A Decade of Change and Glory for Le Mans

During the 1960s the annual 24-hour auto race near a small town southwest of Paris generated international racing drama like none seen before

The 1960s were a time of technological and sociological upheaval worldwide and, swept along on the rising tide of technical progress, the 24 Hours of Le Mans entered one of its grandest eras ever. As the decade began, it was the most important date on the international calendar, but the planet’s greatest endurance race soon became a stage for an even larger spectacle. As the Sixties began, natural mechanical evolution moved engines from ahead of the drivers to behind them, improving vehicular dynamics and bringing consequently higher speeds. The composition of the field changed dramatically as well, with the front-running machinery morphing from specialized versions of road-going sports and Grand Touring cars into the realm of experimental prototypes built solely for racing. Central to it all was the battle for overall honors between Ferrari’s elegant automotive creations and a phalanx of beastly American juggernauts from Ford, as cars bearing those two marques dominated the decade.

Entering 1960, Ferrari had won the race three times in the previous 11 years, but then logged six straight victories to establish its dominance over le Circuit de la Sarthe. Briggs Cunningham had mounted the first large-scale American assault on Le Mans with his eponymous sports cars of the mid-’50s, and for 1960 he returned as the designated Corvette factory effort, with his best car finishing 8th behind half a dozen Ferraris and an Aston Martin.