1961 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 1961 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 29th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 10 and 11 June 1961. It was also the 4th round of the 1961 World Sportscar Championship. Ferrari and Maserati were the main title contenders, with Porsche an outside chance for the Championship.

Ferrari's competition soon wilted in the race – the Maseratis were fast but fragile. The Aston Martins, though reliable, couldn't match the Italian cars’ pace. In the end it was a race between the two works team cars and the NART entry, And when the Rodriguez brothers’ engine blew with just two hours to go, it was a clear 1–2 victory for the Ferrari works team. A privateer Ferrari GT was third with an American-run Maserati fighting it way back up to fourth, a full 22 laps behind the winner.

The second year of the new FIA regulations did not see significant changes. The controversial windscreen rules regarding minimum height and width were also updated with a maximum slope, which closed the loophole that Maserati had cleverly worked around in the previous year.

For its part, race-organisers, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) increased the maximum continuous driving stint up from 52 to 60 laps, given the faster speeds the cars were running at. However, the total driving time remained at 14 hours per driver. The time to complete the final lap time-limit was shortened from 30 to 20 minutes to reduce the incidences of slow or stationary cars out on the circuit trying to run down the clock to finish.

Where we have not had a model of the car as raced through the business I've added another example of the car as an illustration (where I have one)

Pos	Car	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
1		10	SEFAC Ferrari	Olivier Gendebien  Phil Hill	Ferrari 250 TRI/61	Ferrari 3.0L V12	333
2	(example)	11	SEFAC Ferrari	Willy Mairesse  Mike Parkes	Ferrari 250 TRI/61	Ferrari 3.0L V12	330
3	(example)	14	P. Noblet (private entrant)	Pierre Noblet  Jean Guichet	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Ferrari 3.0L V12	317
4		7	Briggs Cunningham	Augie Pabst  Dick Thompson	Maserati Tipo 63	Maserati 3.0L V12	311
5	Still Looking	33	Porsche KG	Masten Gregory  Bob Holbert	Porsche RS61 Spyder	Porsche 1967cc F4	309
6		20	Equipe Nationale Belge	Bob Grossman  André Pilette	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Ferrari 3.0L V12	309
7	Still Looking	32	Porsche KG	Edgar Barth  Hans Herrmann	Porsche RS61 Coupé	Porsche 1606cc F4	306
8	(example)	24	B.S. Cunningham	Briggs Cunningham  Bill Kimberley	Maserati Tipo 60	Maserati 1989cc S4	303
9		27	Standard Triumph Ltd	Peter Bolton  Keith Ballisat	Triumph TR4S	Triumph 1985cc S4	284
10	(example)	36	Porsche KG	Herbert Linge  Ben Pon	Porsche 356 B Carrera GTL Abarth	Porsche 1588cc S4	284
11	(example)	26[32]	Standard Triumph Ltd	Les Leston  Rob Slotemaker	Triumph TR4S	Triumph 1985cc S4	279
12		38	Team Lotus Engineering	Trevor Taylor  Bill Allen	Lotus Elite	Coventry Climax 1216cc S4	268
13	(example)	40	Ecurie Edger	Bernard Kosselek  Pierre Messenez	Lotus Elite	Coventry Climax 1216cc S4	267
14	(example)	60	Abarth & Cie	Denny Hulme  Angus Hyslop	Abarth 850S	Fiat 847cc S4	263
15	(example)	25	Standard Triumph Ltd	Marcel Becquart  Mike Rothschild	Triumph TR4S	Triumph 1985cc S4	262
16	Still Looking	34	Sunbeam Talbot	Peter Harper  Peter Procter	Sunbeam Alpine Harrington	Sunbeam 1592cc S4	261
17	(example)	28	Equipe Chardonnet	Jean-Claude Magne  Georges Alexandrovitch	AC Ace	Bristol 1971cc S6	261
18	Still Looking	53	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	Gérard Laureau  Robert Bouharde	D.B. HBR-4 Spyder	Panhard 702cc F2	257
19	Still Looking	45	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	André Moynet  Jean-Claude Vidilles	D.B. HBR-5 Spyder	Panhard 848cc F2	243
20	Still Looking	48	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	André Guilhaudin  Jean-François Jaeger	D.B. HBR-4	Panhard 848cc F2	243
21	Still Looking	47	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	Edgar Rollin  René Bartholoni	D.B. HBR-4	Panhard 848cc F2	239
22	Still Looking	52	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	Jean-Claude Caillaud  Robert Mougin	D.B. HBR-4 Rallye	Panhard 848cc F2	237
DNF	(example)	17	North American Racing Team	Pedro Rodríguez  Ricardo Rodríguez	Ferrari 250 TRI/61	Ferrari 3.0L V12	305
DNF	(example)	1	J. Kerguen (private entrant)	Jean Kerguen  "Franc" (Jacques Dewez)	Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato	Aston Martin 3.7L S6	286
DNF	Still Looking	30	Porsche KG	Joakim ‘Jo’ Bonnier  Dan Gurney	Porsche RS61 Coupé	Porsche 1679cc F4	262
DNF	(example)	37	A. Veuillet (private entrant)	Pierre Monneret  Robert Buchet	Porsche 356 B Carrera GTL Abarth	Porsche 1588cc S4	261
DNF	(example)	55	Abarth & Cie	Paul Condrillier  Karl Foitek	Abarth 700S	Fiat 701cc S4	255
DNF		21	Ecurie Chiltern	John Bekaert  Richard “Dickie” Stoop	Austin-Healey 3000	BMC 2.9L S6	254
DNF	(example)	4	Essex Racing Team	Roy Salvadori  Tony Maggs	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Aston Martin 3.0L S6	243
DNF	Still Looking	23	SEFAC Ferrari	Wolfgang von Trips  Richie Ginther	Ferrari 246 SP	Ferrari 2.4L V6	231
DNF	Still Looking	54	R. Masson (private entrant)	Roger Masson  Paul Armagnac	D.B. HBR-4	Panhard 702cc F2	208
DNF		39	Team Lotus Engineering	John ‘Mac’ Wyllie  David Buxton	Lotus Elite	Coventry Climax 1216cc S4	193
DNF		12	SEFAC Ferrari	Fernand Tavano  Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Ferrari 3.0L V12	163
DNF		16	Scuderia Serenissima	Maurice Trintignant  Carlo Maria Abate	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Ferrari 3.0L V12	162
DNF		5	Border Reivers	Jim Clark  Ron Flockhart	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Aston Martin 3.0L S6	132
DSQ		35	Sunbeam Talbot	Peter Jopp  Paddy Hopkirk	Sunbeam Alpine	Sunbeam 1592cc S4	130
DNF	Still Looking	43	North American Racing Team	Ed Hugus  David Cunningham	O.S.C.A. Sport 1000	OSCA 988c S4	125
DNF	(example)	8	Scuderia Serenissima	Piero Frescobaldi  Raffaele Cammarota	Abarth 700S	Fiat 701cc S4	124
DNF		18	North American Racing Team  Rob Walker Racing Team	Stirling Moss  Graham Hill	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Ferrari 3.0L V12	121
DNF	(example)	29	Ecurie Lausannoise	André Wicky  Edgar Berney	AC Ace	Bristol 1971cc S6	115
DNF	(example)	56	Abarth & Cie	Giancarlo Sala  Giancarlo Rigamonti	Abarth 700S	Fiat 701cc S4	111
DNF	(example)	51	UDT Laystall Racing Team	Cliff Allison  Mike McKee	Lotus Elite	Coventry Climax 1216cc S4	102
DNF	(example)	41	Ecurie Los Amigos	Jean-François Malle  Robin Carnegie	Lotus Elite	Coventry Climax 1216cc S4	86
DNF	Still Looking	50	Automobili OSCA	Jean Laroche  Colin Davis	O.S.C.A. Sport 750	OSCA 746cc S4	85
DNF		19	North American Racing Team	George Arents  George Reed	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Ferrari 3.0L V12	76
DNF	(example)	42	Donald Healey Motor Company	John K. Colgate Jr.  Paul Hawkins	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	BMC 994cc S4	64
DNF	(example)	15	Ecurie Francorchamps	Lucien Bianchi  Georges Berger	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Ferrari 3.0L V12	60
DNF		9	Scuderia Serenissima	Ludovico Scarfiotti  Nino Vaccarella	Maserati Tipo 63	Maserati 3.0L V12	53
DNF		46	Ecurie Ecosse	Ninian Sanderson  Alan McKay	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	BMC 994cc S4	40
DNF	Still Looking	22	Ecurie Ecosse	Tommy Dickson  Bruce Halford	Cooper T57 ‘Monaco’	Coventry Climax 2.6L S4	32
DNF	(example)	6	B.S. Cunningham	Walt Hansgen  Bruce McLaren	Maserati Tipo 63	Maserati 3.0L V12	31
DNF	(example)	3	Essex Racing Team	Lex Davison  Bib Stillwell	Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato	Aston Martin 3.7L S6	25
DNF	(example)	2	Essex Racing Team	Jack Fairman  Bernard Consten	Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato	Aston Martin 3.7L S6	22
DNF	(example)	49	Abarth & Cie	Teodoro Zeccoli  Jean Vinatier	Abarth 700S	Fiat 701cc S4	15
DNF		58	T. Lund (private entrant)	Ted Lund  Bob Olthoff	MG MGA Twin Cam	MG 1762cc S4	14
DNS	(example)	31	Team Lotus Engineering	Trevor Taylor  Peter Arundell	Lotus 19	Coventry Climax 1964cc S4	Withdrawn
DNS	(example)	44	Equipe Nationale Belge	Claude Dubois  Gerhard Langlois van Ophem	Abarth 1000S	Fiat 982cc S4	Withdrawn
DNS	(example)	57	R. de Lageneste (private entrant)	Roger de Lageneste  “Loustel” (Pierre Dumay)	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Ferrari 3.0L V12
DNS	Still Looking	59	M. Martin (private entrant)	Maurice Martin  Jean-François Jaeger	D.B. HBR	Panhard 851cc F2
DNS	(eample)	61	Cambridge Racing	Jim Clark  Trevor Taylor	Austin-Healey 3000	BMC 2.9L S6
DNS	(example)	62	M. Porthault (private entrant)	Maurice Porthault  Jean Devos	Lotus Elite	Coventry Climax 1216cc S4
DNS	(example)	63	C. Faucher (private entrant)	Christian Faucher  J-J Petit	BMW 700S	BMW 700cc S4