Aston Martin owner David Brown, disappointed at the divergence of racing sports cars from their road-going brethren, promptly pulled the plug on his championship-winning programme. Beaten rival Enzo Ferrari, meanwhile, was busy encouraging the governing body’s swing towards grand touring cars, while continuing to win Le Mans with prototypes pretending by regulation to be road cars. His only threat were the sister machines of Chinetti’s North American Racing Team offshoot, driven as though stolen by either or both of the Rodríguez brothers: a combined age of 39 in 1961! Scuderia Ferrari wisely brought Pedro and Ricardo in-house for 1962: the occasion of its final win for a front-engined car and a record-breaking fourth victory for Belgian superstar, Olivier Gendebien.

Another Ferrari victory came in 1963 – albeit a rear-engined one and the first all-Italian, courtesy of Lorenzo Bandini and Ludovico Scarfiotti. The FIA had lifted the 4-litre limit on GTs and the ACO, keener once more to encourage faster, more spectacular cars, did the same for prototypes. The door was left ajar for American muscle to barge through.

Jilted after takeover negotiations, Ford was determined to kick Ferrari where it would hurt most and despite embarrassing failures for its GT40s of 1964 and 1965 – plus two more Ferrari wins – finally landed a famous 1-2-3 in 1966.

Ford won again in 1967 – Dan Gurney celebrating the first and so far only all-American success by spraying the champagne alongside co-driver AJ Foyt. The MkIV, though heavier because of safety features, topped 220mph on the Mulsanne and burst the 5000km barrier. The Blue Oval closed out the decade with two more victories. Renowned British team boss John Wyer – a winner with Aston Martin – had been compensated for being stripped of the works Ford deal after 1964 with a licence to build, sell and maintain GT40s. When concerns over rising closing speeds between the fastest and slowest resulted in a 3-litre limit for prototypes, the GT40 was back in the game because it met the concurrent 5-litre limit and minimum production number for Group 4 sports cars. Enzo saw the writing on the wall, and skipped the 1968 race.

Porsche wasn’t dissuaded. Having risen gradually up the capacity ranks since its 1951 debut, at last it had a prototype atop the capacity limit. Having won the Targa Florio several times and twice at Sebring, it now eyed the biggest prize. Only for a GT40 run by Wyer’s well-drilled team and crewed by Rodríguez and Lucien Bianchi to keep it waiting.

Stuttgart doubled down when Group 4’s homologation number was halved to 25. Ferrari still reckoned that only major manufacturers could comply. Porsche’s sensational 917 of 1969 would snap him out of that.

The car was fast (240mph) but wayward. Richard Attwood’s first feeling upon retiring from a big lead because of a cracked gearbox weld was relief. It would be a very different animal in 1970, tamed by Wyer’s men. Jacky Ickx walked to his winning GT40 of 1969 in protest of the run-and-jump start, but would recover to beat a Porsche 908LH in a nail-biting finish.