As the cars drew up, in Le Mans formation, for the start the Ferraris looked very formidable; they had a side-jacking system for tyre-changing and proposed to refuel by reversing their tails to the pit counter. The team Aston Martins were identifiable by different colour bands along the front "wings." There seemed a casual attitude to covering over headlamps. Duncan Hamilton's Jaguar, the car Hawthorn drove at Aintree, using newspaper(!), Moore's Lister-Bristol cheese-cloth, but McAlpine', aerodynamic Connaught had proper plastic covers. Some of the Loti relied on their retractable headlamps, but those of Russell's Cooper-Climax, had stalk-like extensions, Coombs’ Lotus-Connaught exposed headlamps and a flamethrower, Page's totes twin low-set Marchels. Cooling slots had been cut in the scuttle of Chapman's Lotus–M.G., and, whereas the Panda Team's Cooper-Climax had a 4.1 axle ratio and a rev. limit of 6,500, the other Cooper-Climax cars used 4.5 axle ratios.
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At 3 p.m., in burning sunshine, the flag fell and all the field got away except for Moss, whose Porsche hung about for some time as if started in top instead of in bottom cog. Rogers' Tojeiro-Bristol was also reluctant to race.
