Tortoise and the Hare
The 1959 Le Mans 24 hours is famous as the culmination of David Brown’s dream to see his cars win the world’s most prestigious race, and while history will show that the DBR1 of Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori finished first, arguably it was the virtuoso performance of Stirling Moss which won the race for Aston Martin. Although the DBR1 was considerably slower than the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossas ranged against it, Moss acted as the ‘hare’ making one of his legendary dashes at the Le Mans start and leading comfortably at the end of the first lap. In contrast, Ferrari team leader Jean Behra stalled his car twice at the start and though last away was determined to make an impression on home ground, finishing the first lap in 16th place as he fought through the field in pursuit of Moss. After an hour, he caught the number 4 Aston and passed Moss for the lead as the two cars tore down the Mulsanne straight. Here, Behra leads Moss through Terte Rouge. By half distance, both cars had retired and Moss’ work was done, his team mates cruising to a relatively untroubled victory in the sister DBR1.
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24" x 30" |
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