The Porsche 718 is a series of one- or two-seat sports-racing cars built by Porsche from 1957 to 1962. An open-wheel single-seat model was developed for Formula racing.
Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant was a motor racing driver and vintner from France. He competed in the Formula One World Championship for fourteen years, between 1950 and 1964, one of the longest careers in the early years of Formula One. During this time he also competed in sports car racing, including winning the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Following his retirement from the track Trintignant concentrated on the wine trade.
The 1952 Formula One season was the sixth season of FIA Formula One motor racing. In comparison to previous seasons, the 1952 season consisted of a relatively small number of Formula One races, following the decision to run all the Grand Prix events counting towards the World Championship of Drivers to Formula Two regulations rather than Formula One. The Indianapolis 500, which also counted towards the World Championship, was still run to AAA regulations as in previous seasons.
Jean Marie Behra was a Formula One driver who raced for the Gordini, Maserati, BRM, Ferrari and Porsche teams.
Élie Marcel Bayol was a French racing driver who raced in Formula One for the O.S.C.A. and Gordini teams. Bayol also raced sports cars, mostly driving DB-Panhards for the Deutsch Bonnet works team including winning the 750cc class and Index of Performance at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Hermano João "Nano" da Silva Ramos is a French-Brazilian former racing driver. He had a French mother and a Brazilian father.
Roberto Casimiro Mieres was a racing driver from Mar del Plata, Argentina. He participated in 17 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 7 June 1953. He scored a total of 13 championship points.
Amedeo "Amédée" Gordini was an Italian-born race car driver and sports car manufacturer in France.
The 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans was a race for Sports Cars which took place on 28 and 29 July 1956 on the Circuit de la Sarthe. The race was won by Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson driving a Jaguar D-Type for the new Ecurie Ecosse team. This race also marked the golden jubilee of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) founded in 1906, however because of the previous year's disaster, celebrations were deferred to 1957 to go along with the imminent 25th anniversary of the race.
The Maserati 450S is a racing car made by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati for participating in FIA's endurance World Sportscar Championship racing. A total of nine were made.
The Ferrari 225 S was a sports racing car produced by Ferrari in 1952. It was an evolution over the preceding Ferrari 212 Export with important engine upgrades that greatly improved power output. The model was extensively used in competition, winning many international races. The most important include 1952 Monaco Grand Prix for sports cars, Portuguese Grand Prix, Coppa d'Oro di Sicilia, Coppa della Toscana, Coppa d'Oro delle Dolomiti and many others. It was the final Colombo V12 engine iteration before the 250-family stretched it to 3.0-litres capacity.
The 1956 World Sportscar Championship was the fourth annual FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was a contested by sportscars over a series of five races from 29 January to 12 August 1956.
The Alpine A210 was a sports car prototype manufactured by Alpine that competed in sports car racing from 1966 to 1969. The car derived from the M series prototypes introduced by the company in the early 1960s and powered by Gordini-tuned Renault engines with small displacements. In 1967, a short-lived V8-powered version of the A210, named as A211, was introduced. A major redesign of the A211, the A220, was unveiled the following year. As a consequence of the bad results achieved by these last two cars, Alpine withdrew from sports car racing for various years.
Établissements Monopole was a French manufacturing company that produced parts for automobile engines. The company also built and raced a series of small displacement endurance racing cars. After a series of mergers and acquisitions the Monopole name was retired in Europe, but survives in Africa in the name of a former licensee.
José Behra was a French racing driver and rally driver.
Gonzague Olivier, referred to in some sources as Gustave Olivier, was a French racing driver and boat builder. Most of his success came at the wheel of Porsche 356 and Porsche 550 racing cars in the 1950s.
Auguste Veuillet, known as Toto Veuillet, was a French racing driver and founder of Sonauto, France's first importer of Porsche cars and Yamaha motorcycles. He drove Porsche's first Le Mans entry and took their first two class wins along with Edmond Mouche.
The 20th Grand Prix de la Marne was a non-championship Formula Two motor race held on 29 June 1952 at the Reims-Gueux circuit. It was the fourth round of the 1952 Les Grands Prix de France championship. Race distance was decided not by distance but by time, the duration being 3 hours. The race was won by Jean Behra driving a Gordini Type 16. Giuseppe Farina was second in a Ferrari 500, and his teammates Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi shared third place, Villoresi's own car having suffered engine failure. Ascari set pole and fastest lap.
The Cooper T39, nicknamed the "Bob-Tail", is a successful lightweight, mid-engined, sports car, designed and developed by Owen Maddock at Cooper Cars, for sports car racing in 1955. The car debuted in active racing competition at the Easter race in Thruxton in 1955, being driven by Ivor Bueb, and was later entered into the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, being driven by John Brown and Edgar Wadsworth, but was unfortunately not classified, because even though the car managed to complete 207 laps around the 8.4-mile Le Mans circuit, it didn't manage to finish within 70% of the winners' race distance. However, between 1956 and 1962, it did manage to rack up and tally an incredible streak of domination and competitiveness, scoring 91 total wins and clinching 236 podiums finishes; an incredible record. It was powered by the 1,098 cc (67.0 cu in) Coventry-Climax four-cylinder engine.
The Gordini Type 15S is a sports car, designed, developed, and built by French manufacturer Gordini, in 1949.
