Sebring International Raceway - Historical (1952)

Porsche 718 RS 60 Spyder 1960 backright 2009-03-14 A

The Tenth Annual Sebring International Grand Prix of Endurance for the Amoco Trophy took place on 26 March 1960, on the Sebring International Raceway, (

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, United States). It was the second round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. This was also the second round of the F.I.A. GT Cup.

Report

Entry

A massive total of 89 racing cars were registered for this event, of which 72 arrived for practice. Only these, 65 qualified for, and started the race. There was controversy surrounding the entry. The event promoter, Alec Ulmann had signed a deal with

Amoco Amoco () is a brand of filling station, fuel stations operating in the United States, and owned by BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and petroleum, oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a oil re ...

whereby they would be the fuel suppliers for the race. This prohibited any entrant from using any other brand of fuel. This resulted in the works Ferrari and Porsche teams boycotting the event, as they had their own exclusive fuel arrangements with Shell Oil and British Petroleum (BP) respectively. However, these teams would still be represented in Florida. For Ferrari, their sent cars to

Luigi Chinetti Luigi Chinetti (July 17, 1901 – August 17, 1994) was an Italian-born racecar driver, who emigrated to the United States during World War II. He drove in 12 consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans races, taking three outright wins there and taking two m ...

, who entered the cars under the North American Racing Team (NART) banner and thereby as a private entry and not bound by any agreement between Scuderia Ferrari and Shell. As for Porsche, they ‘leased’ two of their new RS 60 Spyders to the works driver,

Jo Bonnier Joakim Bonnier (31 January 1930 – 11 June 1972) was a Swedish sportscar racing and Formula One driver who raced for various teams. He was the first Swede to both enter and win a Formula One Grand Prix. Early life Jo Bonnier was born in Stockh ...

. Together with a number of Porsche drivers and mechanics who just happened to be holidaying in Florida at that time, volunteered they services to Bonnier for the event. There was also controversy when the F.I.A. made last minute rules changes concerning the luggage compartments and windscreens on the Grand Touring (GT) cars. The FIA ruled that these cars should be racing closer the factory specifications than some actually where. This caused some problems for the smaller cars like the Oscas.

Qualifying

As was the normal for Sebring and because there was no qualifying sessions to set the grid, the starting positions were decided according to engine size with the 5.0 litre

Chevrolet Corvette C1 The Chevrolet Corvette (C1) is the first generation of the Corvette sports car produced by Chevrolet. It was introduced late in the 1953 model year, and produced through 1962. This generation is commonly referred to as the "solid-axle" generati ...

Briggs Cunningham Briggs Swift Cunningham II (January 19, 1907 – July 2, 2003) was an American entrepreneur and sportsman. He is best known for skippering the yacht ''Columbia'' to victory in the 1958 America's Cup race, and for his efforts as a driver, team o ...

and John Fitch being given first place.

Race

Most of the 50,000 spectators expected Stirling Moss to win the race in his ”Birdcage” Maserati Tipo 61, provided the car lasted the distance. Of the 65 cars that qualified, many looked strange due to the hasty modifications placed on them with the new F.I.A. regulations. Moss had a bad start due to his Maserati having problems starting and pulled away in 23rd place, but by the second lap, the Englishman was up the second behind the early leader, the Ferrari of

Pete Lovely Gerard Carlton "Pete" Lovely (April 11, 1926 – May 15, 2011) was a racecar driver and businessman from the United States. He was born in Livingston, Montana. Racing career On November 9, 1957, Lovely won the first ever race held at Laguna Seca ...

. He would pass Lovely on the next lap. On lap five, a tragic accident occurred at the hairpin. The

Lotus Elite The Lotus Elite name has been used for two production vehicles and one concept vehicle developed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The first generation Elite Type 14 was produced from 1957 until 1963 and the second ...

being driven by Jim Hughes suffered a brake failure and headed for the escape road, only to found a photographer standing here, complete with tripod. Hughes tried to avoid him, but rolled his little Lotus, striking the photographer and killing them both. At the end of the first hour, Moss, partnered by

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, ...

were leading from another Birdcage T61 of

Walt Hansgen Walter Edwin Hansgen (October 28, 1919 – April 7, 1966) was an American racecar driver. His motorsport career began as a road racing driver, he made his Grand Prix debut at 41 and he died aged 46, several days after crashing during testing for ...

and

Ed Crawford Charles Edward Crawford, known as ed fROMOHIO, (born January 26, 1964, in Steubenville, Ohio) is best known as the lead singer and guitarist for Firehose, an alternative rock band he formed in 1986 with former Minutemen members Mike Watt (bass ...

. The first of the NART Ferraris was in third, driven by Richie Ginther and

Chuck Daigh Chuck Daigh (November 29, 1923 – April 29, 2008) was an American racing car driver. He broke into Grand Prix racing through Lance Reventlow's Scarab team, through the virtue of being one of the resident engineers. Born in Long Beach, California ...

. By the start of the ‘lunch’ hour, the Ferrari had moved into second. On lap 84, the Porsche of Graham Hill parked up with a rod through the engine block, while around the same time, the Ginther/Daigh Ferrari pitted with steam pouring from under the bonnet. Shortly after, the T61 of Crawford ran wide at the hairpin and got struck in the sandbank. Crawford proceeded to dig his car free using his hands, taking almost two hours to do so. Despite their problems, the Ginther/Daigh Ferarri was still in second at the halfway point, albeit lapping 3 mph slower than Moss/Gurney. Now in third was the little Porsche of

Hans Herrmann Hans Herrmann (born 23 February 1928) is a retired Formula One and sports car racing driver from Stuttgart, Germany. In F1, he participated in 19 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 2 August 1953. He achieved 1 podium, and scored a ...

and

Olivier Gendebien Olivier Jean Marie Fernand Gendebien (12 January 1924 – 2 October 1998) was a Belgian racing driver who was called "one of the greatest sportscar racers of all time". Rally racer Gendebien spent some years in the Belgian Congo. On his return ...

. After completing 123 laps, the Ginther/Daigh Ferrari was withdrawn as it was leaking water and oil. Just 13 laps later, and the leaders were also out, retiring with transmission failure. With 3½ hours to run, the Herrmann/Gendebien Porsche found itself firmly in the lead with another Porsche in second, being piloted by

Bob Holbert Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places * Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...

and Roy Schechter. After 12 hours of racing, the Bonnier entered Porsche of Herrmann and Gendebien, won ahead of the similar Brumos Porsche of Holbert and Schechter. Car number 42, took an impressive victory, completing 196 laps, covering 1,019.2 miles after 12 hours of racing, averaging a speed of 84.927 mph. Second place went to the second Porsche, albeit nine lap adrift. The podium was complete by the Ferrari of Lovely and Jack Nethercutt who were a further lap behind.

Official Classification

''Class Winners are in Bold text.'' * Fastest Lap:

, 3:18.14secs (94.479 mph)

Class Winners

Standings after the race

FIA World Sportscar Championship

* Note: Only the top five positions are included in this set of standings. Championship points were awarded for the first six places in each race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1. Manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car with no points awarded for positions filled by additional cars. Only the best 3 results out of the 5 races could be retained by each manufacturer. Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the above table.