1960 24hrs of Le Mans Corvette Documentary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
- In 1960 GM was not officially affiliated with any of the teams, but for the first time Corvette was on the grid and GM commissioned a short documentary to be filmed. The #3 Corvette persevered and took 1st in class.
The Corvette has always been held in high regard by the French people. Part of it is due to the Chevrolet name (although Swiss, Louis Chevrolet obviously had some French heritage), as well as the Corvette name, which was small fast ship originally used by the French navy, with the concept later adopted by the British in WWII. But the biggest was something Dr. Dick mentioned: without access to transporter trucks, Cunningham and crew DROVE the Corvettes from the harbor at Le Harve all the way to Le Mans. As word spread locals turned out along the route to cheer for the yanks and their Corvettes.
interesting thank you:: . good too know the cars had fans over there viva La Loui .. i love the guy from what ive researched and my dad was a chevy man from the 50's with a truck first then cars. For me the 1960 corvette is my Favorite corvette speeding down the Mulsanne Straight. .. base ball hot dogs apple pie & Chevrolet ****=====
Dick Thompson was not only a championship driver, he was a outstanding human being. My damaged leg was in a Frankenstein hinged leg brace for about 3 years when I was a teenager, and the brace kept breaking, nobody wanted to be bothered to weld the break in the brace, because I had no money to speak of and could not afford a new one. A friend of mine knew a relative of Dr. Dick Thompson who took me over to the shop where they worked on their cars, and they were kind enough to re-weld my brace at no charge and always gave me encouragement that I would overcome the medical issue ( I did) and I got to ride in a couple of their fast cars for a few blocks to boot. Thank you so much Dr. Thompson these many years later.
What a fantastic documentary.......production Corvettes surprising people, just as they do today. My '86 still gets me every now and then!
Very watchable period piece. The driver/narrator was a nice change from the booming-voiced announcers in that era. Though a corporate PR production, GM weren't obnoxious about it. And they made a damn good showing.
What a great film. Pretty unbiased too considering they gave a lot of other makes praise.
Briggs Cunningham sighting at 9:22. Didn't see Alfred Momo.I wish they'd told the story of why they had that ice available.
For those who address any achievement with a snarky comment, this was via Zora Arkus-Duntov, John Fitch, Alfred Momo and America's greatest gentleman racer, Briggs S. Cunningham. The Corvette finished LeMans first time out, won its class, and did it with a modified production car - no tilted windshields/aluminum bodies/racing TR engines/smaller diameter frame tubes......
It's always good to remember where we've been.
Did you not watch the video? Come on man, you have really got to think about it. Its not hard either. First of all: First American cars entered in the race to finish. Second, they were production cars, unlike all of the other cars entered in the race, third, we kicked butt. Literally. Came in with 4 cars and only one had a mechanical failure, one flipped, and the other two finished. Out of 50, 25 were left, and two were corvettes. Beat cars that cost tons more. I can keep going.
Two years later a chicken farmer from texas took a little car called the ACE he found in england and with a shoe horn was able to stuff a small block ford v8 under the hood and by installing the stick shifter on backwards made the corvette obsolete to this day ..a v6 ford two door will crush a mid engine chevy
@@donniebaker5984 Hey Donnie, fun fact: where exactly are the "Cobras" today? But you can see a Corvette every day. Where are they manufacturing those thousands of "Cobras" today? Don't know, but stop in at Bowling Green and see the Corvettes being produced. As for "obsolete", define your terms, little fella...oh,and bring out that "v6 ford two door" that will "crush" a C8, please! We all REALLY want to see that, not just in your head, out here.
@@donniebaker5984 first, his comment was 9 years ago before the GT. Second, the GT needs turbos while the C8 Z06 will be pushing more power N/A. Third this is 1960 and while the corvette was high production the gt40 was very limited and cost much much more then and now. Quite bitching between companies when both make a respectable car
What a great video. I love the look back in time. This was 3 years before I was born. Thanks!
My high school graduation present: a 1960 280/283 c.i. Roman Red with black interior four speed, with posi. "Plastic Bomb"-thanks Zora, Briggs and the flying dentist Dick Thompson.
Go Corvette Go! Coming from a Frenchman :)
Sur la victorie, mon ami.
Fascinating documentary narrated by a very capable driver/narrator. Those were different days for road racing, for sure!
Fantastic. Just the right Easter present for me. The 'Ice stops' are a beautiful reminder of times when people ran the show, rather than robots. And can you find a finer example of truly international unison on very national soil. Merci bien. 🌷:)
Excellent documentary.
Thanks for posting this Chris! Dick Thompson was a heck of a guy!
TZon3, you are completely incorrect. First, the Corvettes weren't the only cars which were the sole occupiers of a given class. Second, there was no other class they could have entered as production cars. Third, they were, as Dr. Dick says, the only true production based cars in the race. Fourth, the "actual competition" at LeMans has ALWAYS been "finishing". Many, many famous racing cars entered there never won - or finished. Credit was due - and earned.
The ol' bags of ice trick..classic ^.^
Corvette hardtop
I’d give anything to be around back in that area. So cool.
I just love this old stuff!
Great upload... Gotta love those 1960 Corvettes....Surprised a lot of Europeans
Yeah american people must be proud watching this
my dad had a 58 and a forest green 67 with side pipes. i remember getting burned on that as a kid in the 80s. he sold the 58 to a chevy dealer and i think its still low miles and worth mucho. he sold the 67 back then as well. he held onto a 68 camaro ss/rs until 1992. it sat in our garage and he never touched it. it was unfinished and he was too busy to do anything. he lost his passion i guess. it was like a dead body that we never looked at. it was pretty close to being finished. red with white stripes. the interior was nice! the retard that bought it painted it sky blue. my dad was pissed!
very neat piece of history! Thank you.
the winning car had no rollbar and no seat belt and it was a convertable or roadster.... my god 170 mph down the straight 24 hour race no belt no roll bar
The generally accepted attitude in the late 1950's and early 1960's was that the driver preferred to jump from the car rather than ride into a crash. The fuel tanks often ruptured (no fuel cells in those days) and the cars were a collection of sharp edges that were very hard on the occupants.
Maston Gregory was an American driver during that era who was driving a Birdcage Maserati Tipo 63. In a race in Sweden something broke and he was taken for a ride through the boonies at about 150 mph. Knowing he had no intention of riding it out, he stood up in his driver's seat and jumped from the car!! He suffered quite a bit of road rash but I don't believe he actually broke anything critical.
Racing in that period was a seriously dangerous occupation and losing 4 to 5 top level drivers in a season was not unusual. Some of the most beautiful race cars ever built came from that era but they were also some of the most dangerous when something went wrong.
Gary Goodlund. Eminently interesting commentary beautifully written. Thanks.
Ever watch a movie of an old LeMans sprint,, start and blast off in 10 seconds? Seat belts ?????
Gary Goodlund w
Absolutely thrilling in those days and drivers were perpetually on the brink of absolute catastrophe. Looking at the law of averages it's pretty amazing that any of these fellas even volunteered to drive at all! You were basically asking to be killed or permanently maimed by merely climbing in. I'm not saying that the boys from this era actually loved racing more than current racers, but it definitely is a testament as to how competitive they truly were. I wonder what they told themselves in their own head... Like how did they justify the extreme risk to their side that actually tries to preserve itself?
Things have obviously changed dramatically with safety equipment. I've been an RN for 23 years. I've worked emergency in a level one trauma center off and on for most of those years. I can tell you from my own experience, that even over the past 10 years or so, as the older 90s cars are no longer driven as much, The wrecks which used to produce mangled victims who faired quite poorly, now produce minor injuries and typically the victims fare much better. Airbags and structural design has brought things forward to a point that is nearly unbelievable. Oh trust me, we still see patients that are beyond help, but it's typically if they were ejected and were not wearing a belt. Or from speeds that no airbags in the world could help you with.
I really enjoy seeing these older documentaries, they were hero's to me. Brave gentleman indeed. Thanks
I'm not a Chevy guy but this is very interesting
Still had an engine design in 1955 no technology I still don't as they still have a push rod engine in 2020 with no technology at all old-fashioned rocker arms they ran out of iron blocks that's why they're all made out of aluminum today recycle Budweiser can but up around Milwaukee and Detroit they're made out of recycle old style cans what's the throttle body and the valve covers are still out of recycled Budweiser cans!! But the Corvette flags on the air filter made in China Chop Chop Chang Chang dong dang but I got a a quarter dollar bet that says that new 2020 Mid Engine Corvette with old school steel pushrod engine rocker arm motor engine 3000 horsepower Nelson Racing Engine that has me Mirror Image turbos of Nelson's own design and patent and text made out of inconel in his shop with Nelson own Billet aluminium intake was Nelson Zone dual fuel electronic fuel injection rails with all the wiring built into the manifold Nelson racing fuel sale divided VP racing high octanel114 and the other side for 93 octane for the street and the other race gas for the track and the top it all off a Kenny Brown stage 4 Advanced geometry dispensing makeover with a set of islands of Sweden Indianapolis race car shocks famous Mario Andretti's on his Honda that I watch them put on at ohlins USA importer in North Carolina and I got one quarter dollar that says Ford GT wouldn't have a chance so what are you waiting on Nelson build it and they will come and they will fail miserably! Sorry day for the Ford GT twin squirrel Turbo with only 1100 horsepower Roush Yates southern rock meet Tom Nelson of LA with Billet Magic
I just had the most evil demonic worse than Ford slapping Ferrari 4 times in a row and then 50 years later is this poor old Italian man curled up in the fetal position Drew out of his mouth what's Ford Motor Company children had to kick enso again again back to my Corvette mid-engine project and get the big Kenny Bell blower 4.3 L whatever with the same one e blower that that Carroll Shelby himself use on the king cobra put that on Copo what's the famous bundle of snakes that was used on a Dan Gurney weslake 69 Ford GT makeup brand new set out of stainless steel then I'm exit them right over and out right on top the rear deck hey long skinny bailed out velocity reverse megaphone on that Chevy small-block sticking out the back of that Mid Engine Corvette just like the Ford GT original and hold your ears Kitty it's going to be at 2 octaves above the Ford breaking champagne glasses when he goes by with a pop Splash here in a pop Splash there Sarah pop brasaavaraaaaaaaaaapRr
@donniebaker5984 please get diagnosed ❤
power and force & tough very-= up front and proud- on the flag pole-=- what God has running through his veins-- this is Man
from Joel: Nice to see Johnny Baus @ 4:19. He was an interesting guy -- I first met him at LeMans in '61. In early '66, I got to run against Dr Dick Thompson in the SCCA feature race at VIR; he had a Ford GT-40 and I had my Lotus 23. (Needless to say, he beat me handily -- even back then there was no substitute for cubic inches!)
Looks like a normal commute in my town, 59 years later! No cup holders though!
found this doco looking up a famous new zealand lamborghini engineer bob wallace he worked with the Gamoradi maserati/corvette team..would love to learn more of the bob wallace and corvette connection..great video
I love the bit about the Vett's racing the Porsches! who had 1500cc engine!
favorite year vette - killer Quad Headlights oo-oo
My real question is, where was Briggs Cunningham in this documentary? It was his team and his cars, at least nominally. Then again, and this is true, after the race these cars were returned to the US, repainted and sold as street drivers. No kidding. Some guy drove the LeMans class winning Corvette as his regular street driver...
You're right
Beautiful front end treatment! I bet they were bricks, aerodynamically, but i heard that the stingrays had a front end lift problem at high speeds...
good show !
outstanding, class all the way, too much technology in race cars today
Yea too high tech today , take all that high tech way from todays track cars and we can expect exploding fireballs of pile ups of mayhem dead bodies blood and guts with people in the grand stsnds on fire screaming while running for there lives just like the good old days in the 60s at the indy 500. I'll pay a dollar to see that again
@Phil Cadey th-cam.com/video/H7pxphQQF3o/w-d-xo.html
The last year of the roadster show lotus ford cosworth DOHC 32V with a bundle of 8 snakes twisted out of where there used to be an intake plenum Instead exhaust and what used to be was a huge fuel injected Stacks between the camshaft on both sides at a higher pitch than any Formula 1 knocking out your eardrums out out out 16000 RPM including mine I can still hear them then we still had your heavyweight contender that was the Miller Racing Roadster with an oppenhauser double overhead twin camshaft 16 V the complete balance and counterweight crank 4 cylinder turning over 10,000 making up words of 800 horsepower what's the nastiest crash in 1964 hours there be blood and internal guts everywhere on fire people running screaming men Burning Alive in their cars watching them pop like ticks first open the fat melting off their are there bone on fire want to know what happened to the Miller Racing Team cars with Offenhauser engine a man from France in 1927 bought two of the Miller cars with the Offenhauser engine looking back in France copy and made his own car to sell his name was Bugatti it's the same Bugatti who built the Bugatti Veyron which has a 16 cylinder block with 4 Offenhauser top ends on it yep everything. Europeans after claims they have came from Indianapolis Indiana from us Hoosier hillbilly Billies Look Back Porsche never had anything about 1967 as when they brought car to Indy it wouldn't even qualify as Tony Holman wouldn't let anybody down the other team show the Porsche people how to built engine in a car and then how to make it turn left or you wouldn't have anything today
Even though racing is racing, the passage of time is obvious in this video. One is the background music provided by a string orchestra with lively happy happy tunes. Two is the stands shot of women fresh from the hairdresser and wearing pearl necklaces. Ahh, vive la France!
Wow I never realised a Corvette actually won Le Mans. It’s like a US ship sunk a U boat and recovered an enigma machine and used Bletchley Park to decode it. Oh, I forgot, that was the Royal Navy and Bletchley Park is down the road from me in England. Anyhow, I’m glad a Corvette won Le Mans, even though I never heard of it in reality
The current Corvette Racing team has won 8 times as well.
They managed 8th overall with one of the cars. They were also the only entrants in their class. Ford is the only US team to have actually ever won Le Mans and it still stands today.
@@kc-km8du And ? Ford did it TWICE !!!!!!
WTH, would ANYONE pop that radiator cap w/the car running fine @ 175° ?!
Someone working for the other team undercover.
GM was proud about the cars reliability
Bet the guy who pulled the radiator cap wanted to crawl off and hide.
***** maybe he was from the ferarri crew LOL
biggest mistake regret 4 a lifetime
Here after the auction
Great coverage but the music is distracting and irritating. Thanks for making it available. The USA ! 8th place first race!
The other manufacturers sould have counted their blessings. Had GM not been so tight with a buck, the production Corvette could have been even more successful. The C1 cars scored many production class wins dispight their heavy, anticipated 1949 passenger car front suspension and chassis. By the early 60's, both Buick and Pontiac had interduced aluminium brake drums along with Buick's own small aluminium V8 in 64. In 62 when the 327 came out, the high performance Corvette brake option still featured cast-iron finned
drums.
But than again, GM also pushed aside Chevy's compact-car design in favor of their own corporate team design. As a result, the Vega made it into production greatly influencing the popularity of Japanese cars in the US for decades to come.
Oh please!! Obviously you have NO KNOWLEDGE of Chevrolet or GM and there sporadic racing history. They raced a few times at Indy before 1920. After the fatal disaster at Le'Man in 1955 involving Mercedes Benz (Mercedes quit racing entirely for several decades because of this) and the death of about 80 spectators Chevrolet/GM voted to drop any interest in racing. In 1957 they sent a few cars to a group in Georgia who raced in NASCAR with their fuel injected 283 and were quite successful with that package. So what racing program and/or what production Corvette are you talking about? Just what history in sports car racing when mentioning the Corvette are you referring too?? And this video concerns the 1960 race at Le'Man but the Vega was introduced in 1970, NOT 1960. May be you have your decades mixed up.
@@brgilbert2 Oh please!! Obviously, you have NO KNOWLEDGE of the subject. GM did NOT drop out because of the accident in 1955. What kind of moron are you anyway? It is true that the LeMans tragedy caused a stir among AMERICAN manufacturers. Thus, they started the AMA, a gentlemen's agreement to back out of organized racing. Nevertheless, GM, Ford and Chrysler all continued racing involvement. Late in 1962, with antitrust laws being threatened against GM, it officially ended all racing programs which included Pontiacs in Stock Car Racing and Drag Racing. Same for Chevy in Drag Racing and sports car racing. And you double moron, the Vega came out in 1971. I know because I bought a new 1970 1/2 Camaro SS in 1970. Egads man, get some smarts. Your willful ignorance is painful.
Great film ,
+Mark Thorne Unfortunately the film bankrupted Solar Productions and McQueen lost control.
THIS was a real person, not an actor! Chevy might be able to sell me a car if they used this kind of approach, instead of shoving J.D. Power awards down my throat and informing me that this car "is the only one in its class with two-stage airbags, stability control..... and a hand painted volume control button!"
JD Powers 😂🤣😂🤣 .. they make up the awards and give them to themselves!!
It's pronounced "J.D. Powuh" according to Mahk!
39 years later, Corvette returned to Le Mans with the C5.R, and just one year after that, it again took first in class. They've been back every year since. corvetteracing.com has the complete story.
Put on a good run...
It's too bad my old enduro partner, Bob Grossman, never got the publicity that John Fitch received. He drove half of the race.
@Lacey Studio - With all due respect for Bob Grossman, who was a fine driver in his own right, I think John Fitch was better known for his accomplishments world wide. John was also the only American to be asked by the Mercedes Factory Team to race for them. He raced in the Targa Florio, Mille Miglia and Carrera Panamericana. He won the Standard Sports Class of the Mille Miglia in a 300 SL Mercedes in 1955. He captained the first Corvette Racing Team at Le Mans and was the first American to race in Europe after WWII.
For me Sbc sounds better than a harley and best motor ever made :) my pickup motor is old 307 so has 283 pistons 350 rods an has 400 crank 305 heads made from almost all first gen sbc cept 265 , it love of my life :) um don't tell my wife :(
...an answer to a question that nobody asked!!!
It sounds like buddys teeth were glued together lol
Here's a map of the track.. well not actually.. someone who hasn't seen the track before drew it.. 🤣😂
last 21 laps the pit crew member removes the radiator cap- who does that- then the corvette had to come into the pitts every 3 laps equalling 7 pits stops- tradgedy in history. can anybody tell me what place corvette #3 could have finished if it didnt have to come into the pitts 7 times in the last 21 laps??
By not finishing. It was an endurance race after all....
Not bad for the first race at Le Mans.
6200rpm down the straight?!?!! YEEEEEE HAWWWWW😂😂
This film is at the core of a much bigger and more emotional story told in our documentary 'THE QUEST' See a trailer at www.questdocumentary.com
Love it. Big fan. I was at the showing in Scottsdale, AZ when you did the tour.
If General Motors really wanted to win at Le Mans they could've just like Ford. ..... GM at it's peak of it's power in the world of car manufacturing, GM vs Ford at Le Mans interesting. .. they both had huge European interest. ..
+Jason Wilson But they didn't. GM is and was too cheap and there's also a question if they have the talent for an outright win.
Henry Ford II had a little Italian vindication to settle, even then, they had to find the Texas chicken farmer setting their score for them..:)
GM had the Chaparral team..
You're probably right GM just didn't wanna spent their resources on embarrassing Mr. Enzo Ferrari...
Here's an article on that...
looked like a spaceship, it was just fantastic. I loved the approach that Jim Hall took to designing racing cars. I was at the BOAC 500 when it won in 1967 with Mike Spence and Phil Hill driving. They beat the Ferraris, Alfa Romeos and Porsches that day and they did so handsomely......
www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/sports-cars/great-racing-cars-chaparral-2f-and-2h
the corvette outlasted a bunch of those overpriced European pos.
Henry ford failed 3 years. Entering six cars each time for them to fail.
Until Carroll Hall Shelby came along.. Have to admit the European smaller engines are very sophisticated with their overhead cam engines, actually the Japanese ended up copying them..
No comparison considering Ferrari was a bonafide race car and most others including the corvette were street cars. Not something Ferrari should have been too proud of.
WOW wish i was there , do you ?
Our narrator was a dentist: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Thompson_(racing_driver)
L:ove the START of the race, your Vettes got waxed off by last years winning car the DBR1 Aston Martin... watch it go by with Roy Salvadori & Jimmy Clark, remember Chey fans the ASton is 3-Litre DOHC six and capable of 179 mph! Chevy that! I knew Briggs Cunningham... had dinner at his home in maybe 1970/1. My Dad was at LeMans many times in 1950s with Aston & MG
8TH PLACE,? SEEMS GM MAY HAVE BUTTERED UP THIS VIDEO FOR THE AMERICAN PALATE. THEY PLACED TENTH AFTER THREE MOTOR CHANGES WITH TOOK 20 MINUTES EACH.
That was a very poor map of the course.
It was 1960...
@@mycorvettelife really? because after reading the title and watching the 30 minute video I thought it was made in like 2016 or something like that at least I thought this video was made after the invention of the map. SMH
@@jeramiebradford1 ikr like they didn't invent maps until 1961.
Interesting, but the "music" made me sick...
I hope it’s terminal.
Oh the Ferraris
Nice haircut.
AMERICA!!!!
P.S. I LOVE MY C5Z06!!
60 vette takes the city********
Chevrolet factory Production Corvette Car could have finished 5th if not for the pit crew mistake . now thats fantastic. The heaviest car in the race and costing 3 times less money than some of the others. its safe to say those Europeans got schooled in 24 hr LeMans 1960 U.S.A******===
the ice was prob there for the beer!
I don't think the engine sounds you hear when the Vette takes off from a pit stop are real. I detect the sound of an LS small block there....
Good, but of course, older narration! Corvette is not a "make of car", while Aston-Martin, Porsche, etc... are. The director could've scripted it with GM or Chevrolet.
Cool, but shelby did it better. Small team of hotrodders killed both the vette and 250 got. Glad America is getting competitive again.
Scary "lifesaver" tires,,,,in the rain.....drum brakes ....no rollbars....ANNOYING, CIRCUS SIDESHOW MUSIC
yes but those drum brakes had no trouble pulling up from 140mph! . .if you believe that you'll believe anything.
when the sex was safe and racing was dangerous
AA
All the power in the world won't help you in a car that heavy. They may have been good in the straights, but hypothetically speaking, if I wanted to beat a car like that, I would beat it in the turns.
Hypothetically
@@mycorvettelife That's what I said.
@ What kind of question is that? I said it because I was hypothesizing. If you don't know what that is, nothing I can say will help you.
Who pops the cap on a hot engine? I smell a rat:)
An idiot or probably someone more familiar with the older American cars. In those days the slide rule boys weren't cutting corners trying to maximize profits. You could actually pop a radiator cap on a hot engine because the cooling system had such large radiators that water capacity was increased by a few quarts. Makes a big difference, even with a hot engine.
...U.S.A***==
Then in 1966 ford gt was the car
Poor Briggs didn't have the money to run his own cars and got stuck racing the lowly Corvette.