1965 24 Hours of Le Mans

1965 24 Hours of Le Mans

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The 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 33rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 19 and 20 June 1965. It was also the twelfth round of the World Sportscar Championship.

Pre-race

For the 1965 season, the development and racing of the Ford GT40 was entrusted to Carroll Shelby. On Shelby's initiative, the GT40s were fitted with the same engine as the Cobras — an iron cast 4.7 L V8, and the Colotti gearbox that proved unreliable was replaced by a German-made ZF.

In parallel, Ford developed a new version of the GT40. The Mark II was developed by Ford subsidiary Kar Kraft in Dearborn under the direction of Roy Lunn. The Mk IIs were powered by a 7.0 L engine based on a Ford Galaxie block. As there was no gearbox available on the market which was able to sustain the torque, the car featured a new 4-ratio Kar Kraft gearbox. Two Mark IIs were entered by Shelby. The cars were finished in a hurry; as there was no time to run a fuel consumption test, Shelby did not know the real fuel consumption of the 7.0 L Mk II.

Scuderia Ferrari entered two P2s, a new version of the prototype, featuring a new DOHC V12 engine. Strangely, Ferrari dispersed some of his effort by entering a 1.6 L Dino 166. Two 365 P2s were also entered, one by NART, the other by Maranello Concessionaires. The 365 P2 was built around a previous year's P chassis with updated aerodynamics and featured a 4.4 L SOHC V12.

Several 275LM prototypes were entered by Ferrari customers. Ferrari developed the mid-engined LM for homologation in the GT category but was refused by the CSI. These cars are often mistakenly designated as 250LMs, as the first car built was fitted with a 3.0 L engine. The cars delivered to customers were 275LM powered by a 3.3 L. The performance of the 275LM was far from "real" prototypes but as the engine was a close derivative of production Ferrari engines, the car had proved very reliable.

Race

The Mark IIs took the lead at the start, but lost a part of their advance in frequent refuelling. It would later appear that the Mark IIs refuelled more often than required due to the uncertainty of their fuel consumption. The weather was hot, and overheating began to hit the GT40s. Bob Bondurant and Umberto Maglioli's No. 7 had head gasket failure before 20:00 and on the same lap, Herbert Müller and Ronnie Bucknum's No. 6 overheated terminally.

After the failure of the Fords, four Ferraris were leading. By then, the top Ford-powered car was the Dan Gurney/Jerry Grant Cobra Daytona coupe. Around midnight, Gurney and Grant had risen to third overall. That was when the Cobra's motor mounts began to crack and Gurney had to park the blue coupe after 204 laps.

This left the Ferraris on top, but the P2 began to suffer excessive disk brake wear, probably due to heat. All the leading prototypes had pit stops to change disk brakes, an operation that required between 20 and 30 minutes.

As the 275LMs put less stress on the brakes, two of them were leading at 04:00; Pierre Dumay's Belgian yellow car led the NART 275LM of Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory. The NART Ferrari had lost time struggling with ignition problem, but now the engine was sounding clear and the car gained several second on each lap. Soon after 13:00, the Belgian Ferrari had approximately one minute over the American one, but Rindt was driving 12 seconds per lap faster. As the leader needed only one refueling stop to finish the race while the NART car would have to stop twice, a close finish was expected.

Then, a tire began to deflate on the leading car, and soon disintegrated, destroying a large part of the thin aluminum rear bodywork. It took the Belgian team five laps to have the car ready to rejoin the race. This was more than enough to give the victory to Rindt, Gregory. Ed Hugus, the relief driver, declared many years later that heo actually drove a whole session in the LM when Rindt couldn't be found while sleeping somewhere during Gregory's drive, but his drive was not credited because -according to regulations- Gregory would be not allowed to drive again the car once Hugus replaced him (while he actually did) and the car should be disqualified, but no one officially recorded this. Hugus never made public claims on this story, which was revealed only in late 2000s, when after pilot's death one of his fans made public a letter written to him by the pilot giving all the details.

Official results

Le Mans in 1965

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
1	P 5.0	21	North American Racing Team (NART)	Masten Gregory Jochen Rindt ( Ed Hugus)	Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12	348
2	P 5.0	26	Pierre Dumay	Pierre Dumay Gustave Gosselin	Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12	343
3	GT 5.0	24	Ecurie Francorchamps	Willy Mairesse Jean Blaton	Ferrari 275 GTB	Ferrari 3.3L V12	340
4	P 2.0	32	Porsche System Engineering	Herbert Linge Peter Nöcker	Porsche 904/6	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	336
5	GT 2.0	36	Porsche System Engineering	Gerhard Koch Anton Fischhaber	Porsche 904/4 GTS	Porsche 2.0L Flat-4	325
6	P 5.0	27	Scuderia Filipinetti	Dieter Spoerry Armand Boller	Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12	324
7	P 5.0	18	North American Racing Team (NART)	Pedro Rodríguez Nino Vaccarella	Ferrari 365 P1/P2 Spyder	Ferrari 4.4L V12	320
8	GT 5.0	11	AC Cars Ltd.	Jack Sears Richard Thompson	Shelby Cobra Daytona	Ford 4.7L V8	304
9	P +5.0	3	Iso Prototip Bizzarrini	Réfis Fraissinet Jean de Mortemart	Iso Grifo A3C	Chevrolet 5.4L V8	303
10	P 2.0	31	Owen Racing Organisation	Graham Hill Jackie Stewart	Rover-BRM	Rover 2.0L Turbine	284
11	GT 2.0	39	British Motor Corporation	Paddy Hopkirk Andrew Hedges	MG MGB Hardtop	MG 1.8L I4	283
12	P 1.3	49	Donald Healey Motor Company	Paul Hawkins John Rhodes	Austin-Healey Sprite Sebring	BMC 1.3L I4	278
13	GT 1.3	60	Standard-Triumph Ltd.	Jean-Jacques Thuner Simo Lampinen	Triumph Spitfire	Triumph 1.1L I4	274
14	GT 1.3	54	Standard-Triumph Ltd.	Claude Dubois Jean-François Piot	Triumph Spitfire	Triumph 1.1L I4	263

Did Not Finish

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
15	P 5.0	20	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Mike Parkes Jean Guichet	Ferrari 330 P2 Spyder	Ferrari 4.0L V12	315
16	P 1.3	48	Donald Healey Motor Company	Rauno Aaltonen Clive Baker	Austin-Healey Sprite Sebring	BMC 1.3L I4	256
17	P 5.0	19	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	John Surtees Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari 330 P2 Spyder	Ferrari 4.0L V12	225
18	GT 2.0	37	Auguste Veuillet	Robert Buchet Ben Pon	Porsche 904/4 GTS	Porsche 2.0L Flat-4	224
19	P 5.0	22	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Lorenzo Bandini Giampiero Biscaldi	Ferrari 275 P2	Ferrari 3.3L V12	221
20	GT 2.0	44	Equipe Grand Ducale Luxembourgeoise	Nicholas Koob Alain Finkelstein	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ/1	Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4	218
21	GT 2.0	41	Autodelta SpA	Roberto Bussinello Jean Rolland	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ/2	Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4	217
22	GT 5.0	9	Shelby-American Inc.	Jerry Grant Dan Gurney	Shelby Cobra Daytona	Ford 4.7L V8	204
23	P 2.0	35	Porsche System Engineering	Günter Klass Dieter Glemser	Porsche 904/6	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	202
24	P 1.3	47	Société Automobiles Alpine	Roger Delageneste Jean Vinatier	Alpine M65	Renault-Gordini 1.3L I4	196
25	GT 1.3	55	Société Automobiles Alpine	Jacques Cheinisse Jean-Pierre Hanrioud	Alpine A110 M64	Renault-Gordini 1.1L I4	196
26	P 1.15	61	Société Automobiles Alpine	Pierre Monneret Robert Bouharde	Alpine M63B	Renault-Gordini 1.0L I4	187
27	GT 5.0	10	Shelby-American Inc.	Bob Johnson Tom Payne	Shelby Cobra Daytona	Ford 4.7L V8	158
28	P 1.15	51	Société Automobiles Alpine	Roger Masson Guy Verrier	Alpine M64	Renault-Gordini 1.1L I4	148
29	P 5.0	25	Ecurie Francorchamps	Gerhard Langlois van Ophem Leon Dernier	Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12	146
30	GT 2.0	38	"Franc"	Jacques Dewez Jean Kerguen	Porsche 904/4 GTS	Porsche 2.0L Flat-4	130
31	GT 5.0	59	Scuderia Filipinetti	Peter Harper Peter Sutcliffe	Shelby Cobra Daytona	Ford 4.7L V8	126
32	P 1.15	50	Société Automobiles Alpine	Philippe Vidal Peter Revson	Alpine M64	Renault-Gordini 1.1L I4	116
33	GT 5.0	12	Ford France S.A.	Jo Schlesser Allen Grant	Shelby Cobra Daytona	Ford 4.7L V8	111
34	P 5.0	17	Maranello Concessionaires Ltd.	David Piper Jo Bonnier	Ferrari 365 P2	Ferrari 4.4L V12	101
35	P 5.0	23	Maranello Concessionaires Ltd.	Lucien Bianchi Michael Salmon	Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12	99
36	P +5.0	2	Shelby-American Inc.	Phil Hill Chris Amon	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8	89
37	GT 5.0	14	Ford Advanced Vehicles / Alan Mann	Sir John Whitmore Innes Ireland	Ford GT40 Mk.I	Ford 4.7L V8	72
38	GT 1.3	52	Standard Triumph Ltd.	David Hobbs Rob Slotemaker	Triumph Spitfire	Triumph 1.1L I4	71
39	P +5.0	1	Shelby-American Inc.	Ken Miles Bruce McLaren	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ford 7.0L V8	45
40	P 1.3	46	Société Automobiles Alpine	Marco Bianchi Henri Grandsire	Alpine M65	Renault-Gordini 1.3L I4	32
41	P +5.0	6	Scuderia Filipinetti Shelby-American Inc.	Herbert Müller Ronnie Bucknum	Ford GT40 Mk.I	Ford 5.3L V8	29
42	P 5.0	7	R.R.C. Walker Racing Team Shelby-American Inc.	Bob Bondurant Umberto Maglioli	Ford GT40 Mk.I	Ford 4.7L V8	29
43	P 2.0	30	Anglian Racing Developments	Richard Wrottesley Tony Lanfranchi	Elva GT160	BMW 2.0L I4	29
44	GT 2.0	42	Autodelta SpA	Giacomo Russi Carlo Zuccoli	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ/2	Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4	22
45	P 2.0	33	Porsche System Engineering	Colin Davis Gerhard Mitter	Porsche 904/8	Porsche 2.0L Flat-8	20
46	GT 2.0	62	Christian Poirot	Christian Poirot Rolf Stommelen	Porsche 904/4 GTS	Porsche 2.0L Flat-4	13
47	P 5.0	15	Ford France S.A.	Maurice Trintignant Guy Ligier	Ford GT40 Roadster	Ford 4.7L V8	11
48	GT 1.3	53	Standard Triumph Ltd.	Peter Bolton William Bradley	Triumph Spitfire	Triumph 1.1L I4	6
49	P +5.0	8	J.H. Simone	Jo Siffert Jochen Neerpasch	Maserati Tipo 65	Maserati 5.0L V8	3
50	P 1.6	40	SpA Dino SEFAC	Giancarlo Baghetti Mario Casoni	(Ferrari) Dino 166P	Dino 1.6L V6	2
51	GT 2.0	43	Autodelta SpA	Teodore Zeccoli José Rosinski	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ/2	Alfa Romeo 1.6L I4	1

Statistics

• Pole Position - #2 Shelby-American Inc. - 3:33.0
• Fastest Lap - #2 Shelby-American Inc. - 3:37.5
• Distance - 4677.11 km
• Average Speed - 194.88 km/h

Trophy Winners

• Index of Performance - #32 Porsche System Engineering
• Index of Thermal Efficiency - #36 Porsche System Engineering

References

• (French) Le Mans 1965 in Automobile Historique n°48, May 2005