The 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 28th 24 Hours of Le Mans Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 25 and 26 June 1960, on Circuit de la Sarthe. It was the fifth and final round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship as well as being the fifth round of the inaugural FIA GT Cup. It was held just a week after the tragic Belgian F1 GP in which two drivers were killed and Stirling Moss and another driver were seriously injured. The prospect of a duel between the 3-litre (180 cu in) Ferrari versus the 2-litre (120 cu in) Porsche championship-leaders was enough to draw large crowds to the 24 Hours race and some 200,000 spectators had gathered for Europe's classic sports car race, around the 13.5 km (8.4 mi) course.

Faced with a must-win result to take the World Championship, Ferrari came well-prepared and with 13 entries, from the works and privateer teams. Their main competition would come from Maserati and the British teams, although American Corvettes also made an appearance in the GT-category. The race was barely three hours old when torrential rain hit the circuit causing a number of accidents and issues as water got into the engines. More and more rivals fell away through the night leaving Ferrari to dominate the race. In the end its Sports and GT cars taking 7 of the top 8 places, with only the Aston Martin of the Scottish Border Reivers team in 3rd breaking the sequence. Belgian Olivier Gendebien got his second victory, this time with his countryman, sports journalist/racing-driver, Paul Frère in the works car. Through fast, but reliable, driving they were never seriously threatened, finishing four laps and over 50 km ahead of the second-placed Ferrari.

After its overhaul of the GT classes in its Appendix J regulations, the CSI (Commission Sportive Internationale - the FIA’s regulations body) looked at retro-fitting them to the Appendix C rules for Sports Cars.

There were fourteen classes based on engine capacity (with a maximum of 5 litres (310 cu in) although the World Championship was only open to a 3-litre (180 cu in) maximum^[1]) with corresponding set fuel tank sizes. But it was the minimum height and width of widescreens (based on those of GT cars) that caused controversy and after the first round in Argentina a number of senior drivers had protested about the danger in poor weather.^[2] There were also new provisions for minimum luggage space, carrying the spare wheel inboard, a minimum ground clearance of 120 mm (4.7 in) and a maximum turning-circle of 13.5 metres (44 ft).^[3][4]

GT cars had to be at least 1,000 cc (61 cu in) and needed a minimum of 100 cars manufactured within 12 months. Although some bodywork changes could be done the net weight could not change by more than 5%.^[3]

With the new fuel-tank sizes, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) dropped the minimum distance between fuel refills but kept the 25-lap limit for the other fluids. The maximum single-stint for a driver was increased to 52 laps (about 4 hours), although the total driver time was still 14 hours.^[3][4] To be classified, cars had to complete the last lap in less than 30 minutes, and stay within 20% of their nominated Index distance at every 6 hour interval.^[5]

To promote their new Index of Thermal Efficiency fuel-economy competition, this year the ACO increased the prize money at the expense of the older Index of Performance. After the 1960 currency devaluation, the winner's purse was now 30000 New Francs (about £6750 equivalent at the time) and 2000 New Francs respectively (and 50000 New Frances for the overall distance winner). The Index calculations were also tweaked slightly to account for the bigger windscreens reducing top speeds.^[3][6]

The ACO received 72 entries for the event, of which only 58 were allowed to practice trying to qualify for the 55 places on the grid (increasing by one from the 54 of previous years).^[7][8] Official ‘works’ entries numbered 27, but a number of companies gave strong support to their customer teams. Going into the last race of the championship both Scuderia Ferrari and Porsche arrived with 4-car teams.^[9]

With last year's winner Aston Martin having withdrawn from sports car racing to concentrate on Formula One, Ferrari were once again favourites, even though they had only won the opening round of the championship in Argentina and were trailing Porsche in the championship standings. Four works cars arrived: two were updated Testarossas and two were the new TRI chassis with independent suspension. Driving the updated TR59/60s this year the experienced pairing of Gendebien & Phil Hill were split up. Belgian Gendebien was paired with compatriot Paul Frère (who had been second in 1959 for Aston Martin), while Hill was driving with fellow Ferrari F1 team-member Wolfgang von Trips. One of the newer TRIs were driven by the other Scuderia F1 drivers Willy Mairesse/Richie Ginther and the second by youngsters Ludovico Scarfiotti/ Ricardo Rodríguez. A 1959-model Testarossa was also run by Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team (NART), driven by the older Rodriguez brother, Pedro and André Pilette.^[10]

Even though the company was still having financial difficulties, this year marked the successful return of Maserati to sports car racing with the highly competitive Tipo 61 ‘Birdcage’, raced by American Lloyd Casner's Camoradi Racing Team. The new team, sponsored by Goodyear tyres, had just caused an upset winning the previous race in the championship at the Nürburgring. Three cars were entered, driven by Casner himself with Jim Jeffords, Gino Munaron/Giorgio Scarlatti, while Masten Gregory and Chuck Daigh drove the updated original prototype. Designer Giulio Alfieri had carefully interpreted the CSI windscreen rules which specified a height but not an angle. So with a windscreen almost half the length of the car, it was very aerodynamic and very fast – reaching 170 mph (275 km/h) on the Mulsanne straight, compared to the Testarossa's 160 mph (255 km/h).^[11][12]

This year there were four British cars in the premier class. Ecurie Ecosse entered the 6-year old D-Type that had finished 2nd in 1957, modified with an enlarged windscreen and luggage hump, detracting from its formerly elegant lines. It was driven by Ron Flockhart and Bruce Halford.^[13] Their local rivals, Jock McBain's Border Reivers team ran an equally modified Aston Martin DBR, with the previous year's winner Roy Salvadori this year partnered with rising star Jim Clark. The Aston Martin that won that race had been bought by Ian Baillie, a Major in the Grenadier Guards who had Jack Fairman as co-driver.^[14]

The other British car caused a sensation and marked a welcome return to Le Mans for American Briggs Cunningham. Jaguar Cars had worked with Cunningham, their New York dealer, to prepare one of their new E-type prototypes for competition. The 3-litre XK-engine developed 290 bhp (against the Testarossa's 300 bhp) giving a top speed of 158 mph (254 km/h).^[15] Americans Dan Gurney and Walt Hansgen were the drivers.

After two outright wins (at Sebring and the Targa Florio) Porsche came to Le Mans as leaders of the Championship with its new RS60 variant. But with a top speed of only 145 mph (235 kp/h) they would be no match for the bigger cars on the long straight. Working with the new rules, they fitted two cars with special 1606cc engines (generating 180 bhp) to put them into the 2-litre category with the consequent bigger fuel tank. They were also the only team to fit wipers on both the inside and outside of the windscreens.^[16] This year the works cars were driven by Jo Bonnier/Graham Hill and Hans Herrmann/ Maurice Trintignant. Edgar Barth / Wolfgang Seidel drove the regular RS60, supported again by the two privateer entries from Carel Godin de Beaufort and Jean Kerguen.

Triumph returned to take on the Porsches with their TRS prototype of the upcoming TR4, led once again by former winner Ninian Sanderson.^[17] The privateer MG that raced the previous year also returned. In the smaller classes there were single entries from Alfa Romeo and the new Lola company competing in the S-1150 class. The Lola Mk 1 was fitted with the Coventry Climax FWA engine, developing 90 bhp. It was also the lightest car in the field, only 567 kg (1,250 lb)^[4]

In the next class down, S-1000, two works DB-Panhards would vie with Austin-Healey returning to the circuit with their new Sprite. In the busy smallest class there were eleven entries including four DB-Panhards, as well as Stanguellini, OSCA and a trio of cars from Fiat performance-specialists Abarth. Reflecting changing times, the six DB-Panhard sports were the only French cars in the field this year.^[18]

There were 22 entries in the GT classes. The largest cars in the race were four 4.6-litre (280 cu in) V8 Chevrolet Corvettes after a good showing at Sebring. The Rochester smallblock engine generated over 300 bhp and got up to 150 mph (240 km/h). Stopping the heavy cars would be an issue and many thought they would suffer from brake problems on the tight corners like at the end of the long Mulsanne Straight.^[19] Three were entered by Briggs Cunningham, returning to Le Mans after five years away. He drove one with Bill Kimberly, with the others by Dick Thompson/Fred Windridge and Cunningham team-regular John Fitch/Bob Grossman. The fourth Corvette was entered by the Camoradi team.^[20][21]

Up against them was a squadron of eight Ferrari 250 GT Berlinettas. Forghieri's new short-wheelbase variant had just been homologated on raceweek. The V12 3-litre engine produced 280 bhp with a top speed of 160 mph (255 km/h). Three were entered by Chinetti's NART, two more by the Belgian Ecurie Francorchamps and Equipe Nationale Belge. There were also entries from the new Italian Scuderia Serenissima, Graham Whitehead (changing from running Jaguar and Aston Martin) and Le Mans local Fernand Tavano who had only received his car at the start of the week.^[13][22]

Lotus dominated the middle categories with the five Elites. One of the three works cars had been given the 2-litre (120 cu in) FPF Climax engine to enter the GT-2000 class against a pair of privateer AC Aces.^[15] Porsche entered a new coupé version of the 356, styled by Abarth and capable of over 140 mph (225 km/h). It would be driven by Herbert Linge and Heini Walter.^[23]

After the success last year, the ACO was again able to close the public roads on 9 April. Fourteen cars took advantage of the 10 hours of extended testing time.^[3]

Official qualifying was held over two sessions for a total of 540 minutes over the two days and there were two major accidents. On Wednesday evening after having just done a fast qualifying lap, Dan Gurney in his Jaguar E2A collided at 150 mph (240 km/h) with Fritz d’Orey's Sc. Serenissima Ferrari GT. D’Orey's car speared off the track and hit a roadside tree with such force that it broke the car in two. The young Brazilian suffered severe head injuries that kept him in hospital for 8 months. On Thursday, Jonathon Sieff's Team Lotus car had catastrophic suspension collapse while on the Mulsanne straight. He hit a small hut and the Marks & Spencer heir was badly injured.^[9] Out of caution, Lotus withdrew its 2-litre (120 cu in) GT as it was fitted with the same suspension units.^[24]

On Friday, when the roads were public domain once again, the repaired Jaguar went out for test laps finding its handling was not perfect.^[24]