Triumph Spitfire - 1965 Le Mans 24hrs (19th June 1965)

Spitfires at Le Mans (1965)
June 19th 1965 From the Standard Triumph archives Commentary by Raymond Baxter
This is a promotional film produced by the Standard Triumph Motor Company of Coventry, England. The film documents the 1965 24hr of Le Mans and the 4 Triumph Spitfire racing prototypes entered by the company.Triumph never identified their cars other than Spitfire racing prototypes with 1.1 litre inline 4 cylinder engines and aerodynamic hard tops.

[@stratac30]

Fascinating to note that these Le Mans Spitfires which morphed into becoming a production GT6 in 1966 had a massive fresh air duct from the front of the bonnet to where the heater is on the production cars. It’s a pity this modification didn’t carry over into the production GT6’s, as an owner of a GT6, the air flow into the cabin is minimal and as all owners of GT6’s will tell you the cabin in summer months gets unbearably hot!! A good film of Triumph at Le Mans.

[@richardcreaser308]

During my time in the RAF I had a tour of duty at RAF Finningley. Number six flying training school. I worked in the Air Engineers & Air Loadmaster’s school, looking after the training aids. I was always a Ford fan but don’t misunderstand me, when I saw this clip for Triumph Spitfires at Le Mans, I just had to watch it & was not disappointed. Navigators were trained in the school next to ours. I can’t remember the officer’s name but when he saw my GT40 poster he told me that he had driven at Le Man’s in either a Spitfire or GT6. The image that stuck in my mind was when he said that on the Mulsanne Straight he had to take care whenever a GT40 overtook him, he had to be ready to brake, to prevent the engine from over revving as the big Fords tended to drag him along!

[@MrGaryGG48]

Richard, that is a very cool memory! I've been around and involved in selling, racing, and wrenching on various sports cars for about 50 years and I've never heard of that experience, but it makes perfect sense. I can just hear your friend's thought at that time... "Oh Crap, here he comes again! Hang On!!" 🙄😏

[@richardcreaser308]

@@MrGaryGG48 He was an RAF officer as an instructor after tours of duty on multi engined aircraft. These guys have a habit of playing things down. Exaggerations in his line of duty is dangerous. I had no reason to disbelieve him. Like you, I could see that it was easily possible.

[@robertknight5429]

Peter Bolton!

[@mwh3227]

I had a GT6 for about 10 years! It was a mechanical and electrical nightmare! But it was a blast to drive and looked like a "baby Jag"!

[@marco-58]

Coincidentally, the Narrator, Raymond Baxter used to fly Super Marine Spitfires in WW2. Here he is talking about the Triumph Spitfire.

[@bobburro3642]

what a great old film, love the porche and the spitfires.

[@williamkaiser8067]

What I found interesting is that these cars are surprisingly stock. Yes, they tweaked the parts and put in heavier bits in the engine and brakes and tranny. But the amount of stock parts is impressive. I think that was because folks at Triumph liked to race what they sold as much as reasonable.

[@chrisg6086]

And because that's what they could justifiably afford to race, perhaps....

[@williamkaiser8067]

@@chrisg6086 To read the books, Triumph never had the money put into the factory effort that a company like Lotus, Porsche, or Ferrari did. But they were a factory team and had their choices of a myriad of factory parts. They did it their way, in other words.

[@adolflenin4973]

@@williamkaiser8067 Spitfire Bonneville

[@aureliobrighton1871]

Who could ever describe a blown engine more in style ... 'the revcounters tell tale showing an astronomical figure' .. thanks god they never had to worry about the intergalactic garage bill . just a wonderful picture book of Tempi Passati :)

[@jaguar5962]

Merci pour cette vidéo qui nous met tout de suite dans l'ambiance , j'ai une Spitfire MKIII stylée Le Mans avec le jaune sur le capot , elle est extra cette petite ! quelle époque fantastique en ce temps là au Mans ...

[@kevinperryman9149]

love it ,1147cc engine average 100mph for nearly 3000 miles .....now thats good ol british engineering ..Triumph ,its in the name

[@KingCast65]

Wow. The year I was born and also the first car I drove a stick was a '78 1500 in 1980....

[@DrCabbage]

Cracking to see the car has some pedigree in it!

[@midnightalley4586]

Back when it was man and machine. Now its man and a god damn laptop

[@mikeursell3038]

Great watch, love these old racing films, did notice that Hopkirk, in an MG, beat all the Triumphs :-)

[@lawxxxx9853]

Did you also notice that the MG had 50% larger engine capacity?

[@RADThird1]

Hobbo's in one of the Spits! God he looks so young.

[@D...M...A...]

David " easy sunshine " Hobbs ... Icon of motorsport ....

[@Gazza__Gasser]

Great comments guys, keep em coming....its an excellent watch isnt it..!

[@wizardskills]

Many thanks for uploading this. One of the best videos i have seen on youtube :)

[@davidb.n9302]

The last win for Ferrari. Great video !!

[@lagerzok]

Love it - fantastic period piece - good towcar for the spit too ;-)

[@marcusbewley1]

well done for uploading Gazz a must for any Triumph Nut.

[@stevehawcroft]

Every 2 years you can see 2 of the spitfires at the classic Le Mans. It's a great weekend. Oh and the MG was 1800 cc not 1147........

[@mescko]

It is such a shame the GT6R never saw the light of day...I knew a fellow who was there that year, he showed me the color pix he took.

[@METHOS109]

Not Gt6's. They are works prototype Spitfires fitted with glassfibre hardtops for better aerodynamics and 1147cc 4cyl. engines.

[@MsLilyhorse]

The Maserati cars are great looking.

[@a34rwl]

'And of course, the Belgians'

[@tasmanischerteufel6803]

Triumph Spitfire 1500 ❤️👍🏻🇬🇧🇩🇪

[@Robbieifyoucan]

wow, my new favorite film on youtube !

[@malcstag]

Great clip, real gem.

[@incubus1195]

Superb!

[@doynk2]

Its like being at Goodwood

[@johnfalkenstine8377]

Amazing. The Triumph engine often failed under regular road use.

[@horsedood13]

NOT TRUE... Mine is rock solid and has never let me down once in the 20+ years I've owned it. Same is true of the other 15 or so Triumphs I've owned over the years from Spitfires to TR3's, GT6, TR250 and TR6. BTW...the electrics are all spot on as well. Treat your Triumph good and it will be good to you. :)

[@jeffhildreth9244]

Wrong owners.

[@mescko]

@@horsedood13 The last GT6 I had racked up over 235k on the original engine. The PO's meticulous maint. records told the tale. I laboriously averaged out the oil changes--2900 mi.

[@MrGaryGG48]

@@horsedood13 In that regard, the British cars had much in common with the Fiats of that era. I had a friend I worked with many years ago who was a staunch Fiat 124 Spider owner/fan/whatever. We had conversations about the old stories trashing the rust, reliability, rust, and more rust. He would give me a pained look and say that the problem was usually in the owner. Don't let negligent idiots drive his Fiats!! All he felt he had to do was regular pre-emptive maintenance. They'll run forever...

[@D...M...A...]

David Hobbs... "easy sunshine"

[@GilbertBuhler]

j'ai possédé cette voiture, la numero 60....nostalgie....mon plus grand regret !!

[@adrianchan3172]

Does anyone know what the size the Le Mans 1965 flag is? Are they all the same size?

[@marcosgarcia8670]

bons tempos, boas corridas, belos carros...

[@davidviner4932]

Good to watch the Spitfires, Triumph was an unfortunate brand, they should have used the Rover V8 back in the early 80s

[@popuptoaster]

Objectively the Triumph V8 was a better engine once it's reliability issues were fixed but it was to late by then anyway.

[@tangerinedream7211]

Standard triumph were a good company, range of products, great engineer, then when the Labour government of the late sixties Coerced/forced the merger to try and save BMC ,the rest was all downhill, a massive company, far too many products ,usually in competition with themselves, poor workforce relations, a sad end eventually with the phoenix four/asst stripping pension pot filling villains.

[@paulhammersley4562]

proper car's,

[@promerops]

I feel that way. There is an excitement about the looks and performance of the cars of that era.

[@DanielFigueroaPalomo]

#LeMans24 Last win for Ferrari... until this year.

[@vata17a]

vata 21 was here

[@pedemeyer]

Spitfires...😀

[@True-os6tg]

Did they finish last ?

[@theoriginaldylangreene]

No, they won their class.

[@adolflenin4973]

ENGLAND

[@ChrisWrightSydney]

"..... and the Belgians". 😀

[@wesharris2559]

FJB!

[@tellitlikeitis-rg4ny]

thats a gt6 not a spitfire

[@True-os6tg]

Nope .The GT6 road car just looks the same ,a lot heavier hence the 6 cylinder 2 litre engine they came out the following year .

[@jeffhildreth9244]

Not in any way a GT.

[@manofweed1]

Triumph spitfires at Le Mans ?...…………………….You what ?!

[@barnaba1964]

it's not the spitfire but gt6.....