24h du Mans 1958 poster Vintage Car Racing Poster – Beligond – The 24 Hours of Le Mans 1958
This great reproduction auto racing poster is one originally created by Beligond to advertise the 1958 Le Man’s 24-hour race. The prospect of an exciting duel between Ferrari, Jaguar, Aston Martin and giant-killer Porsche was enough to draw large crowds of 150,000 to the 24 Hours race around the 8.4 mile course.
In this classic 1958 Le Man’s racing poster Beligond gives us a strong insight into how the nighttime sections of the race would have looked. Given the car’s previous success, it looks like he has made the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa the main focus of the poster, as it speeds through the famous Dunlop Bridge with another car in hot pursuit.
Who won the 1962 Le Mans race?
The 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans was not only the 30th Grand Prix of Endurance, It was also the 8th round of the new International Championship of Manufacturers. The race was held at Le Mans on 23 and 24 June 1962. Five nations and nineteen car makers were involved. Germany was represented by Porsche and France by Rene Bonnets and CD. The most makers came from Great Britain with 10 makes comprising AC. , Aston Martin, Austin Healey, Jaguar, Lotus, Marcos, Morgan, Sunbeams, Tojeiro, and T.V.R. The US manufacturer Chevrolet made its first appearance at Le Mans with a Corvette. Italy with Alfa Romeo, Fiat Abarth, OSCA, Maserati and race favourites Ferrari.
As the flag went down at 4 pm. on a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon in June, fifty-five drivers started the 1962 Le Mans. The race across the track to the cars was won by the Frenchman Fernand Tavano. However, it was Graham Hill, in his 4-litre, Aston Martin 212, that got off to the best start, and he was the first under the Dunlop bridge. At the end of lap 1, Hill had a 500-yard lead over the second place Gendebien in the Ferrari 330. In reality, the Aston Martins and Maseratis proved no match for the Ferraris and at the end of lap 2, the order had been reversed. Pedro Rodriguez, Walt Hansgen and Maurice Trintignant were following closely behind. Just an hour into the race the TVR became its first victim and was forced to retire due to overheating.
After an hour, Gendebien in the Ferrari still led Hill, but now all three Maserati’s had moved ahead of the Pedro Rodriguez Ferrari. Over the following sixty minutes managed to turn it around and manoeuvred up from sixth place to within four seconds of second place. Just like the previous year, the race turned into a battle between Gendebien and Hill vying for second and third positions. Hill put up an impressive performance and managed to stay with the Ferrari. The exciting duel thrilled spectators for five more hours when Hill’s oil line broke forcing the Aston Martin to retire. By the third hour, Rodriguez had taken the lead, Hansgen was in second and Gendebien in third. These three were already so far ahead that only three other cars in the field were on the same lap.
From 11pm, and in the pitch dark, the two Ferraris raced on through the night swapping the lead between them. At 4pm, the race’s halfway point there was just 30 seconds between the Ferraris. Bit by bit, both Phil Hill/Olivier Gendebien and the Rodriguez Brothers were outdistancing all their rivals. In a David versus Goliath-type scenario, and after a valiant effort, the transmission of the Rodriguez Brothers Ferrari 2.4L gave out and at around 6pm the Mexican drivers were forced to retire. The race leaders were now five laps ahead of their nearest rival. Surely, the Hill/Gendebien, already two-time winners of the competition, would sail to victory.
With just five hours to go the lead Ferrari began to develop clutch problems. Gendebien, responsible for seeing the race out, took far more care with every gear change. He only applied power once the clutch was fully home and gear changes were made at much lower revs than before. Gendebien nursed the car over the finish, remarkably beating the second-place Pierre Noblet/Jean Guichet by the same five-lap margin.
Even though just five of their 15 starters made it to the finish, it was a good day for Ferrari. Not only had the race been won by their Ferrari 330, it marked the first appearance at the 24 Hours by the legendary Ferrari 250 GTO. Three of the participant GTO’s finished in the top six places second, third and sixth places. The Italian constructor’s triumph was topped off with a ninth-place finish by a factory 250 GT. The victory made Ferrari the most successful marque at Le Mans, with six wins. This put them ahead of Jaguar and Bentley’s five. It would be the last win for a front-engined car.
The pairing of Belgian driver Olivier Gendebien and American driver Phil Hill was a successful one. In the race, the pair managed to complete 331 laps of the 8.36 mile circuit. A total of 4,451km during the 24-hour period. They drove at an average speed of 185.469 kph. The win, along with victories in 1958 and 1961 made them the first ever three times winners of the prestigious Le Man’s event. The three wins with Hill and a 1960 win with co-driver Paul Frére made Gendebien a four times Le Man’s winner, a record he held until 1981. Phil Hill’s third victory marked his third and final finish at the 24 Hours in 14 participations from 1953 to 1967. Furthermore, with its sixth win since 1949, Ferrari dethroned Bentley and Jaguar as the most successful manufacturer at Le Mans and remained undefeated until 1965.
Other 24 heures du Mans posters
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the oldest and one of the most prestigious endurance motor racing events in the world. The car racing competition now held at the Circuit de la Sarthe was first held on 26 and 27th May 1923 and raced on the public roads around Le Mans. In the 1920s the road racing track was basically a triangle running from Le Mans down south to Mulsanne, northwest to Arnage and back north to Le Mans. Unlike fixed-distance races whose winner is determined by minimum time, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is won by the car that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours. The popular motor racing event has been held every year since 1923 with the exception of 1936 when the race was cancelled because of general strikes in France and a ten-year hiatus between 1939 and 1949 because of the outbreak of World War II.
This would suggest that eighty-eight posters have been produced to promote each of the annual events. Whilst we can’t claim to be able to offer anywhere near them all, we do currently have around a dozen fantastic examples you can find on this website. Here we will present our personal favourite top three.
As they line up on the grid we’d like to start with a poster by Geo Ham produced for the 1956 Le Mans race. The predominantly blue poster features the beautiful curves of a Ferrari 375 Plus, racing across the middle of the poster. Behind it is a long line of competitors contending for positions. A clock face in the top left of the image hints at the race being one against the clock.
Cheating just a little bit in second place we have added a vintage print by Terence Cuneo. So, not strictly a poster advertising the event, but cool all the same. This one reproduces his Bentley’s 4.5 litres at Le Mans poster which features Baron André Erlanger pouring oil into his magnificent green Bentley as Jack Dunfee roars past the pits. Superb!
In a close race but taking first place is a poster created by Michael Beligond for the 1961 Le Mans event. It features a Ferrari 250 as the main focus of the image. It is shown speeding away into the distance. It perfectly captures the moment the race car speeds past us. His image puts us right there with the other spectators at the side of the track.
Original copies of the 1961 24 Heures du Mans poster currently (2021) can easily sell for over $2,500. Some of the other 24 Heures du Mans posters sell for many thousands of pounds. There’s no argument from us, if you can find an original copy and can afford to buy it, you’re on to a winner. There’s nothing like owning an original vintage poster and they often make a great investment. Chances are in just a few years you’ll be able to sell it for more than you paid for it.
For most of us, however, an investment, even at the entry-level prices of the collectable poster isn’t even close to being a possibility. This is where our stunning high-quality reproductions come into their own. They cost a fraction of an original and look absolutely fantastic when they’re framed and hung on your living room wall.
So do yourself a favour, race on over to that buy button and grab a sure-fire winner today. You’ll be celebrating the win for years to come.
