Swift & Safe

The soft June afternoon burst to a deep, mechanical snarl, and the gently rolling countryside south of Le Mans, France came alive as 54 low-slung sports cars whirled into the start of "les vingt-quatre heures," auto racing's classic Grand Prix of Endurance. Once more the famous 24-hour race promised spectacular trouble. Last year's exercise in safety had been a dull performance as refueling rules held everyone down to reasonable speeds; there had been only one fatality. Last week the promoters decided to gamble again. Almost as if they had forgotten 1955's monstrous moment of tragedy when a crack-up spilled into the crowd and killed 83, they turned the drivers loose; a man could carry enough fuel to keep his throttle foot on the floorboard as long as he dared. And almost as if they had forgotten, too, some 250,000 spectators crowded close to the barriers to watch the cars spin past.

Early morning mist had slicked the 8,366-mile road course and added to the possibilities of bloodshed, but in the end there were only a few crashes and minor injuries, and the high speeds killed only the chances of the favored Italian entries. The sleek, swift Ferraris and Maseratis were fast enough to set records all week long in practice runs, but they were not sturdy enough to run so fast so long. In the race itself, the Italians screeched in and out of the pits, getting their cars patched up like overage family jalopies, while five D-type Jaguars sped steadily along, their sturdiness more than making up for their slightly slower speeds. After the first twelve hours, all four first positions belonged to the Jags.

All the Jaguars were privately entered, but there was a big contingent of factory mechanics on hand to give expert aid and comfort to the cars. The experts had remarkably little work to do. Once they got the lead, the Jags held it to the finish. The Scottish stable (Ecurie Ecossaise) that won last year took first and second; one of last year's winning drivers, Ron Flockhart, was in the front runner, and his co-driver of last year, Ninian Sanderson, rode in the runner-up. A pair of French drivers took third; two Belgians were fourth. The fifth Jaguar was sixth. Said Flockhart's mustachioed co-driver, Ivor Bueb: "The Italian teams have a little Grand Prix of their own. and between themselves they blow one another up. My first rule always is to stay out of trouble." Running twice around the clock, only 21 of 54 starters finished, but Bueb and Flockhart's dark green car stayed out of trouble, completed the equivalent of five consecutive Indianapolis 500-mile races at a record average of 114 m.p.h.

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