NEVER before, in the 25 years that the Le Mans 24-Hour Race had been held, did a single nation sweep the board so completely as Britain did in 1957. The brilliant success of the Jaguars in taking first four and sixth places became all the more significant when it is considered that every one of these cars was a private entry-and was matched against the works teams of most of the greatest sports car manufacturers of the world. In 1956 David Murray's Ecurie Ecosse entered a single D-type Jaguar-and won the race; in 1958 they entered two and scored 1, 2. Although the works Aston MaItin failed to last the distance, it was again a private entry - a French one - that secured the class win that completed the Aston Martin fifth - in the up to 3-liter class.
Although the glamour was associated with those that took an outright win, the magnificent performance of the Lotus Equipe should not be overlooked. Four cars were entered, four finished - and they ousted the French from what had been their prerogative for so long, the Index of Performance classification (which recognized the greatest measure of achievement by any car above the average for its class). In so doing the first and second cars won the 750 and 1,000 c.c. classes; all three had Coventry Climax engines, the 750 being a short-stroke version of the larger unit.
The seal on this gamut of success was set by the awards of Biennial Cups (for which entrants qualify by outstanding performances in the previous year) to Jaguar, Aston Martin and Lotus. British drivers, though they did not finish in their powerful Italian Ferraris, set a new standing-start lap record (Collins) and race lap record (Hawthorn).
Scrutineering and Practice
At seven o'clock sharp on the Tuessday morning before the race, the first car, a blue, French-entered Ferrari, No. 17, came into scrutineering at the Jacobin. The cars were parked in the open and were channelled to inspection stations under corrugated roofs. The plywood template for measuring seat widths, screen heights, were all there. The weighing platform was at the last station, for it is part-of the tradition at Le Mans to weigh the cars. It is very interesting technically,· but has no significance so far as the race is concemed.
As usual, among the entries there were the immaculate and the notlate; and by far the most amusing check was that relating to hoods. All drivers were required to set them up in position, merely to comply with the C.S.I. regulations. They were not required to be used during the race - which explains why some of them failed t. meet the screens by several inches. The best examples illustrating the futility of this regulation were the D.B.s, Nos. 49, 50, open cars with hoods made completely of paper-thin Polythene.
First of the British cars through scrutineering were the Lotus team, looking as if they had been a little hurriedly prepared and certainly not so well preesented as was the case in 1956. The aerodynamic windscreens raised a few eyebrows, Colin Chapman having thought up something new to offset the dissadvantages of the obligatory full-width screen.
Punctual, too, were the Porsches, among them a new Type 718 R.S., No. 32, to be driven by Maglioli and Barth. It was more squat, had a longer nose, and sported minute tailfins on each rear wing. Its nose was sharper too, and the lid of the front "luggage" compartment formed a surface-type of oil cooler.
It had an entirely new form of front suspension - the Porsche-type trailing arms were reetained but much more widely spaced. The wheels pivoted on spherical joints as distinct from king pins. The new front brakes, with ribbed drums, were very
reminiscent of those on the Mercedes 300 SLR.
The big question on the Tuesday was whether Maserati were going to appear with the coupe body designed by Frank Costin, with its rumoured slideback roof and drop-down doors. The coupe did indeed turn up, but the doors were of normal-opening type and one began to wonder whether in the very hot sun the drivers would not have preferred the second, open version of the car.
Ferraris arrived with their now-familiar juggle of technicalities, Nos. 6 and 7 equipped with the 4.1-1itre V-12 twin camshaft engines, as used in the
Mille Miglia, and a completely new car fitted with a 3,117 c.c. version of the single camshaft engine, with a shapely new nose. It was to go very fast in practice in the hands of Gendebien.
Last through scrutineering on Tuesday afternoon, again exactly timed, were the privately-entered Jaguars of Ecurie Ecosse and Duncan Hamilton. The first practice was on Wednesday evening at 6 o'clock and, appropriately, the Maserati coupe, No. 1, led the field. Moss did the opening laps in this car and Behra was in the open version.
The point of interest was whether Fangio,
nominated as reserve, was going to appear at all. He did, completing a few circuits in the closed car and then taking over the open one. The fastest practice time during the Wednesday session was put up by Moss in the open Maserati; then came Fangio in the same car, folllowed by Tony Brooks in one of the 3.3 liter Astons. The two Aston Martins, incidentally, were the same cars that had been successful at the
Nurburgring, driven by the same drivers; the only work carried out on the cars since that race was to fit - as a matter of routine - new
bearings.
The small 744 c.c. Lotus, modified specifically to compete for the Index of Performance, was lapping some 25 seconds per lap faster than the DBs, reckoned to be the strong challengers in this category. Misfortune hit Colin Chapman as practice came to an end at midnight, his 1 liter car (No. 37, with the twin-camshaft, Coventry-Climax engine) which had been circulating at around 12sec per lap faster than the best Porsche, dropped an inlet valve and had to be withdrawn. The more dependable 1,100 model on the reserve list (car No. 62) was substituted, and the drivers of the larger car, Mackay Fraser and J. Chamberlain, took over from Ashdown and Stacey.
Ferraris, too, had bad luck, for car No. 6 shed a spark plug electrode and the resultant damage necessitated a change of the nearside cylinder block during Friday. The engine was rebuilt and the car taken out for a few running-in laps in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Moss had been in trouble with the larger brakes fitted to the coupe Maserati after the first night's practice - they locked on rather treacherously when approaching Mulsanne corner. He called at the pits and the smaller, standard brake drums were then refitted.
Race Day
After the mixture of sunshine, cloud and torrential rain of the practice periods, race day began cloudy and humidly muggy. All night long the crowds had been arriving at the course - others had camped overnight around the circuit. During the early afternoon the sun came through, and put the finishing touches to the scene - picking out and brightening the already brilliant colors concentrated around the pit area, and set off by the dark green background of the pine forests. The cars arrived at the circuit and formed up in traditional style in echelon alongside the pits, for the start that had been almost universally adopted for sports car races throughout the world. Lying silent and inactive before they set out on their long journey, the cars in their national colors were inspected by countless strolling onlookers.
It was Le Mans in traditional style; Le Mans with its famous scoreboard, its almost unbelievable profusion of banners and flags, and its advertising gimmicks. A chain of blue and yellow balloons reached skywards and reminded the crowds of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, whose race it was, and whose colors the balloons represented. All afternoon the feeling of expectancy, of nervous excitement, built up-while the stands around the citcuit filled to capacity. By as early as 3 p.m. the scene was set - the auditorium filled, the actors waiting to go on, while the minutes ticked by ... slowly.
Then came the course-clearing phalanx of gendarmes, shifting the strollers from the pit area. Suddenly the whole "circus" began to take shape and direction in a familiar, orderly, yet tension packed sequence of events. The drivers on the first shift (with a minimum of 30 laps ahead of them) wandered across to their numbered circles opposite the cars. At a moment before 4 p.m., M. Chapalain, senator and mayor of Le Mans, raised
the flag. The drivers, crouched on their marks as the flag dropped, then embarked on a feverish scuttle across the road, the frenzied leap over the side or grab for the door handle ... ignition switches ... starter buttons-and then the noise. The first car moved, then quicker than the
eye could follow two more, ten more, the lot-snaking and leaving black tire marks behind. The race was on.
First clear of the pits was the No. 6.
Collins (Ferrari), followed by Salvadori (Aston Martin), Graham Whitehead (3.77 liter Aston Martin), Brooks (Aston Martin). Next came Gendebien in the new Ferrari, Guelfi (Gordini) and Paul Frere in the first of the Jaguars, whose record of four Le Mans wins since the war was going to take some beating. Hard behind them came the whole throng, pressing and boring up the track and under the Dunlop Bridge ... and leaving behind them only the Halford Loens Talbot, which was never to leave the start. The second of these cars, to have been driven by Bordoni and Burgraff, was already on the non-starters' list - the car having proved too slow in practice.
At the end of the first lap Collins was in the lead, followed by Brooks. Moss whose more-difficult-to-enter Maserati coupe had started well back, had made up many places during that first exciting dash. Altogether, 52 cars came round at the end of the lap. Hawthorn held third place, Gendebien fourth and Salvadori fifth; behind them came Bueb (Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar), Whitehead, Frere (Jaguar), Lewis-Evans and Lucas in the French-entered
D Type Jaguar. A lap later, Peter Collins had dropped
back to tenth place-having suffered a partial piston seizure during the first standing lap, for which his time of 4min 20sec had equalled last year's fastest race lap. Mike Hawthorn was then in the lead ahead of Moss, Brooks and Gendebien. Next time round, Peter Collins came into the pits; hasty wqrk was carried out, but the car was eventually pushed away to the dead car park with a seized piston. The first of the potential winners had gone all too early - and before
Phil Hill had had a drive. Hawthorn pulled steadily away from Moss whose Maserati was over-geared and could not exceed 5,800 r.p.m. -1,000 r.p.m. short of its maximum.
At the end of the sixth lap Lucas brought his Jaguar into the pits and dropped back from 12th to 16th place. Even at this early stage of the race the pits were beginning to be busy, Brabham's Cooper, Scarlatti's Maserati and others making brief stops. Behra was bringing his Maserati up through the field in a determined manner, reaching sixth place. Scarlatti came in again, and the American Hugus-Kessler Porsche made a short stop. Mike Hawwthorn continued to build up his lead and Moss dropped back into third place on the thirteenth lap, being overtaken by Behra. The order at this stage was Hawthorn, Behra, Moss, Gendebien, Bueb, Brooks, Gregory (in Duncan Hamilton's D-type), Salvadori, Lewis-Evans, Frere and G. Whitehead.
Steadily, Behra closed his distance behind Mike Hawthorn. At the end of the 16th lap Lewis-Evans called at the pits without losing a place; the six-cylinqer Gordini, which had spent as much time at its pit as it had on the circuit, gave up the struggle and left it to the 8-cylinder car to carry the flag. Soon however this car, too, was out, having dropped a valve through over-revving.
The Sanderson-Lawrence Jaguar called in when lying 12th and changed plugs, and Moss' Maserati began to smoke "ominously and heavily." After 19 laps Hawthorn came into the pit to change a wheel. The task of inserting the new spare into the Ferrari's tail took considerably longer than to change the wheel for the spare originally carried, and Mike Hawthorn, desperate to get going again, leaped into the car - to be ordered out again smartly by a marshal. In the meantime, as the race reached its second hour, Behra took the lead, and Moss, Gendebien and Bueb also passed a slowing Hawthorn, in that order, Hawthorn moving off in fifth place, ahead of Tony Brooks.
With no opposition from the Lotus, the very fast 1,500 c.c. car having been withdrawn, the Frankenberg-Herrmann Porsche led its all-Porsche class, in 21st position overall. Streaking away, miles in the lead of its class, was the 1,100 c.c. Lotus driven by Mackay Fraser and Chamberlain - in compensation, as it were, for their loss of the 1,500 c.c. car.
The 750 Lotus was also leading its class by a considerable margin. The Hechardson Lotus was less fortunate, running out of fuel at Mulsarme. Hawthorn, after his first pit stop, had raised his own lap record to 3min 59.6sec - the first official race lap at under 4 minutes or over 200 k.p.h. The Moss-Schell Maserati coupe, now driven by Schell after a long pit stop, was soon to retire with rear axle trouble - so that, by now, two of the Maseratis (Moss' and Behra's) and Collins' Ferrari were out of the race. Hawthorn refuelled and handed over to Musso.
By the end of the refuelling turmoil and going extremely smoothly in 22nd place was the A.C-Bristol driven by Rudd and Bolton, the car looking and sounding like the sort of production sports car for which Le Mans was intended. The Amott-Climax came in to the pits (having dropped a valve) soon after 8.30 p.m. and was wheeled away to the dead car park - a depressing end after an enterprising effort.
Again the time was due for routine pit stops - at around 8.30 - and, one after the other, the leaders came in for fuel and a driver change. By 9 p.m. the daylight was fading and the lights began to go on - perhaps one pf the most moving moments of the Le Mans race, when day turns into night and the cars go-on racing. First the lights were switched on in the stands and in the various amusement stalls round the pits. Then the head lamps went on, seeming to give pitifully inadequate light for such high speeds,though the lap speeds dropped surprissingly little (only about 10sec per lap).
Also by 9 p.m., when the majority of the fuel stops had been completed, the Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar still led the race, Ivor Bueb now at the wheel; Brooks back in Aston Martin No. 20, held second place, Gendebien's Ferrari third, Masten Gregory, back in Duncan Hamilton's Jaguar, fourth, and the second Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar fifth. The 3.7-liter Aston Martin lay seventh, astern of the "Lewis-Evans-Severi Ferrari, and eighth and ninth places were occupied by Paul Frere's Belgian-entered Jaguar and the Salvadori-Leston Aston Martin, No. 19. The Hawthorn-Musso Ferrari had joined the dead car park - fourth of the "likely winners" to go before the race was five hours old. With only four laps to go before it could stop at the pits, it ran out of oil and blew up!
Gradually the light went out of the sky, and night descended on the circuit. The crowds wandered off to eat or seek new amusement in the huge, floodlit funfair near the Esses (the illumination from the fair must have made things even more difficult for the drivers). There were shooting galleries, cafes and bars for the spectators to enjoy, all the while the cars racing on, their head lamps picking out the Lucas reflectors marking the trackside around the corners. The famous Le Mans' scoreboard, displaying for once quite erroneous' information, assumed its floodlit magnificence.
An enormous green and white balloon advertising Chocolat Menier looked as though it was about to take off with a party of intrepid bolloonistes, and the tinny loudspeakers vied with the cars to make most noise, shrieking their music across the countryside. During the last hours of daylight, the Gendebienn Trintignant Ferrari had reached approxiimately 177 m.p.h. on the timed kilometre of the Mulsanne straight, and the 750 c.c. Lotus, still comfortably leading on Index,had exceeded 114 m.p.h.
A little before 10.30pm the 3.7-liter Aston Martin retired on its 82nd lap - the gear-change mechanism having failed; Salvaadori had been lapping steadily, at around 4min 30sec in No. 19 Aston Martin with only fourth gear available (out of a five-speed box). The trouble had occured soon after Leston handed back to Salvaadori, at the second fuel stop. The remaining healthy Aston; now driven by Tony Brooks, was lying second
to Bueb's Jaguar.
When Brooks took over, the car was four minutes behind Bueb; 2 hours later, it was roughly 2 minutes behind. With so many of the potential winners having retired, it was extremely bad luck that gear selection trouble should have befallen two of the Astons. Six hours after the start of the race - at quarter distance - 43 cars were still running. Ecilrie Ecosse Jaguar No. 3 still raced ahead of the field with Flockkhart now back at the wheel.
The Brooks-Cunningham-Reid Aston Martin lay second. Gendebien's Ferrari was third, two laps behind Flockhart, and the Lewis-Evans Ferrari fourth. The second Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar (Sanderson and Lawrence), the Salvadori-Leston Aston Martin, the Frere-Rojlsselle Jaguar, the Lucas "Marie" Jaguar and the Maglioli-Barth Porsche followed behind; Duncan Hamilton's Jaguar had dropped back to eleventh place, but things looked encouraging for the British marques - Jaguar, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Jaguar, Porsche; five British-made cars in the first seven places.
The A.C. Ace-Bristol was still going well, and had moved up to 18th position, while the three 2-liter Ferraris, running in the same class, were in 14th, 15th and 16th places. The highest-placed Porsche (Maglioli's), of only 1-liter capacity, was lying 9th overall. The three works Maseratis now kept each other company in the dead car park, the pace of the initial "Grand Prix" laps having been too much.
By midnigbt the order remained the same. Brooks had brought the Aston up to within 2min 20sec of the leading Jaguar when he handed back to Cunningham-Reid, who in turn maintained this interrval; but soon the Aston was to start droppping back - with only fourth gear available. Duncan Hamilton's Jaguar had been slowwing because of a burnt-through exhaust pipe which was filling the cockpit with fumes, and overheating the fuel lines. This trouble had been caused by the igniition being too far retarded. The car eventually stopped at the pit to have the exhaust system welded up and the ignition timing advanced .111: moved back into the race at approximately 1.15 a.m.
The Salvadori-Leston Aston Martin, which had been going so well despite having only top gear, came to a halt with engine trouble at Mulsanne - and retired on its 113th lap. The effort of pulling away in fourth gear from the slow corners, and yet lapping at 4min 30sec, had been too much for it.
Despite the loss of a second Aston, things began to look better still for the British cars. The Gendebien- Trintignant Ferrari dropped out with a broken piston and a hole in the side of the crankcase; the second, well-placed Ferrari (Lewis-Evans and Severi - Ferrari's chief tester) was steadily dropping back, now running with no brakes. The order had become by 1 am.: Jaguar, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Jaguar, Jaguar, Ferrari, Porsche, Porsche; the first of the 2-liter cars, the Bianchi-Harris Ferrari, lay ninth and the second of the three 2-liter Ferraris which had been keeping company for so long - No. 27, Tavano and Perron's car - had been at the pits to have a brake shoe pull-off spring replaced.
At ten minutes to two, Flockhart's Jaguar came through the pit area, astern of Brooks' Aston Martin but in fact all but two laps ahead of him; the Aston had dropped back from 2min 20sec to almost two laps behind the Jaguar. By now, the 750 Lotus had increased its lead on Index and, to keep it company, the Chamberlain-Mackay Fraser 1,100 c.c. Lotus had moved up into third place on Index, the two cars separated by the Laroche-Radix 750 c.c. Osca.
Twenty minutes later bad news came through - Brooks, in the Aston Martin, had rammed the sandbank and overturned at Tertre Rouge and had, in turn, been shunted by Maglioli's Porsche - the two cars lying respectively second and seventh at the time. The drivers had been taken off to hospital for examination though neither was seriously injured.
This accident changed once more the positions among the leaders, putting the Ecurie Ecosse Jaguars in first and second places. After their win in last year's race, some began to wonder whether Jaguars should ever need to run works cars again at Le Mans, particularly as yet another privately entered Jaguar (the Frere-Rouselle car) now occupied third position, and a fourth (Lucas and "Jean-Marie") followed. The Lewis-Evans Ferrari headed the challenge - in fifth position - and 30 cars remained in
the race.
By 4 a.m. - half distance - Paul Frere, in the Ecurie National BeIge D-type Jaguar, had passed the second of the Ecurie Ecosse Jaguars (Lawrence up) into second place - and was increasing his lead over this car. The leading Ecurie Ecosse car was now a full five laps ahead of Frere, and the French D-type still occupied fourth place.
Lewis-Evans' Ferrari, in sixth position, was steadily gaining on the Jaguar at the rate of 20 to 30 sec each lap. And Duncan Hamilton, the Jaguar's ignition timing now correct, was working off the distance lost during the car's long pit stop. Though one or two smaller cars were still separating him from Lewis-Evans' Ferrari, it seemed that he might manage to get back into sixth place.
It was now that news came through that Tony Brooks happily had suffered no more than a bruised chest and slight conncussion. At this stage 32 cars were still running, 20 having retired - and the dawn began to lighten the sky over the Dunlop bridge, to the eastward of the pit area; the night's racing was almost over.
Still the 750 Lotus led on Index, building up a substantial advantage; the Osca still held second place in this classification, and the Vidiles-D.B. had moved up to third. With the early daylight came a dense mist, first in the hollows and then rolling over the whole circuit. Lewis-Evans brought his Ferrari into the pit for a new set of front brake shoes, the old linings having worn completely through; this was the second time the shoes had been replaced. A little before 5 a.m. D.B. No. 50 came in to the pits to retire with panel damage and sounding rather like a sewing machine in coarse stitch; D.B. No. 49 also came in for a short stop.
By 5.30 a.m. the mist was reany thick, damping everything-except the cars lap times, which were surprisingly little affected; No. 4 Jaguar (Hamilton) conntinued lapping at 4min 15sec, and No. 15 Jaguar (Sanderson) in .4min 18sec. From now on came the real endurance test - not many cars left on the circuit and nothing left to do but slog it out. At 5.45 Maserati No. 25 came limping into the pits and retired. Lying third on Index, the Laroche-Radix Osca called at the pits for a lengthy spell. The second-placed Index car, the Vidiles-Schlesser D.B. had by now retired, and the Chancel-Hemard Panhard Monopole was out of the running after a long pit stop - all of which brought No. 62 (Lotus, Chamberlain and Fraser) back
into second place in the Index classification, headed by the 750 c.c. Lotus, which was still running like clockwork.
The Lewis-Evans' Ferrari (driven by Severi) was running well, now back in eighth position and at 6.30 a.m., the leadding Jaguar completed its 200th lap. At 6.55 Rousselle, in the Belgian Jaguar which was lying second, was held up at Mulsanne for some time with ignition trouble, Rousselle eventually getting the car back to the pits and rejoining the race to battle with No. 34 Porsche for sixth place. By now, 25 cars were still running -less' than half the field. In thirteenth place came the Stoop- Jopp Frazer-Nash - running perfectly in its third Le Mans race in the hands of Dick Stoop. This order remained constant for some time. At 10.21 the Lewis-Evans Ferrari made a routine pit stop, Severi taking over at 10.25. The car was then 14.5sec behind the Porsche - the next lap it was 34sec, and the next 1min 33sec; clearly all was not well with the Ferrari. The question arose, would Duncan Hamilton (who took over No. 4 Jaguar at 10.37) be able to overtake the Ferrari (seven laps ahead) into sixth place? By 10.50, the Jaguar had settled down to a lap time of 4min 33sec, and the Ferrari 4min 50sec.
Unless Hamilton could increase his speed considerably (or the Ferrari came into worse trouble) it seemed likely that the order would remain the same, with Jaguars occupying the first four places. By noon, with only four hours more to run, there had been little change in the race order. Still the Jaguars held first four places, followed by the Porsche and Ferrrari and another Jaguar; and still the two Lotuses led the Index of Performance. The Tavano-Perron 2-liter Ferrari had retired when lying twelfth - hard luck after racing for so many hours. At around 1 p.m. No. 8 Ferrari spent a lengthy period at the pits, taking in fuel and changing wheel bearings and tires, but with a deficit of five laps, Gregory, now driving the Hamilton-Gregory Jaguar, made little gain-the Ferrari maintained its sixth position comfortably. Bueb continued lapping happily in the lead at around 4min 21sec-with nothing to challenge him but his Eeurie Ecosse team-mate in second place, nine laps behind.
Reg Parnell and Alan Dakers, of Aston Martins, brought good news to the circuit of Tony Brooks: abrasions and bruises; nothing broken; should be out of hospital within a couple of days. Maglioli had suffered only very minor injury, and was soon back in the pits. But-with only two hours to go, still nothing was certain. After a splendid drive which, in true Porsche tradition, had taken the 1-liter car up to fifth position overall, Storez was reported to be out of fuel on the far side of the circuit. And the Ferrari No. 8, in sixth place - was in a condition that made its chances of finishing distinctly problematical. Tentatively, British spectators began to wonder whether a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Jaguar victory was too much to hope for - but there was still a 250-mile race to run.
One of the most impressive performances at this stage of the race was that of the elderly A6G-2,000 Maserati, No. 26; though not placed, the car was circulating with clockwork regularity, having completed 240 laps. Still there was drama to come. The Frazer-Nash, which had spent the best part of an hour at its pit, got going again, only to run out of oil on the Mulsanne straight and retire, having commpleted 240 laps. The little Stanguellini, No. 58, called at the pit with only top gear in working order. With only this high ratio, the car would not move from a standstill, and there followed a 'long' and heart-breaking push in the hot sunshine to get the car over the rise beyond the Dunlop bridge - in the hope that it would get going down the slope beyond. At last, after almost an hour's sweat and toil, the car was coaxed over the rise-and back into the race.
Storez, too, was heaving the Porsche back towards the pits, painfully making his way up from White House corner, until he parked the Porsche off the road at the entrance to the pit run-in. It was all to no avail, however, the regulations demanding that the final lap be completed in not more than 30 minutes. Storez had started his final lap considerably over an hour before the finish, so that there was no hope of pushing the car to the chequered flag and qualifying as a finisher; nor could he push in and refuel, as the car had not completed the required 30 laps since the last fuel stop. The long grind had been in vain.
Quarter of an hour before the finish, the two Ecurie Ecosse Jaguars came through the pit area together, and Sanderrson waved Flockhart into the lead, so that the cars should take up their finishing order for the last couple of laps ... and Lewis-Evans brought No. 8 Ferrari in for a short pit stop. The two Scottish Jaguars came round proudly in formation for their last laps. Travel stained, the 21 survivors raced on. At 4 p.m. the chequered flag fell and, for the second year in succession, Ron Flockhart brought a dark blue Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar first past the finishing flag - followed this time by his team mate. The pit personnel swarmed about the car and the excited crowds burst out from all sides. Then, eventually, laden with crews and mechanics, they drove to the enclosure, towards the Dunlop Bridge, where the track widened at the escape road. In celebration of victory in the club's jubilee year, aircraft flew low overhead, and dropped countless rose petals on the scene...
