1963 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 31st Grand Prix of Endurance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans series and took place on 15 and 16 June 1963. It was also the tenth round of the 1963 World Sportscar Championship season.

Despite good weather throughout the race, attrition was high, leaving only twelve classified finishers. There were a number of major accidents, the most serious of which caused the death of Brazilian driver Christian Heins and bad injuries to Roy Salvadori and Jean-Pierre Manzon. This was the first win for a mid- or rear-engined car, and the first all-Italian victory – with F1 drivers Ludovico Scarfiotti and Lorenzo Bandini winning in their Ferrari 250 P. In fact, Ferrari dominated the results list filling the first six places, and the winners’ margin of over 200 km (16 laps) was the biggest since 1927.

In 1963 the CSI (Commission Sportive Internationale - the FIA’s regulatory body) lifted the 4.0 litre engine restriction on its GT classes, as well as introducing a sliding scale for minimum weight versus engine size. That change again opened the field to large American V8s, used on the AC Cobras and Lola Mk6 that year. It also revised the equivalence ratio for forced induction/turbo engines from 1.2 up to 1.4. The minimum height for cars was increased to 850mm (33.5 inches).

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) renamed its ‘Experimental’ category as ‘Prototype’ and lifted the 4.0 litre engine restriction for those classes as well. The main change for the race was the starting positions on the grid were now to be determined by the fastest times in practice rather than in order of engine size. In a nod to driver safety, the wearing of safety-belts was now recommended.

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		21	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Ludovico Scarfiotti  Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari 250 P	Ferrari 3.0L V12	339
2	(example)	24	Equipe Nationale Belge	“Beurlys” (Jean Blaton)  Gérard Langlois van Ophem	Ferrari 250 GTO	Ferrari 3.0L V12	323
3	(example)	22	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Mike Parkes  Umberto Maglioli	Ferrari 250 P	Ferrari 3.0L V12	323
4	(example)	25	Ecurie Francorchamps	Pierre Dumay  “Eldé” (Leon Dernier)	Ferrari 250 GTO	Ferrari 3.0L V12	322
5		12	Maranello Concessionaires Ltd.	Mike Salmon  Jack Sears	Ferrari 330 LMB	Ferrari 4.0L V12	314
6	(example)	26	North American Racing Team	Masten Gregory  David Piper	Ferrari 250 GTO/LMB	Ferrari 3.0L V12	312
N/C *		00	Owen Racing Organisation	Graham Hill  Richie Ginther	Rover-BRM	Rover Turbine	310
7		3	AC Cars Ltd	Ninian Sanderson  Peter Bolton	AC Cobra Hardtop	Ford 4.7L V8	310
8		28	Porsche System Engineering	Edgar Barth  Herbert Linge	Porsche 718/8 W-RS Spyder	Porsche 1962cc F8	300
9		15	Briggs Cunningham	Briggs Cunningham  Bob Grossman	Jaguar E-Type Lightweight	Jaguar 3.8L S6	283
10		39	Team Elite	Pat Ferguson  John Wagstaff	Lotus Elite Mk14	Coventry Climax 1216cc S4	270
11	(example)	53	Automobiles René Bonnet	Claude Bobrowski  Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Bonnet Aérodjet LM6	Renault-Gordini 1108cc S4	269
12		31	A. Hutcheson (private entrant)	Alan Hutcheson  Paddy Hopkirk	MG MGB Hardtop	BMC 1803cc S4	264
N/C**	(example)	41	Automobiles René Bonnet	Robert Bouharde  Bruno Basini	Bonnet Aérodjet LM6	Renault-Gordini 1108cc S4	211
DNF		23	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	John Surtees  Willy Mairesse	Ferrari 250 P	Ferrari 3.0L V12	252
DNF		50	Automobiles Alpine	Bernard Boyer  Guy Verrier	Alpine A110 M63	Renault-Gordini 996cc S4	227
DNF	(example)	32	Sunbeam Talbot	Keith Ballisat  Jack Lewis	Sunbeam Alpine	Sunbeam 1592cc S4	200
DNF	(example)	38	Team Elite	Frank Gardner  John Coundley	Lotus Elite Mk14	Coventry Climax 1216cc S4	167
DNF		34	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Giancarlo Sala  Romolo Rossi	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ	Alfa Romeo 1570cc S4	155
DNF		6	Lola Cars Ltd.	David Hobbs  Richard Attwood	Lola Mk6 GT	Ford 4.7L V8	151
DNF	(example)	7	David Brown Racing Dept.	William Kimberly  Jo Schlesser	Aston Martin DP214	Aston Martin 3.7L S6	139
DNF	(example)	11	North American Racing Team	Dan Gurney  Jim Hall	Ferrari 330 LMB	Ferrari 4.0L V12	126
DSQ		4	E. Hugus (private entrant)	Ed Hugus  Peter Jopp	AC Cobra Coupé	Ford 4.7L V8	117
DNF	Still Looking	30	Porsche System Engineering	Ben Pon  Heinz Schiller	Porsche 356 B 2000 GS/GT	Porsche 1967cc F4	115
DNF		10	North American Racing Team	Pedro Rodríguez  Roger Penske	Ferrari 330 TRI/LM	Ferrari 4.0L V12	113
DSQ		44	Lawrence Tune Engineering	Chris Lawrence  Chris Spender	Deep Sanderson 301	BMC 997cc S4	110
DNF	(example)	27	Porsche System Engineering	Joakim ‘Jo’ Bonnier  Tony Maggs	Porsche 718/8 GTR Coupé	Porsche 1981cc F8	109
DNF	(example)	20	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Carlo Maria Abate  Fernand Tavano	Ferrari 250 GTO	Ferrari 3.0L V12	105
DSQ	Still Looking	58	J-G. Branche (private entrant)	Jean-Georges Branche  Claude Dubois	Abarth 850	Fiat 847cc S4	96
DNF	Still Looking	29	Porsche System Engineering	Carel Godin de Beaufort  Gerhard 'Gerd' Koch	Porsche 356 B 2000 GS/GT	Porsche 1967cc F4	94
DNF	(example)	42	Donald Healey Motor Company	Bob Olthoff  Sir John Whitmore	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	BMC 1101cc S4	94
DNF	(example)	33	Sunbeam Talbot	Peter Harper  Peter Procter	Sunbeam Alpine	Sunbeam 1592cc S4	93
DNF	(example)	9	P. Noblet (private entrant)	Pierre Noblet  Jean Guichet	Ferrari 330 LMB	Ferrari 4.0L V12	79
DSQ	(example)	35	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Giampiero Biscaldi  “Kim” (Sergio Pedretti)	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ	Alfa Romeo 1570cc S4	70
DNF		19	J. Kerguen (private entrant)	Jean Kerguen  "Franc" (Jacques Dewez)	Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato	Aston Martin 3.7L S6	65
DNF	Still Looking	49	Automobiles Alpine	René Richard  Piero Frescobaldi	Alpine A110 M63	Renault-Gordini 996cc S4	63
DNF		8	David Brown Racing Dept.	Bruce McLaren  Innes Ireland	Aston Martin DP214	Aston Martin 3.7L S6	59
DNF	Still Looking	48	Automobiles Alpine	Christian ‘Bino’ Heins  José Rosinski	Alpine A110 M63	Renault-Gordini 996cc S4	50
DNF	(example)	52	Urbain Fabre	Jean-Pierre Manzon  Jean Rolland	Bonnet Aérodjet LM6	Renault-Gordini 996cc S4	47
DNF	(example)	2	Maserati France	André Simon  Lloyd 'Lucky' Casner	Maserati Tipo 151/3 Coupé	Maserati 4.9L V8	40
DNF		16	Briggs Cunningham	Roy Salvadori  Paul Richards	Jaguar E-Type Lightweight	Jaguar 3.8L S6	40
DNF	(example)	17	P.J. Sargent (private entrant)	Peter Sargent  Peter Lumsden	Lister Costin Coupe	Jaguar 3.8L S6	29
DNF		18	David Brown Racing Dept.	Phil Hill  Lucien Bianchi	Aston Martin DP215	Aston Martin 4.0L S6	29
DNF	(example)	54	Automobiles René Bonnet	Gérard Laureau  Jean Vinatier	Bonnet RB5	Renault 716cc S4	25
DNF	(example)	14	Briggs Cunningham	Walt Hansgen  Augie Pabst	Jaguar E-Type Lightweight	Jaguar 3.8L S6	8
DNF	(example)	36	Scuderia Filipinetti	Karl Foitek  Armand Schäfer	Alfa Romeo Giulietta GZ	Alfa Romeo 1570cc S4	7
DNF	(example)	51	Automobiles René Bonnet	Roger Masson  Pierre Monneret	Bonnet Aérodjet LM6	Renault-Gordini 996cc S4	4
DNF	(example)	55	"Sarayac" (private entrant)	“Sarayac” (Guy Flayac)  Lucien Barthe	Abarth 1000 SP	Fiat 998cc S4	3
DNF	Still Looking	56	Auto Union GmbH	André Guilhaudin  Alain Bertaut	CD-DKW Coupé	DKW 750cc S3	1
DNP	(example)	1	A.Green(private entrant)	Jerry Grant  Don Campbell	Chevrolet Corvette (C2)	Chevrolet 5.4L V8	did not arrive
DNP	(example)	5	Lola Cars Ltd.	Tony Maggs  John Love	Lola Mk6 GT	Ford 4.7L V8	did not arrive
DNP	(example)	40	Equipe Nationale Belge	Claude Dubois  Georges Harris	Lotus Elite Mk14	Coventry Climax 1216cc S4	did not arrive
DNP	(example)	44	Equipe Lausannoise	Bernard Collomb	Deep Sanderson 301	BMC 997cc S4	did not arrive
DNP	Still Looking	43	Scuderia Filipinetti	Herbert Müller  Jean-Jacques Thuner	ASA 1000 GT	ASA 1032cc S4	did not arrive
DNP	Still Looking	46	Scuderia AS Elmo d’Argento	Jean Vinatier  Paul Condrillier	ASA 1000 GT	ASA 996cc S4	did not arrive
DNP	Still Looking	47	Scuderia AS Elmo d’Argento	Carlo Facetti  Giorgio Bassi	ASA 1000 GT	ASA 996cc S4	did not arrive