The 1960 World Sportscar Championship was the eighth

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and No ...

. It was contested over a five race series commencing 31 January 1960 and ending 26 June 1960. The championship was won by

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

Championship summary

The

1000 km Buenos Aires The 1000 km Buenos Aires was an endurance sports car event held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The race mostly run on the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, although it would run the Costanera circuit in 1957. Besides a single race in Carac ...

returned to the calendar at the expense of the

RAC Tourist Trophy The RAC Tourist Trophy (sometimes called the International Tourist Trophy) is a motor racing award presented by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) to the overall victor of a motor race in the United Kingdom. Established in 1905, it is the world's ol ...

, which formed part of the inaugural

FIA GT Cup FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

1960-05-08 Targa Florio WINNER Porsche 718 RS60 Bonnier

The championship still comprised five qualifying rounds. They were the

the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second round ...

, the

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 ...

, the

Nürburgring 1000 km The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around the village a ...

, with the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

being the final round. With reigning champion,

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...

works cars not returning to defend their title, this left the door wide open for

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Società per Azioni, S.p.A. () is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "The Prancing Horse", in refere ...

to reclaim the title. This wasn’t to be plain sailing as the nearest rivals turned out to be the smaller

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

s. The Italian manufacturer started stronger with

Phil Hill Philip Toll Hill Jr. (April 20, 1927 – August 28, 2008) was an American automobile racing driver. He was one of two American drivers to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, and the only one who was born in the United States ( ...

and

Cliff Allison Henry Clifford "Cliff" Allison (8 February 1932 – 7 April 2005) was a British racing driver from England, who participated in Formula One during seasons to for the Lotus, Scuderia Centro Sud, Ferrari and UDT Laystall teams. He was bo ...

taking the spoils in Argentina. Next was the annual trip to Florida, for the

, however the factory Ferrari and Porsche were not present because of the rule change by the

, allowing the organisers to permit use of only certain brands of fuel, As a result, the race was between privateers with works-backed drivers, with Porsche coming out on top. The mid-way point of the championship, saw the cars return to Europe for the

. The twisty mountains roads of Sicily favoured the more agile car, like the Porsche which duly took the victory. The championship then into moved into West Germany, the annual trip to the

Nürburgring Nordschleife The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

. To the surprise of everyone, the spoils went to an American team, Camoradi/USA Racing Team, whose

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

was driven by

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...

and

Dan Gurney Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner who reached racing's highest levels starting in 1958. Gurney won races in the Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, ...

. This result meant, going into the final round, the only way Ferrari could stop Porsche winning the title was to win the

, and that was exactly what they did.

Schedule

Points system

*Championship points were awarded to manufacturers for the first six places in each race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1. *Manufacturers were awarded points only for their highest finishing car with no points awarded for positions filled by additional cars. *Only the best three results out of the five races could be retained by each manufacturer. *Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the table below.

Championship standings

† - Ferrari and Porsche finished equal first on net points but Ferrari was awarded the championship based on gross points scored.Janos Wimpffen, Time and Two Seats, 1999, Motorsport Research Group, page 330

The cars

The following models contributed to the net championship point scores of their respective manufacturers. * Ferrari 250 TR 59/60 & Ferrari Dino 246 S * Porsche 718 RS 60 *

Maserati 300S The Maserati 300S was a racing car produced by Maserati of Italy between 1955 and 1958 to compete in the FIA's World Sportscar Championship. Twenty-six examples were produced. Background The 3.0-litre (approx at 6200 rpm) engine was based on the ...

Maserati Tipo 61 The Maserati Tipo 60/61 (commonly referred to as the Maserati Birdcage) are a series of sports racing cars produced between 1959 and 1961 by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati for privateers racing in sports car events including the 24 Hours ...

* Aston Martin DBR1/300

References

External links

1960 World Sportscar Championship points table

{{DEFAULTSORT:1960 World Sportscar Championship Season World Sportscar Championship seasons

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...