martin was represented by a pair of Zagato-bodied DB4GTs and a true Experimental GT – the 4.0-liter Project 212 for BRM F1 partners Graham Hill and Richie Ginther.

To soothe the FIA with an expression of fraternity, despite the Experimental GT class revolt of the classic circuits, the A.C.O. invited CSI President Wilfred Baumgartner to drop le tricolour, sending the 30th running of the 24 Hours on its way.

More than a quarter of the field were Ferraris, and there were few illusions regarding the outcome. Even the traditional three-hour outbreak of violence at 4:00 o’clock was somewhat muted in '61. Phil Hill had erased Mike Hawthorn’s long-standing lap record on Wednesday evening with a lap in the 130mph neighborhood, which sobered everyone but Papa Rodriguez’ boys Pedro and Ricardo.

Tony Settember got his showroom stock No. 1 Corvette moving first, but he was picked off before the esses by all the big guns. Those straining for a sight of the first leader saw the unique shade of Feltham green, as Graham Hill forced the Project 212 Aston to the front and led Gendebien out of White House. A long silence to Guichet’s GTO, the Rodriguez Ferrai and McLaren’s white and blue T-151 and the mob.

By the time they got to Mulsanne, Gendebien had the 330LM in front. Cunningham’s pal Jim Kimberly (who was supposed to race with Briggs in the No. 10 E-Type) had strafed about one third of the field from Café Hunaudiers to Mulsanne and had the T151 he now shared with Dick Thompson up to sixth. Maurice Trintignant got the French crowd up when he passed the Rodriguez Ferrari for third in the bellowing Maserati France T151. Good fun.

Mike Parkes beached his Ferrari Experimental at Mulsanne on the first lap and had to dig like a fiend to get the 330LM back to the pits. Then a well-rested Lorenzo Bandini promptly took over.

Gendebien double-stinted the leading Ferrari. A pit stop dropped it to fourth. When Hill took over in the cool of the evening, he sent the excitable Rodriguez boys, who were racing for retribution, a clear-channel message: 3:57.3 in traffic, and a lap record.

The little mid-engine Ferrari V6 sports racer was quick and lacked the thirst of the big Hill/Gendebien 4.0-liter 330LM. By 8:00 o’clock, the lead battle between the 246 and the 330 was fender-to-fender.

Kimberly surrendered the T151 to Thompson. New brake pads and lots of fuel caught Dr. Dick out in the esses, and he smote the bank. The fuel tank split and the first of the big loud Maser coupes was out in the sixth hour. By then, Hill had put a lap between himself and the Brothers, and two laps up on the lovely Scarfiotti/Baghetti Ferrari V8. The Guichet/Noblet GTO had 90sec on the Cunningham Maserati of Bruce McLaren and Walt Hansgen. From there it was all red back to a GT Aston and the Project 212 car of Hill and Ginther, which retired not long after dark with zero oil pressure.

By full dark, Hill and Gendebien still led, but good fuel economy and fast motoring had the brothers back on the lead lap; just barely. Ferraris were solid from first through fifth. By midnight, the lead was back to a full lap and change. But the Mexicans had gone so far so fast that their 2.6-liter prototype was leading the Index of Performance. By 1:00 a.m., they had outrun Hill and Gendebien, and the Ferraris started swapping the lead on pit stops. Soon the V6 had managed to put the ’58 and ’61 winners a lap back.

The big electronic ESSO scoreboard showed the Cunningham and Salvadori white E-Type Jaguar GT in 10th position. Good news for Briggs. Then just before 3:00 a.m., bad news: Cunningham's McLaren/Hansgen T151 was out with a broken transmission.

At half distance, the Rodriguez brothers still led the 330LM, but by just 30sec. The eternal question of the "Good Big Man vs. Good Little Man" was about to be answered. Only 30min into the last half of the race, the Rodriguez Ferrari began to make horrible noises. The starter would not disengage and no amount of fiddling would fix it. There was crying and pleading and the occasional prayer, but their day was over.

Hill and Gendebien backed their pace down, some 500 more rpm off the red line and led every hour until 4:00 o’clock Sunday. It was Gendebien’s fourth total and third consecutive Le Mans victory. Hill now had three Le Mans wins in just eight years. He was the reigning World Driving Champion and had just won the Nurburgring 1000Km, and no one had ever won those two remarkable races in the same year before. Ferrari had now won Le Mans six times in 13 years, and the red cars were three deep at the top of the ' 62 order.

The obvious heroes were the two Jaguar E-Types in fourth and fifth overall! Cunningham and Maserati-fugitive Salvadori were fourth from the Jag of Peters Lumsen and Sargent. The moral victors were slightly further down the list. David Hobbs and Frank Gardner had raced their 1.2-liter No. 44 Lotus Elite to a magnificent eighth overall and first in the Index of Thermal Efficiency. Colin Chapman had his revenge.