Vintage Car Poster, Vintage Motorcycle Poster: 24 h Le Mans 1963 3e Criterium International vintage car poster. 3e Criterium International de Vitesse Motocycliste – Beligond – 1963
Bring the excitement of one of the world’s most famous races home with this vibrant vintage poster for Le Mans. The 24 Heures du Mans is a legendary event that has thrilled racing fans for decades, and this poster captures all the excitement and energy of the race in a dramatic scene featuring a motorbike against a Ferrari speeding around the famous Le Mans racetrack. Whether you’re a fan of classic sports cars or just love a good racing spectacle, this poster is sure to thrill.
This great vintage motor racing poster advertised the qualifiers for the 1963 Le Mans 24 hour race. The 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 31st Grand Prix of Endurance. It was also the 3rd Criterium International de Vitesse Motocycliste race for 300 500cc motorbikes. Sponsored by the petrol giants Esso, the racing event took place on April 6 & 7, 1963. It reads: Esso – Essais des Voitures des 24 heures. The magnificent poster was realised by Michel Beligond, renowned for his motor racing posters.
Twenty-three cars attended the testing weekend over 6–7 April. It was the first appearance of the Ferrari 330 LMB in which Mike Parkes became the first driver to officially break 300kph (186 mph) on the long Mulsanne Straight. But it was John Surtees who put in the best time over the weekend, with a blistering 3 min 45.8 s. Later, in official qualifying, Phil Hill was also calculated to have hit that magical 300kp/h barrier in his Aston Martin prototype.
The honour of the first Pole Position by qualification went to Pedro Rodriguez in the NART Ferrari. Banding and Parkes in their Ferrari 250s were second and third. In fact, all eleven Ferraris qualified in the top sixteen places. Hill got his Aston Martin to 4th, with his teammates in 8th and 10th, while the big Maserati was 6th on the grid.
The 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans race itself took place on 15 and 16 June 1963. The race was won by Lorenzo Bandini and Ludovico Scarfiotti in their Ferrari 250P having completed a total of 339 laps. It was a very succesful day for Ferrari who took the top six cars in the race.
Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductionS and not intended fine art prints.
The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and poster for just £22.
