1965 24 Hours of Le Mans

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.

After the disappointing results of the previous year's race, Ford returned with an improved version of its GT. There were 11 Fords or Ford-engined cars in the field. To meet that challenge Ferrari had no fewer than 12 of their cars. Porsche dominated the medium-engined category with seven cars and Alpine-Renault likewise dominated the small-engine categories with six entries.

Despite a strong start, in the end the Fords’ unreliability let them down again and it was an easy victory for Ferrari for the sixth successive year. After the failure of the works team, the winners were Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt in the North American Racing Team (NART) car – the first non-works team to win since Ecurie Ecosse in 1957. It was also the first international race victory for Goodyear tyres. Perhaps surprisingly given their domination of the race it would prove to be, to date, the last Ferrari victory at Le Mans.

In the year since the last race, plans had got underway to develop a permanent track. Charles Deutsch, erstwhile French car manufacturer, was the design consultant for the project that eventually became the Bugatti Circuit. After the dangerous accident in the previous year's race when a car had crashed into the busy pits, protective barriers were put in front of each pit, although the pit-lane itself was still exposed. Otherwise the only significant change was that the fuel tank on cars with an engine bigger than 5.0 litres was increased to 160 litres (35 gallons). There were slight tweaks to the calculation of the two Indices and the minimum engine size was set at 1000cc.

Where we have not had a model of the car through the business as raced 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	North American Racing Team	Masten Gregory  Jochen Rindt	Ferrari 250 LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12	348
2		26	P. Dumay (private entrant)	Pierre Dumay  Gustave ‘Taf’ Gosselin	Ferrari 250 LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12	343
3	(example)	24	Ecurie Francorchamps	Willy Mairesse  “Beurlys” (Jean Blaton)	Ferrari 275 GTB	Ferrari 3.3L V12	340
4	(example)	32	Porsche System Engineering	Herbert Linge  Peter Nöcker	Porsche 904/6	Porsche 1968cc F6	336
5	(example)	36	Porsche System Engineering	Gerhard ‘Gerd’ Koch  Anton ‘Toni’ Fischhaber	Porsche 904/4 GTS	Porsche 1968cc F4	325
6		27	Scuderia Filipinetti	Dieter Spoerry  Armand Boller	Ferrari 250 LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12	324
7		18	North American Racing Team	Pedro Rodríguez  Nino Vaccarella	Ferrari 365 P2 Spyder	Ferrari 4.4L V12	320
8	(example)	11	AC Cars Ltd.	Jack Sears  Dick Thompson	AC Cobra Daytona Coupé	Ford 4.7L V8	304
9	Still Looking	3	Iso Grifo Prototipi Bizzarrini	Régis Fraissinet  Jean de Mortemart	Iso Grifo A3C	Chevrolet 5.4L V8	303
10		31	Owen Racing Organisation	Graham Hill  Jackie Stewart	Rover-BRM	Rover 1992cc Turbine	284
11		39	British Motor Corporation	Paddy Hopkirk  Andrew Hedges	MG MGB Hardtop	MG 1801cc S4	283
12		49	Donald Healey Motor Company	Paul Hawkins  John Rhodes	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	BMC 1293cc S4	278
13		60	Standard-Triumph Ltd.	Jean-Jacques Thuner  Simo Lampinen	Triumph Spitfire	Triumph 1147cc S4	274
14	(example)	54	Standard-Triumph Ltd.	Claude Dubois  Jean-François Piot	Triumph Spitfire	Triumph 1147cc S4	263
DNF	(example)	20	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Mike Parkes  Jean Guichet	Ferrari 330 P2 Spyder	Ferrari 4.0L V12	315
DNF	(example)	48	Donald Healey Motor Company	Rauno Aaltonen  Clive Baker	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	BMC 1293cc S4	256
DNF	(example)	19	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	John Surtees  Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari 330 P2 Spyder	Ferrari 4.0L V12	225
DNF	(example)	37	A. Veuillet (private entrant)	Robert Buchet  Ben Pon	Porsche 904/4 GTS	Porsche 1968cc F4	224
DNF	Still Looking	22	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Lorenzo Bandini  Giampiero Biscaldi	Ferrari 275 P2	Ferrari 3.3L V12	221
DNF	(example)	44	Equipe Grand Ducale Luxembourgeoise	Nicholas Koob  Alain Finkelstein	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ2	Alfa Romeo 1570cc S4	218
DNF	(example)	41	Autodelta SpA	Roberto Bussinello  Jean Rolland	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ2	Alfa Romeo 1570cc S4	217
DNF	(example)	9	Shelby-American Inc.	Dan Gurney  Jerry Grant	AC Cobra Daytona Coupé	Ford 4.7L V8	204
DNF	(example)	35	Porsche System Engineering	Günter Klass  Dieter Glemser	Porsche 904/6	Porsche 1991cc F6	202
DNF	Still Looking	47	Société Automobiles Alpine	Roger Delageneste  Jean Vinatier	Alpine A110 M64	Renault-Gordini 1296cc S4	196
DNF	Still Looking	55	Société Automobiles Alpine	Jacques Cheinisse  Jean-Pierre Hanrioud	Alpine A110 GT4	Renault-Gordini 1108cc S4	196
DNF	Still Looking	61	Société Automobiles Alpine	Robert Bouharde  Pierre Monneret	Alpine A110 M63B	Renault-Gordini 1002cc S4	187
DNF	(example)	10	Shelby-American Inc.	Bob Johnson  Tom Payne	AC Cobra Daytona Coupé	Ford 4.7L V8	158
DSQ	Still Looking	51	Société Automobiles Alpine	Roger Masson  Guy Verrier	Alpine A110 M64	Renault-Gordini 1150cc S4	148
DNF	(example)	25	Ecurie Francorchamps	Gerhard Langlois van Ophem  “Eldé” (Leon Dernier)	Ferrari 250 LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12	146
DNF	(example)	38	J. Franc (private entrant)	“Franc” (Jacques Dewes)  Jean Kerguen	Porsche 904/4 GTS	Porsche 1968cc F4	130
DNF		59	Scuderia Filipinetti	Peter Sutcliffe  Peter Harper	AC Cobra Daytona Coupé	Ford 4.7L V8	126
DNF	Still Looking	50	Société Automobiles Alpine	Philippe Vidal  Peter Revson	Alpine A110 M64	Renault-Gordini 1150cc S4	116
DNF	(example)	12	Ford France S.A.	Jo Schlesser  Allen Grant	AC Cobra Daytona Coupé	Ford 4.7L V8	111
DNF		17	Maranello Concessionaires Ltd.	David Piper  Jo Bonnier	Ferrari 365 P2	Ferrari 4.4L V12	101
DNF		23	Maranello Concessionaires Ltd.	Lucien Bianchi  Mike Salmon	Ferrari 250 LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12	99
DNF	Still Looking	2	Shelby-American Inc.	Phil Hill  Chris Amon	Ford GT40X	Ford 7.0L V8	89
DNF	(example)	14	Ford Advanced Vehicles	Sir John Whitmore  Innes Ireland	Ford GT40	Ford 4.7L V8	72
DNF	(example)	52	Standard Triumph Ltd.	David Hobbs  Rob Slotemaker	Triumph Spitfire	Triumph 1147cc S4	71
DNF	Still Looking	1	Shelby-American Inc.	Ken Miles  Bruce McLaren	Ford GT40X	Ford 7.0L V8	45
DNF	Still Looking	46	Société Automobiles Alpine	Mauro Bianchi  Henri Grandsire	Alpine M65	Renault-Gordini 1296cc S4	32
DNF	(example)	6	Scuderia Filipinetti	Herbert Müller  Ronnie Bucknum	Ford GT40	Ford 5.3L V8	29
DNF	(example)	7	Rob Walker Racing Team	Bob Bondurant  Umberto Maglioli	Ford GT40	Ford 4.7L V8	29
DNF	Still Looking	30	Anglian Racing Developments	Richard Wrottesley  Tony Lanfranchi	Elva GT160	BMW 1991cc S4	29
DNF		42	Autodelta SpA	“Geki” (Giacomo Russi)  Carlo Zuccoli	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ2	Alfa Romeo 1570cc S4	22
DNF	(example)	33	Porsche System Engineering	Colin Davis  Gerhard Mitter	Porsche 904/8	Porsche 1985cc F8	20
DNF	(example)	62	C. Poirot (private entrant)	Christian Poirot  Rolf Stommelen	Porsche 904/4 GTS	Porsche 1968cc F4	13
DNF	Still Looking	15	Ford France S.A.	Maurice Trintignant  Guy Ligier	Ford GT40 Spyder	Ford 4.7L V8	11
DNF	(example)	53	Standard Triumph Ltd.	Peter Bolton  Bill Bradley	Triumph Spitfire	Triumph 1147cc S4	6
DNF	Still Looking	8	J. Simone (private entrant)	Jo Siffert  Jochen Neerpasch	Maserati Tipo 65	Maserati 5.0L V8	3
DNF	(example)	40	SpA Dino SEFAC	Giancarlo Baghetti  Mario Casoni	Dino 166 P	Ferrari 1593cc V6	2
DNF	(example)	43	Autodelta SpA	Teodoro Zeccoli  José Rosinski	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ2	Alfa Romeo 1570cc S4	1
DNQ	Still Looking	56	Abarth France	Claude Ballot-Léna  Franck Ruata	Abarth 1000 SP	Fiat 998cc S4	Did not qualify
DNA	Still Looking	4	Iso Grifo Prototipi Bizzarrini	Pierre Noblet  Edgar Berney	Iso Grifo A3C	Chevrolet 5.4L V8	Did not arrive
DNA	Still Looking	5	Iso Grifo Prototipi Bizzarrini	Silvio Moser  Mario Cabral	Iso Grifo A3C	Chevrolet 5.4L V8	Did not arrive
DNA	(example)	16	John Willment Automobiles	Frank Gardner  Alan Rees	AC Cobra Daytona Coupé	Ford 4.7L V8	Did not arrive
DNA	(example)	34	Porsche System Engineering		Porsche 904/6	Porsche 1991cc F6	Did not arrive
DNA	Still Looking	45	Société d’Etudes & Construction	Alain Bertaut  André Guilhaudin	CD 3	Alfa Romeo 1570cc S4	Did not arrive
DNP	(example)	57	North American Racing Team		Ferrari 275 GTB	Ferrari 3.3L V12	Not required
DNP	(example)	63	Ecurie Francorchamps		Ferrari 250 LM	Ferrari 3.3L V12	Not required
DNP	(example)	66	Scuderia Filipinetti	Dieter Spoerry  Jacques Calderari	Porsche 904/4 GTS	Porsche 1968cc F4	Not required
DNP	(example)	69	C. Laurent (private entrant)	Claude Laurent  Pierre Gelé	Lotus Elan	Lotus 1598cc S4	Not required