6 replies to this topic

[Roger Clark]

There are some aspects of sports car racing in the early 60s that have begun to intrigue me. i haven't done much research yet but it may be that someone can save me the trouble.

Everybody knows that the CSI imposed a 3-litre limit in 1958. This seems to have held for four years but in 1962 Ferrari, Maserati and Aston Martin were all racing 4-litre sports cars at Le Mans. Two years later the first Ford GTs were 4.7-litres and 7-litres a year after that. How did this come about?

My recollection is that the CSI wanted, in 1960/61 to move towards GT cars for this class of racing - GTOs, E-Types, DB$GT and the like. This was resisted by race organisers, led by the ACO, who feared a loss of spectacle and thence spectators and revenue. So they instituted a GT prototype class of up to 4-litres, although anything less like a GT prototype than the Le Mans winning Ferrari or a Tipo 151 Maserati is difficult to imagine. The Aston Martin Project 215 was at least close to the spirit of the rules. THere must have been a further change to the rules in 1963 when the Lola Mk6 appeared with an engine of well over 4-litres.

Can anybody help fill in the gaps?

[David McKinney]

For 1962 the CSI decided - unilaterally - to limit the championship to GT cars, specifically production machinery which had to comply with strict specification requirements, and of which 100 examples had to have been produced in a year. This effectively banned all the leading cars that had contested the championship in the past.
The outcry to this decree was such that the CSI eventually compromised, deciding that 3-litre prototypes could run, though they would not be eligible for points. Then the AC de l'Ouest announced that their Le Mans race, together with the Sebring 12hrs, the Nurburg 1000km (and the Targa Florio?) would admit prototypes up to four litres, running in a new Challenge Mondial de Vitesse et d'Endurance.
Not surprisingly, although the new GT championship was the "official" competition, the Prototype category continued to provide the outright winners, and to attract the most public interest.

This system of rival championships continued - one official but poorly supported, the other semi-official but by far the more popular with manufacturers, drivers and spectators, though the arrival of the Cobras to rival the Ferraris in 1963 did increase interest in the GT category

So it continued until 1966, when Prototypes, now redefined by Group 6 of Appendix J, remained as before, but the old GT category was renamed Sports (Group 4). Perhaps the most significant change however was that the number of examples required for homologation in this new second category was reduced from 100 to 50. This meant that cars such as the 4.7-litre Ford GT40 and the Ferrari 250LM, both of which had been striving to make 100 sales so they could be accepted as GT cars, were immediately admitted under Gp4. The new 2-litre Porsche Carrera 6, which was little slower than its Prototype sisters, also qualified.
Qualification for the redefined 1966 GT category (Group 3) was meanwhile made much stricter, 500 cars needing to have been built.

[Roger Clark]

Thanks David,

I think that the Targa Florio was included in the Challenge Mondial. In fact, I think that manufacturars had to enter for all four events in order to score points, making it a very early example (the first?) of having to enter for a championship rather than just being awarded points for the races you decided to enter.

The 4-litre limit on protoypes must have been lifted in 1963 (the Lola) unless it ran under some different classification. Against that, Ferrari's main line works car that year was the 250P - did they run any 275s or bigger in 63? Or was it the switch to rear engines - perhaps they weren't ready to fit a larger engine in the back? THey certainly ran 275 and 330 Ps in 1964.

[RacingCompagniet]

Thanks David,

I think that the Targa Florio was included in the Challenge Mondial. In fact, I think that manufacturars had to enter for all four events in order to score points, making it a very early example (the first?) of having to enter for a championship rather than just being awarded points for the races you decided to enter.

The 4-litre limit on protoypes must have been lifted in 1963 (the Lola) unless it ran under some different classification. Against that, Ferrari's main line works car that year was the 250P - did they run any 275s or bigger in 63? Or was it the switch to rear engines - perhaps they weren't ready to fit a larger engine in the back? THey certainly ran 275 and 330 Ps in 1964.

The 4-litre limit was lifted for 1963 allowing Maserati to go to a larger engine for the T151. Ferrari ran the 4-litre 330GT and if IIRC a 4-litre 250GTO in 1963 in the prototype category, so they certainly had something bigger than the 250P.

[Stephen W]

I think that the Targa Florio was included in the Challenge Mondial. In fact, I think that manufacturars had to enter for all four events in order to score points, making it a very early example (the first?) of having to enter for a championship rather than just being awarded points for the races you decided to enter.

In 1947 the British Hillclimb Championship was introduced. It covered five events & entrants had to nominate the four specific rounds that they wished to score points at. At these events only drivers entered in the British Hillclimb Championship & who had nominated the specific event could score points. Thus predating the "Challenge Mondial".

[Sharman]

Roger
On another thread about Lotus 6s comment was made about homologation of Lotus 7s. I told the story of the Fibrepair hardtop for the 7 and how the cockpit was 1/2" too narrow to meet the regulations in force. The thinking behind the hardtop was the GT 1000cc class, there would have been little or no competition except on very fast circuits.
John

Edited by Sharman, 20 January 2011 - 14:37.

[Roger Clark]

Was the Challenge Mondial in 1962 an official CSI championship or was it put together by the four organisers?