24-hour sportscar endurance race
The 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 33rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 19 and 20 June 1965. It was also the twelfth round of the World Sportscar Championship.
After the disappointing results of the previous year's race, Ford returned with an improved version of its GT. There were 11 Fords or Ford-engined cars in the field. To meet that challenge, Ferrari had no fewer than 12 of their cars. Porsche dominated the medium-engined category with seven cars and Alpine-Renault likewise dominated the small-engine categories with six entries.
Despite a strong start, in the end the Fords’ unreliability let them down again and it was an easy victory for Ferrari for the sixth successive year. After the failure of the works team, the winners were Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt in the North American Racing Team (NART) car – the first non-works team to win since Ecurie Ecosse in 1957. It was also the first international race victory for Goodyear tyres. This race would also prove to be the last Ferrari victory at Le Mans until 2023.
Regulations.
In the year since the last race, plans had got underway to develop a permanent track. Charles Deutsch, erstwhile French car manufacturer, was the design consultant for the project that eventually became the Bugatti Circuit. After the dangerous accident in the previous year's race when a car had crashed into the busy pits, protective barriers were put in front of each pit, although the pit-lane itself was still exposed.
Otherwise the only significant change was that the fuel tank on cars with an engine bigger than 5.0 litres was increased to 160 litres (35 gallons). There were slight tweaks to the calculation of the two Indices and the minimum engine size was set at 1000cc.
Entries.
The ACO received 89 entries but after the selection process, withdrawals and no-shows there were 51 cars at the start. The proposed entry list comprised:
This year there was a renewed interest from the manufacturers and their works teams with 42 works-supported entries amongst the starters.
After a slow start to the season, Ferrari introduced the new P2 design from Mauro Forghieri at the April test weekend, and the following 1000 km Monza race. A range of V12 engines were fitted: The works team had two 4.0-litre 410 bhp open-top cars for F1 world champion John Surtees and former winner Ludovico Scarfiotti, and sports-car specialists Mike Parkes and Jean Guichet. They also ran a 3.3-litre 350 bhp closed-top coupé for Bandini/Biscaldi. Ferrari's regular customer teams, the British Maranello Concessionaires ran a 4.4-litre variant for Jo Bonnier/David Piper. The North American Racing Team (NART) ran a 365 P2 built around a previous year's P chassis with updated aerodynamics and featured a 4.4 L SOHC V12. It was given to NART regular Pedro Rodriguez with Nino Vaccarella.
Enzo Ferrari was furious when the CSAI, the Italian motor-racing body, would not assist to GT-homologate his 250 LM (the 1964 race-winning car) and vowed to pull his SEFAC Ferrari works team out of the GT Championship. Meanwhile, there were five of the car's successor, the 250 LM, entered by the customer teams. This included NART (Masten Gregory/Jochen Rindt), Maranello Concessionaires (Bianchi/Salmon), Ecurie Francorchamps, Scuderia Filipinetti and Pierre Dumay's private entry. Finally, Ferrari also entered a new Dino prototype, the 166 P, with a 1.6-litre V6 engine.
After the departure of Eric Broadley and Lola Cars, Ford put its racing organisation under Shelby American, with car production and development handled by Kar Kraft in the US and Ford Advanced Vehicles in the UK (run by John Wyer with a number of ex-Aston Martin staff). After no wins in the 1964 season, the new year had started with a win for Ford at Daytona.
The new Mk II (also known as the “X-car”) was sent from FAV across to Kar Kraft to get the new engine fitted – the massive 7-litre, 450 bhp, NASCAR racing engine based on a Ford Galaxie block. Ready just in time for Le Mans, two cars would be raced by Phil Hill/Chris Amon and Ken Miles/Bruce McLaren.
Meanwhile, FAV was tasked with production of the requisite 50 GT40s for homologation. On Shelby's initiative, the GT40s were now fitted with the same 380 bhp 4.7-litre engine as the Cobras  (except for the Filipinetti entry) and the Colotti gearbox that proved unreliable was replaced by the more robust German-made ZF gearbox. Four cars came to Le Mans: FAV used Alan Mann Racing with Innes Ireland / John Whitmore. Shelby American supported the Rob Walker Racing Team (Maglioli/Bondurant) and the Swiss Scuderia Filipinetti (Müller/Bucknum) who were both also entering Ferraris. Ford France ran an open-top spyder variant for Maurice Trintignant/Guy Ligier
Once again Maserati France's John Simone commissioned the company to develop a new car for racing. The Tipo 65 was built in only 7 weeks, with a mid-mounted 5-litre engine in a ‘birdcage’ frame. Replacing the destroyed Tipo 59, it left no time to test before the race for its drivers Jo Siffert and Jochen Neerpasch The final big-engine entry was the returning Iso Grifo A3C. Originally there were to be three but two cars had been wrecked earlier in the year at Sebring.
Porsche had got their desired 185 bhp flat-six engine fitted for their 904 GTS cars, alongside the flat-eight (225 bhp) with three works cars entered and a spare. Opposing them were two British cars – a privately entered Elva and the return of the Rover turbine, first seen in the 1963 race, now categorised as equivalent to 1992cc. It had a new coupé body and ceramic rotary generators as heat exchangers which halved its fuel consumption. It would be driven by F1 drivers Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart
Curiously, in the small-engine categories, Alpine was the only French manufacturer present. A new model, the M65 had aerodynamic tailfins and a new 1.3-litre Gordini engine that developed 135 bhp pushing it to 250 kp/h (155 mph). It was given to Mauro Bianchi/Henri Grandsire. The other four works cars were a mix of engines and body styles. Their opposition were a pair of the latest Sebring Sprites from Austin Healey. Fitted with the 1293cc engine in the Mini-Cooper S they could reach 240 kp/h (148 mph)
In the GT classes Ferrari were now the underdog after being beaten by the Shelby Cobras the previous year, and the races since. Five of the six Shelbys that had been made were at Le Mans, prepared by Alan Mann Racing: two for Shelby American, and one each for Ford France, Scuderia Filipinetti and AC Cars themselves. For his part, after his fit of pique, Ferrari homologated his new road-car the 275 GTB. The racing version had the 3.3-litre V12 engine extended to 300 bhp and lightened with magnesium castings. After protests from Carroll Shelby were upheld for being significantly lighter than the production car – 1100 kg - ballast had to be added. Cars were being prepared for Ecurie Francorchamps and Scuderia Sant Ambroeus.
In the smaller GT classes were the 2-litre Porsche 904s with the homologated 4-cylinder engine. Autodelta, Alfa Romeo's racing division, brought the Giulia TZ2 rebodied by Zagato. Its 1.6-litre engine was tuned to 170 bhp it could 245 kp/h (150 mph). Finally there was the newly homologated Triumph Spitfire. The factory brought four cars to the race.
Practice.
Fastest car at the April test-weekend was brand new 330 P2 – John Surtees putting in a lap of 3:35, fully five seconds quicker than the Fords and other Ferraris. However the weekend was overshadowed by the death of Lloyd Casner in the rain on the Saturday. Casner, with his Camoradi team, was a long-time Maserati campaigner. Braking at the end of the Mulsanne straight, his Tipo 151/3 speared off the track and rolled, possibly when braking on the slick white-paint road markings. Casner was thrown from the car and died later from head injuries in hospital.
For the first time in the race's history the initial practice session on race week had to be cancelled. A severe storm felled trees and flooded parts of the circuit. The ACO rescheduled an extra session on the Saturday instead.
Phil Hill, in the big 7-litre Ford, put in a blistering fastest lap of 3:33, fully 30 seconds faster than the best practice lap from only four years earlier. Surtees was second fastest, two seconds slower, in the rival Ferrari ahead of Bondurant's and Miles’ Fords. Dan Gurney had the quickest GT car – his Shelby Cobra was 12th with a 3:51.3, just ahead of the 3:55.0 of Willy Mairesse in the Belgian Ferrari GTB. In the next days, additional stabilising fins were added to the two GT40Xs.
The fastest Porsche was the flat-8 of Gerhard Mitter who put in a 3:59.4 to qualify 18th ahead of the other Cobras and the Maserati. Mauro Bianchi, in the new Alpine, was quickest of the small cars coming in 35th with a 4:20.0. In the end only 51 cars took the start when the small 1-litre Abarth failed to qualify.
Race.
Start.
After a wet week, race-day was sunny and hot with a huge crowd. It was also the first time the American audience had live coverage of the race. Although having set fastest time, Chris Amon took the start and Phil Hill was the TV guest. As it was, when the live-feed failed Hill took over commentating duties.
Siffert got his Maserati away first, followed by the three Fords of Amon, Bondurant and McLaren. Last away was Colin Davis whose Porsche prototype refused to start for two minutes. The two New Zealanders, McLaren and Amon, led the first lap with Surtees up to third as the Maserati fell back. On the fourth lap Siffert planted the Maserati into the haybales at Tertre Rouge. When he finally got back to the pits the car was retired with damage to the oil tank and suspension. It was an underwhelming end to Maserati's presence at Le Mans. But his was not the first retirement: the Dino was gone. Baghetti had over-revved the engine terminally damaging it. Teodoro Zeccoli put his Alfa Romeo in the sandtrap at Mulsanne. He excited the spectators by stripping to his underwear in a long, unsuccessful attempt to dig it out.
Back at the front, McLaren and then Amon set about building a lead on the Ferraris, setting new lap records. After two hours only the top four cars were now on the lead lap with Miles ahead of the Ferraris of Scarfiotti, Bonnier and Parkes. But going into the third hour it all started going wrong for Ford. Hill had already fallen away with clutch problems costing 40 minutes in the pits and the French Ford had broken its gearbox when Trintignant had missed a gearchange. The Filipinetti and Walker cars went out with blown head gaskets on the same lap, and when the McLaren/Miles car broke its gearbox the Ford challenge was beaten in only three hours.
Small consolation was Phil Hill's new lap record of 3:37.5 as he vainly attempted to make up the 10 laps of lost time.
This now left the race to Ferrari – the three works cars battled for the lead with the Maranello car of Bonnier/Piper. Fifth was the Gurney/Grant Cobra. Both the leading Porsche, of Mitter/Davis, and Alpine of Bianchi/Grandsire were out within three hours – with clutch and gearbox problems respectively. In the fourth hour, Gregory brought the NART Ferrari into the pits misfiring. However, after changing the distributor, losing 30 minutes, the car was ready again. Gregory found Rindt changed and ready to leave. With nothing to lose they agreed to push flat-out, rejoining in 18th.
Night.
As the sun was setting came the only major accident of the race. Dutchman Rob Slotemaker went off at the fast Maison Blanche corner but was unhurt. His Triumph Spitfire was the same car that had careered towards the pits in the previous year's race when Mike Rothschild had been overcome by exhaust fumes.
After seeing off the Fords, the Ferraris also started having problems. First to fall was the Maranello car. An exhaust broke and Bonnier, choking from the fumes, bought the car in from third to retire as night fell. The gearbox of Parkes/Guichet got jammed in fifth gear. During the night, all of the P2s got delayed by cracks in their brake discs, which in turn gave problems in suspension, each losing 30-60 minutes or more in getting the issues fixed.
The Cobras had been running very well – at 2am