1959 24 Hours of Le Mans

1959 24 Hours of Le Mans
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The 24 Heures du Mans was the 27th 24 Hours of Le Mans, Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 22/21 June 1959, on Circuit de la Sarthe. It was also the fourth round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. Some 150,000 spectators had gathered for Europe’s classic sports car race, around an 8.38-mile course. The prospect of an exciting duel between Ferrari, Aston Martin and Porsche was enough to draw large crowds to the 24 Hours race.

A grand total 97 racing cars were registered for this event, of which only 54 when allowed to practice, trying to qualify for the 54 places for the race. The number of starters was fixed at 54 following some regulations changes prior to the 1957 event.

Aston Martin, fresh from their triumph on the 1000km of Nürburgring with their DBR1/300, arrived at Le Sarthe with an incredibly strong driver line-up in order to give themselves chance of victory. David Brown Racing Dept. brought along three cars, to be driven by Stirling Moss/Jack Fairman, Roy Salvadori/Carroll Shelby and Maurice Trintignant/Paul Frère.

Up against the English team would be no fewer than six Ferrari 250 TRs, entered by numerous teams including Scuderia Ferrari and North American Racing Team. The works squad of drivers included 1958 winners, Phil Hill/Olivier Gendebien, and they were joined by Jean Behra/Dan Gurney and Hermano da Silva Ramos/Cliff Allison. In addition to the Ferraris, there would be a pair of Listers and five Porsches, just raring to go for overall victory.

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