Just lucky, or was it all planned? Amon and McLaren were declared winners after a lengthy debate amongst the stewards, who deemed their car began the race 60 feet further back, so therefore covered the greater distance once Ford decreed its dead heat finish. However, there are multiple accounts suggesting McLaren deliberately put on a sprint to the finish regardless. At 22, Amon became the youngest-ever Le Mans winner at the time.
One word comes to mind: Robbed. Ken Miles should have become the first driver to win the triple crown of Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans, but didn’t due to what Carroll Shelby later called “a made up rule” from the race organisers. Ford’s own PR fluff at the time read: “A decision was made in the Ford pits to have the cars finish side-by-side in what hopefully would be considered a dead heat. All three cars went over the finish in formation, but any chance for a dead heat disappeared when officials discovered a rule that in case of a tie, the car that had started further down the grid had travelled the farther distance.”
Fastest in practice, started from pole by a clear second and was arguably the fastest of all the Ford drivers on the day, if not ever. However this would not be his year as a radiator failure in the 18th hour took his MkII out of the running. He’d be back a year later though, and this time he and fellow American A.J. Foyt powered to Ford’s second victory.
This pair of quick Brits would both suffer misfortune. Attwood’s Ferrari 365 P2 was halted by a water pump failure in the eighth hour, while Parkes fought for the lead before his 330 P3 was caught in an accident in hour nine. ‘Dickie’ Attwood’s time would come though when he famously won the race in a Porsche 917 in 1970.
He and Jean Guichet held the ‘honour’ of being top Ferrari come Sunday morning in this race, although it was rather soured by the fact their 330 P3 was way back in 12th. It wouldn’t go much further either, retiring with engine issues seven hours before the finish. Bandini would be killed a year later following burns from a horrific accident during the Monaco Grand Prix.
Ford may have been the prime American interest, but the first appearance of Chaparral wasn’t far behind. The US firm’s new 2D had impressed at Daytona and Sebring and won a 22km race at the Nürburgring, but only managed eight hours here before the electrics packed up. Shame as it had run as high as fifth. Hill qualified the following 2F second overall in 1967 before gearbox failure took him out of the lead fight.
Another unlucky trio, with Ginther perhaps getting the worst deal. He and Pedro Rodríguez represented Ferrari’s biggest threat in their NART 330 P3 Spyder and led during the night before gearbox failure. Rindt was limited to a privateer GT40 entry alongside Innes Ireland, but his engine lasted just three hours. Grant partnered Gurney in the #3 ShelbyFord that lost cooling after 18 hours.
Mark Donohue was to the great Roger Penske what Ken Miles was to Carroll Shelby. A supremely talented all-rounder called into the Ford fold to share a Holman & Moody with Paul Hawkins. Repeated early stops to fix a halfshaft were problematic, as was the rear clamshell blowing off on the Mulsanne. Donohue went back on foot to collect it, before a differential problem proved terminal.
The signs of future Le Mans domination perhaps began here. Porsche’s new 906 proved unbeatable in the 2.0 Litre category with Davis and Siffert coming home fourth overall to take the glory and lead a Stuttgart train as works Porsches finished 4th-8th. A few years later, the 917 arrived, and the rest is history. Briton Davis would retire from racing shortly after and emigrate to Cape Town, while Siffert would prove himself a star before his light was extinguished in an accident during a non-championship F1 race at Brands Hatch in 1971.
Masten Gregory and Bob Bondurant’s NART Ferrari 365 P2 didn’t get very far after transmission failure in hour nine. But it certainly did more mileage than Surtees, who didn’t even make the start. After qualifying seventh a blazing row with Ferrari team manager Eugenio Dragoni over who should start the car resulted in Surtees leaving the circuit for a rant at Enzo in his Maranello office instead.
Another distinguished debut. A year before becoming Britain’s new F1 star, Courage shared a Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 275 GTB with Roy Pike and salvaged a silver lining for Maranello by finishing eighth, top Ferrari, and taking the 5-litre GT class win. He would race Le Mans three more times before his death in 1970.
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Had been due to share his Alan Mann GT40 MkII with Dick Thompson before Thompson was caught in a practice tangle and then accused of leaving the scene of an accident in his attempts to get back to the pits. Officials initially tried to disqualify the whole team, but settled on just Thompson after threats from Leo Beebe to withdraw the entire Ford armada. Cue Australian Brian Muir as Hill’s last-minute sidekick, who did two laps on raceday morning to qualifying for his first-ever Le Mans. It wouldn’t last long though after suspension failure.
This wasn’t a great race for Holman & Moody, which had already upset the apple cart after being asked by Ford to race against Shelby anyway. With the #4 lasting just five hours after a litany of issues, Bianchi and Andretti’s #6 blew its head gasket just three hours later. At least the team’s third car shared by Ronnie Bucknum/Dick Hutcherson finished third.
The legend of the Mini Monte Carlo success story wasn’t a stranger at Le Mans either, and this was the final of his six Le Mans appearances. Hopkirk was also the last man to race a (proper, production) MG at Le Mans in 1965, but joined Austin-Healey for this final outing. He made it 21 hours before head gasket failure.
A trio of landmarks here as Matra made its Le Mans debut and brought with it two fresh drivers who would become French greats. Their BRM-powered MS60 may have retired, but Jaussaud would go on to win Le Mans twice (with Alpine–Renault in 1978 and Rondeau’s famous win in 1980). Pescarolo became one of the greatest drivers in the history of the race, winning four times (1972-74, 1984) and amassing a record 33 starts before then entering his own team.
This year was a big one for debuts. This Belgian superstar’s first appearance at La Sarthe may have ended when the engine in his MkI GT40 lunched itself, but it didn’t put him off. Ickx went on to rack up six wins (1969, 1975-77, 1981-82), which stood as a Le Mans record before a certain Mr Kristensen came to the fore. One of the all-time great drivers. In anything.
Was never able to really show his genius behind the wheel here due to an overly fragile Ferrari gearbox. He’d be a grand prix winner by the end of 1967 though and then came that wet-weather masterclass aboard a Porsche 917 in the 1970 BOAC 1000km at Brands Hatch. Stunning.
