1958 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 24 Heures du Mans was the 26th 24 Hours of Le Mans, Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 21/22 June 1958, on Circuit de la Sarthe. It was also the fifth round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship, which was running to new regulations introduced at the beginning of the season. 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, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Porsche was enough to draw large crowds to the 24 Hours race.

Le Mans in 1958

Fifteen hours of rain, three of which were torrential, a bad summer solstice. Thirteen accidents, one fatal. First ever success in the event by an American and a Belgian driver. A third win for Scuderia Ferrari whose 250 TR took over the lead in the third hour, while the British challenge ran out of stream. After their 1957 rout, the Italians took their revenge as Osca also won the Index of Performance.

Report

Entry

A grand total 70 racing cars were registered for this event, of which only 59 when allowed to practice, trying to qualify for the 55 places for the race. The number of starters was fixed at 55 following some regulations changes prior to the previous year’s event.^[1]

The battle of the previous years between Jaguar and Italian concerns of Ferrari was joined by the English marque, Aston Martin, fresh from their triumph on the 1000km of Nürburgring with their Aston Martin DBR1. For this race, they brought along a two-year old Aston Martin DB3S for the Whitehead brothers. They supported the trio of DBR1s, of Stirling Moss/Jack Brabham, Tony Brooks/Maurice Trintignant and Roy Salvadori/Carroll Shelby. Although there was no official works Jaguar entry, the Coventry marque was still very much present in the form of the twice-winning Ecurie Ecosse. They had two D-Types for Jack Fairman/Masten Gregory and Ninian Sanderson/Jock Lawrence. There was a factory-supported car for Duncan Hamilton, driving with Ivor Bueb.^[2][3]

Just prior to the meeting, Enzo Ferrari wisely decided not to enter his latest two prototypes, judging that his well proven 3-litre 12-cylinder Testa Rossa was just the car for Circuit de la Sarthe. The crews were Mike Hawthorn/Peter Collins, Phil Hill/Olivier Gendebien and Wolfgang von Trips/Wolfgang Seidel. A fourth car was planned but Gino Munaron had an accident and Luigi Musso had not recovered from his Grote Prijs van Belgie incident. The factory was backed up by no less other six other privately entered Testa Rossas.^[4][5]

Judged to be too young, 16-year-old Ricardo Rodríguez was not allowed to start by the organisers, Automobile Club de l'Ouest, so was replaced by the older brother, Pedro Rodríguez.^[6]

Qualifying

Qualifying was held over three sessions for a total of 660 minutes over the 18 and 19 June, a few days prior to the race. Most of the qualifying runs took place on a dry track and the best time was achieved by Moss, who pushed his Aston Martin around in time of 4 minutes and 7 seconds, averaging 121.7 mph. Next quickest with his team-mate, Brooks, with the majority of the Aston drivers quicker than the rest of the field. The honour of the fastest Jaguar went to Fairman, who did 4 min 13 sec, a time matched by Hawthorn in his Ferrari. The others Ferraris were around the 4 min 20 sec mark.^[7]

Race

When the French tricolour fell at 16:00, the first car sparkling into life was the No.2 of Moss. Almost simultaneously the Aston was shooting toward the Dunlop bridge, so spectacularly fast that by the time it passed under it, the other cars had barely moved. Moss already that a 20-yard lead on Brooks, who was pressed by a horde of Jaguars and Ferraris. After just 4½ minutes after his standing but flying start, Moss past the pits with a lead of a quarter of a mile on Hawthorn, Brooks, von Trips and Gendebien. Heading the rest of the pack was the Aston of Salvadori.^[8]

After just 5 laps, Moss was 13 seconds ahead of Hawthorn and was stretching the lead on every lap despite of the fact Hawthorn was pushing harder all the time. It the Ferrari driver who set the fastest lap with a remarkable time if 4 mins 8 sec (124.4mh). By 17:00, Moss was leading Hawthorn by 26 sec. Then came von Trips, Brooks, Gendebien and the first of Jaguars, Hamilton. Such was Moss’s pace, all the competitors with exception of the first three leaders, had been lapped at least once. The following hour saw Moss extend his lead over Hawthorn to 95 sec., lapping regularly close to the fastest lap of the day. Hawthorn tried to keep up, but his car seemed to be suffering from a slipping clutch, with vin Trips and Brooks rapidly closing it on him. Shortly after 18:00 (two hours) Moss was suddenly missing, with a broken crankshaft. Around this time, an enormous storm fell on the circuit, flooding the track and reducing the visibility to nil.^[9][10]

With night falling and the rain pouring even harder, the track became awash and a terrible series of accidents began, a series which only ended with the checkered flag. Between 18:30 and 22:00, no less than 12 cars were involved in bad crashes. Several people were injured and unfortunately, one lost their life. Jean-Marie Brousselet, who raced under the pseudonym “Mary”, was fatally injured when his Jaguar went out of control just beyond the Dunlop bridge. Also involved in this terrible accident was Bruce Kessler. The American ran into the remains of the Jaguar at high speed, just a few seconds after Brousselet had crashed. Luckily for Kessler, he was thrown out of his Ferrari, receiving only serious bruises and broken ribs. As for his Ferrari, had was completely demolished and burned. Another American, Jay Chamberlain crashed his Lotus and was lucky to be picked off the track, before François Picard’s Ferrari crashed into it, totally destroying the little Lotus. Fortunate both Chamberlain and Picard only received minor injuries. Among the casual during this period were Stuart Lewis-Evans (who had replaced Shelby as Salvadori’s team-mate) in his Aston Martin; Jean Hébert whose Alfa Romeo burned to nothing and Maurice Charles was another Jaguar driver to crash at high speed and needed hospital treatment.^[11]

After six hours of racing, the high-speed driving coupled with the unthinkable weather conditions, 21 cars were already eliminated. Meanwhile, Hill/Gendebien were leading the race for Ferrari, by over a minute from their team-mates, the all-German pairing von Trips/Seidel. Closing up rapidly was the Jaguar of Hamilton/Bueb, who had passed the last Aston Martin of Brooks/Trintignant. As for the all-English Ferrari of Hawthorn/Collins, that had fallen back to 11th place. During the next hour, Bueb was driving magnificently, quite at ease in the wet, making a remarkable progression. He passed the leading Ferrari shortly after 23:00. The two cars were now circulating together, and were soon joined by von Trips. Just before midnight, Hill took over from Gendebien. Minutes later, Hamilton did the same in the Jaguar and Seidel in the second Ferrari. In the early hours of Sunday morning, Hill demonstrated his talents as one of the world’s finest sports car drivers on adverse weather conditions. In the next two and half hours, not only did Hill regain the lead, he lapped Hamilton.^[12]

At the halfway point, there was just 26 cars left running. The weather was not improving. Hill/Gendebien were still leading with Hamilton/Bueb a lap adrift. As for the von Trip’s Ferrari, that was crashed quite badly by Seidel and was out. Now in third, some five laps behind the leader was the Aston of Brooks/Trintignant, still going strong.^[13]

The morning hours saw more storms and more casualties. Hawthorn/Collins retired their Ferrari. Gearbox troubles accounted for Brooks/Trintignant and we had not a single car in the 1100cc class. One of the Lister-Jaguar had had difficulties and required a 135-minute visit to pit lane to change a broken camshaft before rejoining the race. With only a few remaining, it seemed that nothing could alter the result. At one point, the Jaguar did gain on the Ferrari only for the Italian motor to extend its lead to just under two laps. Just before midday, just as a fresh storm fell heavily on the circuit, Hamilton left the road, resulting in a trip to the hospital with only slight injuries. With him disappeared the last Jaguar, making it a tough day for the Coventry marque.^[14][15]

It was under a menacing black sky, that a triumphant Hill crossed the finishing line at 16:00, ending one of the wettest and most difficult 24 Heures du Mans in history. Second step on the podium went to the valiant Aston Martin of Graham Whitehead and Peter Whitehead, while third was the Jean Behra/Hans Herrmann in their 1600cc Porsche 718 RSK. The winning partnership, averaged a speed of 106.201 mph, was only 7.4 mph slower than 1957’s victory by the bigger Jaguar, running in ideal weather conditions. The little 750cc Osca, driven by Alejandro de Tomaso and Carlo Davis won the Index of Performance in spite of the late attacks by others, ensuring two victories for Italy, made the Italians forget their defeat of the previous year. Ferrari had also secured the World Championship for Constructors, with one round still to go. The race was run in such terrible conditions that only 20 cars out of the 55 starters were able to complete the race, and actually just 17 could be classified as having covered the official distance.^[16][17]

For the fourth consecutive race, Hawthorn was the quickest driver over a single lap, but his best lap of 4’ 08 was well down on his 3’ 58.7secs of 1957. This was the same for the overall race distances as Gendebien/Hill covered around the same the fifth place crew of the previous year. Again, the wet conditions were mainly responsible for this discrepancy.^[18]

Official Classification

Class Winners are in Bold text.

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
1st	S3.0	14	Scuderia Ferrari	Olivier Gendebien Phil Hill	Ferrari 250 TR 58	Ferrari 3.0L V12	305
2nd	S3.0	5	A.G. Whitehead	Graham Whitehead Peter Whitehead	Aston Martin DB3S	Aston Martin 3.0L I6	293
3rd	S2.0	29	Porsche KG	Jean Behra Hans Herrmann	Porsche 718 RSK Spyder	Porsche 1.6L Flat-4	291
4th	S1.5	31	Porsche KG	Edgar Barth Paul Frère	Porsche 718 RSK Spyder	Porsche 1.5L Flat-4	290
5th	S1.5	32	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Carel Godin de Beaufort Herbert Linge	Porsche 550 RS	Porsche 1.5L Flat-4	288
6th	S3.0	21	Equipe Nationale Belge	”Jean Beurlys” Alain de Changy	Ferrari 250 TR	Ferrari 3.0L V12	279
7th	S3.0	22	Ed Hugus	Ed Hugus Ray Erickson	Ferrari 250 TR	Ferrari 3.0L V12	278
8th	S2.0	28	AC Cars Ltd.	Richard Stoop Peter Bolton	A.C. Ace LM Prototype	Bristol 2.0L I6	257
9th	S2.0	27	A.C. Ace Ltd.	Hubert Patthey Georges Berger	A.C. Ace LM Prototype	Bristol 2.0L I6	255
10th	S1.5	34	Jean-Paul Colas	”Franc” Jean Kerguen	Porsche 550 RS	Porsche 1.5L Flat-4	254
11th	S750	42	Automobili Osca	Alejandro de Tomaso Colin Davis	Osca S750	Osca 0.7L I4	252
12th	S750	44	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	Gérard Laureau Louis Cornet	D.B. Barquette	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2	250
13th	S750	46	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	Paul Armagnac Jean-Claude Vidilles	D.B. Barquette	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2	242
14th	S750	41	Automobili Osca	Jean Laroche Rémy Radix	Osca S750	Osca 0.7L I4	241
15th	S3.0	10	Bruce Halford	Bruce Halford Brian Naylor	Lister	Jaguar 3.0L I6	241
16th	S2.0	24	Peerless Cars	Peter Jopp Percy Crabb	Peerless GT Coupé	Triumph 2.0L I4	240
17th	S750	51	Equipe Monopole Courses	Jacques Poch Guy Dunaud	Monopole X86	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2	218
18th	S750	45	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	Robert Mougin Jean Lucienbonnet	D.B. Coupé	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2	214

Not Classified

Failed to cover 70% of winner's distance (213 laps)

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
19th	S750	53	Automobili Stanguellini	Fernand Sigrand René-Louis Revillon	Stanguellini 750S Bialbero	Stanguellini 0.7L I4	211
20th	S750	55	Team Lotus Engineering	Alan Stacey Tom Dickson	Lotus Eleven	Coventry Climax 0.7L I4	202

Did Not Finish

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Reason
21st	S3.0	8	J. Duncan Hamilton	Duncan Hamilton Ivor Bueb	Jaguar D-Type	Jaguar 3.0L I6	251	Accident
22nd	S3.0	3	David Brown Racing Dept.	Tony Brooks Maurice Trintignant	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Aston Martin 3.0L I6	173	Gearbox
23rd	S1.1	38	Team Lotus Engineering	Innes Ireland Mike Taylor	Lotus Eleven	Coventry Climax 1.1L I4	162	Ignition
24th	S3.0	1	Francisco Godia	Francisco Godia-Sales Jo Bonnier	Maserati 300 S	Maserati 3.0L I6	142	Engine
25th	S750	47	Bernard Deviterne	Marcel Laillier René Bartholoni	D.B. Coupé	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2	129	Engine
26th	S2.0	25	North American Racing Team	Pedro Rodríguez José Behra	Ferrari 500 TR	Ferrari 2.0L I4	119	Overheating
27th	S3.0	12	Scuderia Ferrari	Mike Hawthorn Peter Collins	Ferrari 250 TR 58	Ferrari 3.0L V12	112	Clutch
28th	S750	54	Automobili Stanguellini	René Philippe Faure Michel Nicol	Stanguellini S750	Stanguellini 0.7L I4	110	Engine
29th	S3.0	16	Scuderia Ferrari	Wolfgang von Trips Wolfgang Seidel	Ferrari 250 TR 58	Ferrari 3.0L V12	101	Accident
30th	S750	48	Equipe Monopole Course	Maurice van der Bruwaene Jacques Lefourel	Monopole X89	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2	101	Gearbox
31st	S1.1	40	John Ogier	Tommy Bridger Peter Blond	Tojeiro	Coventry Climax 1.1L I4	83	Rear axle
32nd	S3.0	19	North American Racing Team	E.D. Martin Fernand Tavano	Ferrari 250 TR	Ferrari 3.0L V12	77	Ignition, clutch
33rd	S3.0	20	Equipe Los Amigos	François Picard Jaroslav Juhan	Ferrari 250 TR	Ferrari 3.0L V12	72	Accident
34th	S3.0	18	North American Racing Team	Dan Gurney Bruce Kessler	Ferrari 250 TR 58	Ferrari 3.0L V12	64	Collision, fire
35th	S1.5	37	Squadra Virgilio Conrero	Marcel Lauga Jean Hébert	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce Zagato	Alfa Romeo 1.3L I4	59	Accident
36th	S2.0	30	Porsche KG	Richard von Frankenberg Claude Storez	Porsche 718 RSK	Porsche 1.6L Flat-4	55	Accident
37th	S3.0	4	David Brown Racing Dept.	Roy Salvadori Stuart Lewis-Evans	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Aston Martin 3.0L I6	49	Accident
38th	S3.0	11	Henri Peignaux	Jean-Marie Brousselet André Guelfi	Jaguar D-Type	Jaguar 3.0L I6	47	Fatal accident (Brousselet)
39th	S3.0	17	Fernand Tavano	Alfonso Gomez-Mena Piero Drogo	Ferrari 250 TR	Ferrari 3.0L V12	45	Engine
40th	S750	50	Equipe Monopole Course	Bernard Consten Jean Vinatier	Monopole VM5	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2	44	Engine
41st	S3.0	9	Equipe Nationale Belge	Freddy Rouselle Claude Dubois	Lister	Jaguar 3.0L I6	43	Oil pressure
42nd	S1.5	35	Lotus Engineering	Jay Chamberlain Pete Lovely	Lotus 15	Coventry Climax 1.5L I4	39	Accident
43rd	S750	52	Automobili Stanguellini	Georges Guyot Pierre Ros	Stanguellini S750 Bialbero	Stanguellini 0.7L I4	38	Accident
44th	S3.0	58	Ecurie Francorchamps	Lucien Bianchi Willy Mairesse	Ferrari 250 TR	Ferrari 3.0L V12	33	Accident
45th	S1.5	36	Squadra Virgilio Conrero	Giorgio Ubezzi Eric Catulle	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Zagato	Alfa Romeo 1.3L I4	31	Fuel feed
46th	S3.0	2	David Brown Racing Dept.	Stirling Moss Jack Brabham	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Aston Martin 3.0L I6	30	Con rod
47th	S3.0	57	Maurice Charles	Maurice Charles John Young	Jaguar D-Type	Jaguar 3.0L I6	29	Accident
48th	S1.1	39	Car Exchange	Bill Frost Bob Hicks	Lotus Eleven	Coventry Climax 1.1L I4	28	Spun
49th	S2.0	23	Jean Thépenier	Marcel Martin Michel Dagorne	Maserati 200S I	Maserati 2.0L I4	20	Gearbox
50th	S750	56	Equipe Lotus France	Roger Masson André Héchard	Lotus Eleven	Coventry Climax 0.7L I4	19	Accident
51st	S750	49	Equipe Monopole Course	René Cotton André Beaulieux	Monopole X86	Panhard 0.7L Flat-2	10	Engine
52nd	S3.0	6	Ecurie Ecosse	Jack Fairman Masten Gregory	Jaguar D-Type	Jaguar 3.0L I6	7	Engine
53rd	S2.0	26	Team Lotus Engineering	Cliff Allison Graham Hill	Lotus 15	Coventry Climax 2.0L I4	3	Engine
54th	S3.0	7	Ecurie Ecosse	Jock Lawrence Ninian Sanderson	Jaguar D-Type	Jaguar 3.0l I6	2	Engine
55th	S750	43	Just-Emile Vernet	Jean-Marie Dumazer Robert Dutoit	V.P.	Renault 0.7L I4	2	Gearbox

^[19][20][21]

• Fastest Lap: Mike Hawthorn, 4:08.0secs (121.417 mph) ^[22]

Class Winners

^[23]

Standings after the race

Pos	Championship	Points
1	Ferrari	32 (38)
2	Porsche	18 (19)
3	Aston Martin	14
4	Lotus	3
5	Osca	2

• Note: Only the top five positions are included in this set of standings.

Championship points were awarded for the first six places in each race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1, excepting the RAC Tourist Trophy, for which points were awarded on a 4-3-2-1 for the first four places. Manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car with no points awarded for positions filled by additional cars. Only the best 4 results out of the 6 races could be retained by each manufacturer. Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the above table.

References

Further reading

• Quentin Spurring. Le Mans 24 Hours: The Official History of the World’s Greatest Motor Race 1949-59. Haynes Publishing. ISBN 978-1844255375
• Brian Laban. Le Mans 24 Hours: The Complete Story of World’s Most Famous Motor Race. Haynes Publishing. ISBN 978-1852270629