24h Le Mans
24 HOURS CENTENARY – PEOPLE AND MACHINES ⎮ Half a century ago, British racer Graham Hill pulled off an achievement that has yet to be equalled. On 11 June 1972, he became the only driver in the history of motorsport to have won the Formula One world championship, the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Fourth of the five Formula One World Champions to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans (alongside Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, Jochen Rindt and Fernando Alonso), Graham Hill was the most committed member of this highly select club with ten appearances between 1958 and 1972. Over this period, he put together one of the most impressive track records in the history of motorsport.
Paradoxically, Hill’s brilliant career got off to a late start as he didn’t pass his driving test until the age of 24 in 1953. Most young talent of his generation had already begun honing their skills in promotion formulas by that age while, in the modern era, Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen had already been crowned world champion! He began racing four years later before taking his first steps in both Formula One and at Le Mans with Lotus in 1958.
Following his maiden F1 world title in 1962 with BRM, Hill took part in the Rover-BRM turbine adventure at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, firstly in 1963. The prototype ran outside the official classification that year with Richie Ginther partnering Hill. In 1965, the Rover-BRM was officially classified in tenth position. This time, Hill shared the wheel with Jackie Stewart. In the intervening year, he appeared on the Le Mans podium for the first time after clinching second place with Sweden’s Jo Bonnier in a Ferrari entered by Maranello Concessionaires, the make’s UK importers.
On 30 May 1966, Hill won the 50th Indianapolis 500 on his début appearance at the famous American oval. Just three weeks later, however, front suspension failure ended his hopes of following up with a Le Mans win in a Ford GT40. In 1968, he secured his second Formula One world title for a Lotus team left cruelly bereft of popular driver Jim Clark, who had died during a Formula Two race in April. Hill subsequently chalked up his fifth win at the Monaco Grand Prix in (1963-65, 1968-69) to set a record that stood for 24 years until eclipsed by Ayrton Senna in 1993.
Hill’s busy schedule had kept him away from Le Mans for six years, but he was back in 1972 to team up with Henri Pescarolo for Matra. The pair emerged victorious from a tremendous tussle with their stablemates, François Cevert and Howden Ganley, who were penalised by a collision with a GT late in the race.
Pescarolo paid tribute to the consistency of the British ace who played a crucial role in the first of Matra’s three Le Mans wins: “At his age (43), I didn’t expect him to take any risks. However, I realised that this was no ordinary driver. As it turned out, the way he drove in the night rain was decisive in the win.” That win made Hill the only driver to achieve what has since been dubbed the Motorsport Triple Crown: the Formula One world championship, the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
When he brought the curtain down on a glittering career in 1975, Hill also held the record for the number of Formula One Grand Prix starts (176 over 18 seasons), a mark that Riccardo Patrese, Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso have since bettered. He had planned to run the F1 team that he set up in 1973 but was killed in an aeroplane crash on 29 November 1975.
Other drivers have tried to emulate Hill by making an attempt on the Triple Crown. Formula One world champions and Indy 500 winners Mario Andretti and Jacques Villeneuve both came close when finishing in second place at Le Mans in 1995 and 2008 respectively. Twice F1 world champion Fernando Alonso won the 24 Hours in 2018 and 2019, but has twice failed in the 500 Miles (2017 and 2020). For the time being, the triple achievement of King Graham Hill remains unequalled.
PHOTOS: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS – FROM TOP TO BOTTOM (© ACO ARCHIVES): Graham Hill drove a solid race in the rain to bring the #15 Matra to victory in the 1972 24 Hours; the 1965 Rover-BRM (#31) viewed from the grandstand; in 1966, Hill and his famous helmet in the colours of the London Rowing Club shared the wheel of a Ford GT40 (#7) with Australian Brian Muir.
