1962 World Sportscar Championship

1962 Goodwood Tourist Trophy Race No6
Driven by John Surtees.

Reg/No: 77434-MO (Italy)

Won P3.0 class and finished 6th overall, 34 laps behind the leader.

Famed stock car driver Glenn 'Fireball' Roberts was banned from NASCAR in 1961 for trying to organize a driver's union.  He was quickly reinstated in 1962 but by then he had also become interested sports car racing.  He ran the 1962 3 Hour Daytona Continental and also Le Mans and Nassau.  Daytona and Sebring followed the next year and Daytona again in 1964.  He died later in 1964 due to burns suffered during a stock car race.

BBR Models - BBR Built Ferrari 250 SWB California - Limited

• Ferrari logo on the Nose, # 82 on the Hood, Door & Trunk Lid, Chrome Grill & Bumper with License Plate
• Chrome Trimed Clear Windows
• Aluminium & Steel Lace Wire Wheels

Winner 24 Hours of Le Mans - 1962

To see where Briggs Cunningham was in 1960, you have to look at 1955.

Briggs Cunningham has said that the 1955 Le Mans catastrophe did not stop him from racing, but he did not go back there until five years later, and he never again competed in cars of his own making.  He closed the West Palm Beach production facility in 1955 after the IRS declared the operation a hobby instead of a business because it had not produced a profit.

In addition to his C6R, the team had run a D-Type Jaguar at Le Mans in 1955.  They had won Sebring with it earlier in the year.  The Jags had been strong competition for several years, so it wasn't surprising.  Sir William Lyons had told Cunningham that he would give him three D-Types and make him Jaguar's Northeast US distributor if he would stop building Cunninghams and campaign Jaguars.  This proved immensely successful, and Cunnigham driver Sherwood Johnston beat out Phil Hill and his Ferrari Monza to become SCCA C/Sports champion.  The Cunningham team decided to concentrate their assault on home turf.  Perhaps without their own car, they had less to prove in France.  They picked up Walt Hansgen and he won the C/Sports title for them for four years running, 1956-1959.  Ironically, Hansgen was killed in 1966 while testing a Ford GT40, the year that an American car finally fulfilled Cunningham's dream.  In 1958, Cunningham turned his attention to his yachting roots and won the Americas Cup.

The team ran a variety of cars in 1959, anchored by a pair of Lister-Jaguars.  But they noticed that the Chevrolet V8 had found its way into many of their competitor's cars and was tough to beat.

The 1955 incident had helped prompt General Motors to ban all official motorsports support.  In 1960, Briggs Cunningham took three fuel-injected Corvettes from the assembly line and prepared them for Le Mans with 'under the table' help from Chevrolet.  The Corvette was going to Le Mans for the first time, and because of changes to the prototype rules, the GTs were potential contenders for the overall win. Oh, and they also brought a lightweight Jaguar prototype for some kid named Dan Gurney to drive.

Long story short, heavy rain threatened and Firestone wanted to save their rain tires for later.  Bill Kimberley, lost control when the downpour arrived, rolled the car several times and it caught fire.  Dick Thompson ran the #2 Corvette into a sandbank and destroyed most of the body.  They got it going again but the engine exploded Sunday morning and it caught fire.  With an hour remaining in the race, the #3 Corvette had made it to 4th before it began to overheat.  The rules started that cars had to go 24 laps between top-ups and had to complete at least four laps in the last hour to be classified as a finisher.  The team packed the engine compartment with ice and sent it out for the first of four fifteen minute laps. Each time around, they pulled in and repacked with ice.  They finished 8th and won the class.

The Jaguar?  Blew a head gasket after 89 laps and was not classified.  But it was the prototype for the E-Type and many men scored with it in later years.