Aston Martin owner David Brown, disappointed at the divergence of racing sports cars from their road-going brethren, promptly pulled the plug on his championship-winning programme. Beaten rival Enzo Ferrari, meanwhile, was busy encouraging the governing body’s swing towards grand touring cars, while continuing to win Le Mans with prototypes pretending by regulation to be road cars. His only threat were the sister machines of Chinetti’s North American Racing Team offshoot, driven as though stolen by either or both of the Rodríguez brothers: a combined age of 39 in 1961! Scuderia Ferrari wisely brought Pedro and Ricardo in-house for 1962: the occasion of its final win for a front-engined car and a record-breaking fourth victory for Belgian superstar, Olivier Gendebien.

Another Ferrari victory came in 1963 – albeit a rear-engined one and the first all-Italian, courtesy of Lorenzo Bandini and Ludovico Scarfiotti. The FIA had lifted the 4-litre limit on GTs and the ACO, keener once more to encourage faster, more spectacular cars, did the same for prototypes. The door was left ajar for American muscle to barge through.

Jilted after takeover negotiations, Ford was determined to kick Ferrari where it would hurt most and despite embarrassing failures for its GT40s of 1964 and 1965 – plus two more Ferrari wins – finally landed a famous 1-2-3 in 1966.