When you need a half hour break from the family over the next few days, you could do worse than putting on the headphones and watching this short documentary about Corvette’s efforts at the 1960 24 Hours of LeMans. Corvette has become a prominent (sometimes dominant) team at the 24 in recent years, but that wasn’t necessarily the case in 1960 when the ‘Vette was still wrestling with the sentiment that the car was underpowered at its debut 7 years earlier.
Get ready for LeMans weekend!
It may not be safe but I’m going say that shirt and tie in pit lane is definitely a fashion “do”.
I’m always up for another spin around the Circuit de la Sarthe. Let’s ride shotgun with Martini’s Jurgen Barth in a Porsche 936 for the ’77 24 Hours of Le Mans.
We’ve long been fans of the hand-illustrated track maps of years gone by, and that of course extends to this Pit Map of the Tribunes from the 1921 24 Heurs du Mans. (Update: as a commenter pointed out below, there was no 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1921—nor would there be for another 2 years—this material is all from the ACF Grand Prix, which largely used the same facilities as the eventual 24 hour race – Thanks for the clarification, Dan)
It’s graphically beautiful. In a modern world of graphic design software and precision digital printing presses, I’m always impressed by the incredible graphic design expertise of those who did without them. this hand-set type is beautiful, and the lines precise enough to go up against anything the Creative Suite has to offer.
Found at The Nostalgia Forum, which also turned up these printed artifacts from the ’21 LeMans, a track map and program cover. Always great information over there.
As you may have read recently, Life Magazine has dug up thousands of images from its archives and released them as hosted content for search on Google’s image search. With such a deep bounty of vintage photography, I’ll be posting a few images at a time over the next few weeks.
Take this crop from the 1953 LeMans 24 Hours race. This was, of course, before the disastrous crash in ’55 in which Pierre Levegh careened off the course, killing more than 80 spectators. So you’ll notice the immediacy and danger that led to such tragedy—and made spectating much more interesting—in this photo of Alberto Ascari’s and Luigi Villoresi’s Ferrari 340MM Berlinetta. That little fence and hay bales wouldn’t hold in a horse, especially not this prancing one. Ascari and Villoresi DNFed that year, completing 229 laps.
Here’s a shot of the start of the race—how thrilling that classic running Le Mans start must have been to see. Missing from this shot (unless that’s it peeking out from behind Fangio’s Alfa Romeo #22) is Tony Holt and Duncan Hamilton’s #18 Jaguar C-Type that won the race that year.
And here is the sprint for the start itself. Prominent in this shot are the cars of the Briggs Cunningham team in the foreground bearing racing numbers 1, 2, and 3. Phil Walters and John Fitch took the #3 car to third place.
I’ll close with a couple of fantastic shots of the Nash Healey pits. First, just this lovely atmospheric shot of the calm before the 24 hour storm.
And here’s a shot of Nash Healey #10. Bad luck for Pierre Veyron and Yves Giraud-Cabantous that year, the car DNFed at lap 9. I don’t think Yves even got behind the wheel. But look at that tail! What a marvelous, almost whimsical extravagance; predating the long-tail Porsches by a good 15 years.
There you have it, Life Magazine’s archives of the 1953 24 Hours of LeMans. Excellent photos, and I’ve only just begun to dip my toe into the archive. Look for more in the coming weeks.
Let’s take a trip down the Mulsanne with Stirling Moss in his Mk IV GT40. Hang on tight!
And this is mine. The Porsche 550 Spyder is the slipperiest little roadster I could ever want. One has recently come available – now i only need $1.6million. donations?
This particular example was piloted by American Zora Arkus-Duntov and Frenchman Auguste Veuillet to a class win in the infamous ’55 24 Hours of LeMans. For that race, this Spyder chassis #550-0048 averaged over 137kph fitted with a 1100cc motor. Smaller than the typical 1500cc 4-cam. This particular year’s 1100cc class was fairly heavily contested, with Coventry-Climax entries from Kieft, Lotus, and Cooper.
550-0048 also went on to take an overall win at the Swedish Grand Prix with Richard von Frankenberg at the wheel. An astonishing win, besting much more powerful cars including a Mercedes 300SL, Jags, and Maseratis. You can see why these early racing models earned Porsche the “Giant Killer” moniker.
Later, the car was campaigned in the ’56 Mille Miglia and was road tested by Road & Track. For these, it’s engine was upgraded to the 4-cam 1500cc. The car then fell out of the public eye, reappearing now on Kidston’s site. The Kidston listing for this car says she is supplied with 2 engines – is it both the LeMans class winning 1100 and the magnificent 4-cam?
This photo shows 550-0048 bearing racing number 49 in the wet conditions of the ’55 Le Mans. Could you ever want anything more beautiful for your garage?
Be sure to check out the informational pdf at Kidston for complete details on this example, including many more period photos of 550-0048 in action here.
Thanks to Octane for posting about this marvelous car.
Update: 550-0048 sold at Coys’ Légende et Passion auction in Monté Carlo on the 10th of May for an astounding £708,338. Congratulations to her new caretaker and I hope you get her on the track some time.