There were 51 starters in the Le Mans race, but to all intents and purposes it was a straight fight between Ferrari and Ford, with an equal number of cars on each side, for the Americans really put in a lot of material this year. Ferrari relied on his works team, his agents and private owners, while Ford shared out its entries between Shelby, Ford-France, Ford Advanced Vehicles of Slough and Alan Mann, and loaned cars to people who had entries but no car, such as Rob Walker, whose Serenissima VS Prototypes did not turn up. After scrutineering, the score stood at 11-a-side, with Ford running a mixture of 7- and 4.7-litre GT40s, plus powering some Cobras, and Ferrari having P1s, P2s and a few 250 LMs.

Among the rest were an Iso-Grifo, with fibreglass body, a brand new ‘birdcage’ Maserati with a 5-litre V8 in the back, two 8-cylinder Porsche coupés, a 6-cylinder Porsche in a 904, the Dino 166 Ferrari, the Rover-BRM turbine car, a trio of works Alfa Romeo GTZ, Austin Healey Sprite, an MG-B, and numerous Triumph Spitfires and Renault-Alpines.

For the first time in history the first evening of practice had to be abandoned, because of a tornado that swept across La Sarthe, but the next evening was fine and dry, and the works Ferraris set the pace, with Surtees putting in a lap at 3min 38.1sec. However, the Ford coupés were not far behind, though the 7-litres were not handling too well. The abandoned practice session was replaced by an additional one on Friday evening, but being the night before the race a lot of people did not bother, being content with Thursday’s times, and these included Surtees, so that Ford was able to take the honours and finally get the 7-litre mid-engine coupés to handle properly. Phil Hill shattered everyone with a lap of 3min 33sec – 227.509kph (approx. 141.5mph).

– The race start –

The weather for the race was perfect, and in the opening hour the two 7-litre Ford coupés, driven by McLaren and Amon, ran away from everyone, the two 4-litre Ferraris of Surtees and Guichet being unable to keep them in sight, though they could cope with the 4.7-litre Fords quite easily. The lone Ferrari GTB was no match for the Cobra Daytona Coupés, especially that of Dan Gurney, who was up among the Prototypes. The speed of the 7-litre Ford V8 Prototypes had to be paid for by fuel consumption and they both stopped to refuel after a little over an hour. Although they regained their lead when the Ferraris stopped to refuel, from this point onwards the Ford challenge fell apart and by the third hour the Ferraris were going strongly in the first five places, followed by the Ford 7-litre of Miles/McLaren that was in trouble with its Dearborn-built gearbox. By this time numbers 6, 7 and 5 had retired with mechanical troubles, either engines or gearboxes, and the second 7-litre had been delayed by a deranged gear-selector mechanism. As the Fords fell by the wayside the Cobras moved up and Gurney was in fifth position as darkness began to fall, behind the two 4-litre works Ferraris, Surtees/Scarfiotti leading, then the Bonnier/Piper 4.4-litre, followed by the works 3.3-litre P2. By quarter-distance, 10pm Saturday, there was only one Ford left, the 7-litre of Hill/Amon and it was a long way down the list, but going fast, and Hill set a whole row of record laps, ending with a 3min 37.5sec (222.803kph). Ferraris were now in the first six places, as Gurney’s Cobra lost a lot of time when its oil pressure dropped dangerously low. By 11pm it was all over and the last Ford Prototype had gone out with clutch trouble, but all the Cobras were still running and the score was Ferrari 11, Cobra 5.

– Come the night –

Before midnight the Ferrari confidence was shattered when Surtees had a long pit-stop to replace a broken front coil-spring, the English 4.4-litre was delayed by a broken exhaust manifold, and its 275LM had its gearbox burst asunder. As the works Ferraris ran into trouble, the agents’ cars moved up, and as they went out the private owners took over. By 1am there was panic in the Ferrari pits for the P1 and P2 models were running into trouble with cracked brake discs, as they were using a new type of disc with radial ventilation slots. One by one they hit issues, until Dumay/Gosselin in the private 275LM found themselves in the lead. Meanwhile, the Cobras were falling apart, and the score at 2am on Sunday was Ferrari 9, Cobra 1, but both sides had sick cars. Ronnie Hoare had now lost both of his cars, their exhaust manifolds breaking, while the three works P2 cars and the Chinetti P1 were all in brake disc trouble and the pits were trying to sort out enough non-perforated discs to get at least one car going. Number 12 Cobra went out with a broken crankshaft damper, and 59 with a loss of oil pressure, while the Gurney/Grant car was still running with low oil pressure and Sears had an accident with number, 11 which smashed the radiator. A new one was fitted at the pits and he rejoined. As the Ferraris and Cobras ran into trouble, the Porsches moved up into the picture, and at 4am, just before dawn, the order was Ferraris in the first four places and then two Porsches, the 906 of Klass/Glemser and the 908 of Linge/Nöcker. This was half-distance and the yellow 275LM of Dumay/Gosselin was two laps ahead of the red 275LM of Gregory/Rindt, with the yellow GTB of Mairesse/‘Beurlys’ in third and leading the GT category. All three works Ferraris were back in the race, but a long way behind, and running on a miscellaneous collection of solid and perforated discs. Of the original 51 starters, 26 were still running, but not all of them too healthy. The Rover-BRM driven by G. Hill/J. Stewart had shown signs of running too hot and its performance had been cut down to that of an Alpine-Renault in order to try and finish. Slotemaker crashed one of the Triumphs, another went out with engine trouble, and Zeccoli put an Alfa Romeo GTZ in the sand at Mulsanne where it was abandoned; Baghetti had hardly driven the Dino 166 before the engine broke, and Siffert hit the bank at Tertre Rouge and broke the radiator on the V8 Maserati. The score for the giants: Ferrari 8, Cobra 2.

– To the finish –

With clear skies and a warm sun rising, the situation was that Ferrari drivers who would not normally be in the running were in the first three places, with the three factory cars charging along in pursuit, trying to make up the time lost due to the brake trouble. Their hopes were in vain, for the 3.3-litre went out with engine trouble and the 4-litre of Surtees/Scarfiotti had a gearbox bearing break and leaked oil onto the external clutch at the back of the ’box. A very long pit stop meant the bearing was replaced and the clutch renewed, and Surtees joined the race again, to do hardly any laps at all before a gearbox shaft broke, and that was that. The weary mechanics had barely finished the Surtees car when the NART 4.4-litre came in with the same trouble and they had to start all over again. Amongst this, the Parkes/Guichet 4-litre was in trouble with its gearbox breaking up and they were driving without some of the lower gears, and the engine had an internal water leak. The Belgian car driven by Demay/Gosselin was still leading, chased by Gregory/Rindt, both in 275LM Ferraris, while the GTB Ferrari was still third, but overheating.

By 8am Ferrari was reduced to a very dodgy eight cars and Cobra one, as the Gurney/Grant car had gone out with engine trouble caused by the crankshaft damper breaking up, as on Cobra number 12, for when these big V8 engines run unbalanced they shake themselves to bits.

By mid-morning the score was down to 7-1, with some sick cars amongst the seven and the lone Cobra in a pretty dilapidated state. The lone works Ferrari was limping along in third place, behind the two LM Ferraris, so that Maranello was still in a position to win, through the private owners. The Porsche ranks were also diminishing as cars went out with engine breakages and oil leaks, so that by mid-day on Sunday there were only 17 cars left running and four hours still to go, with the giants score at 6 to 1.

At lunch-time the battle between the private LM Ferraris was getting close and held more than passing interest for it was the focal point of the great tyre battle that has been raging all this season. The Belgian Ferrari was on Dunlop and the American one on Goodyear, so there was quite a stir when the yellow car struck a hard object and burst its right-rear Dunlop while going down the straight. By the time it had limped round on the rim, had a new wheel and tyre fitted and straightened out the bodywork damage, the Goodyear-shod car was well in the lead, having changed tyres to play safe. With two hours to go to the end of another Grand Prix d’Endurance, Ferrari cars were still in the first three places, thanks to the American and Belgian teams, and the sick works car had dropped back. The little British cars had outlived their French rivals, all the Alpine-Renaults having retired, but now one of the Austin Healeys went out. 3pm came and still they fell, the heat of the afternoon being great, and the last works Ferrari succumbed. Score 5 to 1. Slowly the last hour passed and the Ferrari of Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt headed to victory, followed by the 13 other survivors, all of whom can be proud of the achievement to finish the 24 hours.

 – Results –

1st: M. Gregory/J. Rindt (Ferrari 275LM) (Chinetti NART) 4,677.11km — 194.880kph

2nd: P. Dumay/G. Gosselin (Ferrari 275LM) (Marquet-Dumay) 4,602.60km — 191.773kph

3rd: W. Maitresse/‘Beurlys’ (Ferrari 275GTB) (Ecurie Franchorchamps) 4,562.95km — 190.085kph.

Originally published in Motor Sport, July 1965