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Le Mans 1963 - Material battle with deadly consequences

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Created on June 2, 2013

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Balz Schreier

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Ferrari 330 LMB (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - Many Ferrari at the start of Le Mans 1963 - Dan Gurney in the Ferrari 330 with number #11, John Surtees in the 250P #23 and many more

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Jaguar E-Type Lightweight (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - Briggs Cunningham's team came to Le Mans with three E-Types, only the number #15, in which Cunningham himself drove, finished.

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Ferrari 250 P (1963) - forerunner of the 250 LM, here still at the front of the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans - John Surtees then unfortunately retired

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Ferrari 250P (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - The overall winners Bandini/Scarfiotti on their lap of honor

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Ferrari 250P (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - The overall winner! For the first time, Italians (Lorenzo Bandini and Ludovico Scarfiotti) won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in an Italian car.

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Ferrari 250 P (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - 3rd place went to the factory Ferrari with number #22 and drivers Mike Parkes and Umberto Maglioli

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Ferrari 250P (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - The chances of victory go up in flames. On Sunday morning, the Surtees/Mairesse Ferrari caught fire in front of Tertre Rouge. The two were in the lead at the time!

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Ferrari 250P (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - John Surtes at Tertre Rouge in the Ferrari 250P #23 between Alpine M63 #50 and Maserati Tipo 151/3 (#2)

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Alpine M63 (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - This Alpine with its special body shape and Renault-Gordini engine only retired from the race late on.

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Alpine M63 (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - Three Alpine M63 were at the start - this picture is probably from the Trophée d'Auvergne on the Charade circuit

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René Bonnet Aérodjet LM6 (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - A pile-up caused by the Bonnet prototype of Roger Masson and Pierre Monneret was only narrowly avoided.

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René Bonnet Aérodjet LM6 (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - the René Bonnet prototype driven by Roger Masson and Pierre Monneret overturned after the Dunlop bridge

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René Bonnet Aérodjet LM6 (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - the René Bonnet prototype driven by Roger Masson and Pierre Monneret overturned after the Dunlop bridge

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René Bonnet Aérodjet LM6 (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - The Bonnet of Beltoise/Bobrowski was the only French car to reach the finish line.

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Bolton and Sanderson at Le Mans in 1963 - the concentrated power of the V8 can be put to good use here

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Bolton/Sanderson on the way to international victory at Le Mans 1963

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AC Cobra Hardtop (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - Not as fast as expected, but still the fastest after the six Ferraris, only 2 laps behind.

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AC Cobra (1963) - this photo appeared in the press before Le Mans as an announcement: for the first time an AC Cobra was on the starting grid in Europe, everyone was excited!

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Maserati Tipo 151/3 (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - André Simon (F) and Lloyd Casner (USA) had to retire from the race after just 40 laps

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Maserati Tipo 151/3 (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - At the beginning of the race, the 5-liter Maserati held the lead for a long time, but retired early after 40 laps.

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Lola Mk6 GT (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - Lola owner Eric Broadley (left) in conversation with race control - the ultra low-slung Lola still had to undergo some modifications

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Lola Mk6 GT (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - Before the race, the Lola Mk6 is ready for inspection by the race organizers

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Lola Mk6 GT (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - Richard Attwood and David Hobbs retired after about a third of the race distance.

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Lola GT (1963) at Le Mans in 1963 - the lost rear hood after the accident in the "S" of Tetre Rouche

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Lola GT (1963) - the new GT from Broadley appeared a few days after opening at the 1963 London Racing Car Show - with Richard Attwood as driver, it was then also at the start of the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans

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Lola GT (1963) - the similarities with the later Ford GT are not coincidental - seen here at the first public presentation at the London racing car show in 1963 - also drove with starting number 6 at Le Mans 1963

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Ferrari 250P (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - Cooling air for the brakes of the overall winner, two laterally arranged shafts supply the internal disc brakes of the Ferrari 250P with cooling air.

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Ferrari 330 TRI/LM (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - The first laps, the four-liter Ferrari of Rodriguez/Penske ahead of the five-liter Maserati of Simon/Casner, followed by the Ferraris of Mairesse/Surtees and Markes/Maglioli

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Ferrari 330 TRI/LM (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - Pedro Rodriguez and Roger Penske drove for the American team at Le Mans 1963 and retired early after 110 laps

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Rover-BRM for Le Mans 1963

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Rover-BRM for Le Mans 1963 - lap of honor together with the T4 road prototype, the Jet 1 and the T3

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Rover BRM (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - A gas turbine vehicle as a special guest at the start

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Ferrari 250 GTO (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - In the fall of 1963, the Tour de France world championship race took place on the Le Mans racetrack - In number #165 (left) the overall winners Guichet / Behra

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Porsche 356B Carrera (1963) at Le Mans 1963 - In the fall of 1963, the Tour de France world championship race took place on the Le Mans racetrack - Lion/Lion land in the sand at Tertre Rouge

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Official poster 24 Hours of Le Mans 1963

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Summary

The 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans went down in history as a battle of material, but also as a race with many accidents. Just twelve cars reached the finish line in the official classification, with a Rover-BRM turbine car finishing out of competition in an unofficial 7th place. The first six places went to the Ferrari prototypes and GT cars. The French won the index classification with the René Bonnet. This report describes the events of the race and shows impressions in over 30 historical pictures and film footage from the time.

This article contains the following chapters

Expected Ferrari dominance
Strong performance by the Maserati
Lola GT with problems
Numerous accidents
Strong but unsuccessful Aston Martin
Cobra and Jaguar not favoured by luck
Only 12 cars classified
Bonnet and not Alpine as the winner of the index classification
Records and innovations
The Rover-BRM turbine racing car with its own race
Results

Estimated reading time: 6min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Ferrari had dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 1958. Only in 1959 did Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori in the Aston Martin DBR 1 snatch victory from the Scuderia from Maranello, but this was to remain the exception until 1965, although there was no shortage of fast opponents, especially in 1963. Ferrari entered eleven cars, more than a fifth of the entire field, in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 1963. The 246P with a six-cylinder engine had been replaced by the new 250 P with a twelve-cylinder mid-engine. The new prototypes were supplemented by several 330 LM, 250 GTO and other variants.

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