The Matra-Simca MS660 is a

Group 6 Group 6 may refer to: *Group 6 element, chemical element classification *Group 6 (racing), FIA classification for sports car racing *Group 6 Rugby League The Macarthur Division Rugby League is a senior Rugby league competition in New South Wale ...

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

race car introduced in 1969 for the

International Championship for Makes 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 Nor ...

. The MS660 replaced the previous Matra-Simca MS650.

Racing History

1970

The team entered three cars for 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 ...

with

Jean-Pierre Beltoise Jean-Pierre Maurice Georges Beltoise (26 April 1937 – 5 January 2015) was a French Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver who raced for the Matra and BRM teams. He competed in 88 Grands Prix achieving a single victory, at th ...

and

Henri Pescarolo Henri Jacques William Pescarolo (born 25 September 1942) is a former racing driver from France. He competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans a record 33 times, winning on four occasions, and won a number of other major sports car events including the ...

in the MS660,

Jack Brabham Sir John Arthur Brabham (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver who was Formula One World Champion in , , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name. Brabham was a R ...

/ Francois Cevert and

Patrick Depailler Patrick André Eugène Joseph Depailler (; 9 August 1944 – 1 August 1980) was a racing driver from France. He participated in 95 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 2 July 1972. He also participated in several non-champi ...

Jean-Pierre Jabouille Jean-Pierre Alain Jabouille (born 1 October 1942) is a French former racing driver. He raced in 55 Formula One Grands Prix, collecting two wins during the first years of Renault's turbocharged programme in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Jabouil ...

Tim Schenken Timothy Theodore Schenken (born 26 September 1943) is a former racing driver from Sydney, Australia. He participated in 36 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 16 August 1970. He achieved one career podium at the 1971 Austr ...

were both in the older Matra-Simca MS650 but all three cars retired with engine failure. In the

, Matra had scored four points, earning it fourth place in the championship, all the points were scored in the MS650.

1971

The first race of the season was the

1971 1000 km Buenos Aires The 1971 Buenos Aires 1000 Kilometers was the opening round of the 1971 International Championship for Makes season. It took place at the Buenos Aires circuit No.15, Argentina, on January 10, 1971. Grand tourer class cars did not participate i ...

. Matra entered one car for Beltoise/Jabouille, but their car retired after it ran out of fuel. Beltoise pushed the car back to the pits only for race leader

Ignazio Giunti Ignazio Francesco Giunti (30 August 1941 – 10 January 1971) was an Italian racing driver. He competed in Formula One as well as in saloon and Sports Car Racing. Giunti was born in Rome. In 1968, driving for Alfa Romeo, he finished second in the ...

in his

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 ...

to run into the back of the disabled MS660. Both cars caught fire and Giunti was killed. As a result of the accident, Beltoise's international racing licence was suspended for some time. The team didn't enter another race until the

with Beltoise and

Chris Amon Christopher Arthur Amon (20 July 1943 – 3 August 2016) was a New Zealand motor racing driver. He was active in Formula One racing in the 1960s and 1970s, and is widely regarded as one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championship Grand ...

but it retired with a fuel system failure. In the

, Matra had scored no points.

1972

The team entered the

with Jabouille and David Hobbs with an updated version of the MS660 known as the MS660C but it retired with a transmission issue. The car was replaced by the

Matra-Simca MS670 The Matra-Simca MS670 was a Group 5 prototype race car introduced in 1972 for the World Championship for Makes. The MS670 replaced the previous Matra-Simca MS660C. Racing history 1972 The MS670 only made one appearance in 1972, the 24 Hours of ...

from 1973. In the

, Matra had scored no points.

Complete International Championship for Makes results

References

{{Equipe Matra Sports Racing cars