An Affair of Honor

Nothing intrigues a Frenchman like an affair of honor. Last week in the farming town of Le Mans, France, 250,000 spectators turned out to watch a duel to the death.

The weapons were in keeping with the times: automobiles. The battle ground was the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world's toughest, most famous auto race, the one the French themselves call "La Ronde Infernale." The combatants: Italy's canny old Enzo Ferrari, whose heraldic emblem, a rampant black stallion, has been the proudest marque in racing for more than a decade; and the U.S.'s Henry Ford II, a businessman-turned-sportsman mostly because he had a score to settle. Three years ago, Ford tried to buy control of Ferrari. Ferrari turned him down.

"Or Else." History was against Ford. No U.S. car had ever won at Le Mans; Ferraris, on the other hand, had won nine times, including the last six years in a row. But Ford also had two things going for him, money and determination. The eight sleek Mark II prototypes on which he based his hopes last week cost $100,000 apiece, and they were the last word in automotive sophistication. Only 40 in. high, each packed 475 horses under its hood. Henry himself was on hand to watch them run, and he made no bones about how he expected them to finish. "You'd better win," he told his director of racing, Leo Beebe, "or else."

Beebe heeded his master's voice. Pre-race speed trials proved that the Fords were far faster than the three lighter but less powerful (by 70 h.p.) P3 prototypes entered by Ferrari. California's Dan Gurney set an unofficial lap record of 142.9 m.p.h. in a Mark II, and Fords won the first four places on the starting grid. That made it easy for Beebe. Start in front, he ordered his drivers, stay in front, force the Ferraris to press, and wait for them to break down. It worked. Pouring on the gas, nudging 210 m.p.h. on the 3.5-mile-long Musanne straight, Ken Miles in the No. 1 Ford broke the official lap record five times in the first 20 laps. Then Gurney took over. Driving the No. 3 Ford, he bettered Miles's mark three times, finally equaling his own practice speed of 142.9 m.p.h. on the 39th lap. Gurney's mechanical-rabbit act ended when his car conked out on the 270th lap. But the damage was done, to the Ferraris.

"I Bet $1,000." In the eighth hour, a Matra-B.R.M. and a C.D.-Peugeot collided in the tight Tertre-Rouge turn directly in front of Ludovico Scarfiotti's speeding Ferrari P3. Scratch one P3. The second P3 went out with a broken gearbox after only ten hours, and the last of the Ferrari factory prototypes ground to a stop six hours later with a blown head gasket. With Fords running one-two-three and no more challengers in sight, Team Manager Carroll Shelby ordered a slowdown. Then Beebe got an inspiration. To make the inevitable Ford victory all the more impressive, he decided to stage a deliberate dead heat between the leading Mark Us--No. 1, driven by Miles and Denis Hulme, and No. 2, piloted by New Zealanders Bruce McClaren and Chris Amon. Headlights blazing, the two Fords coasted across the finish line side by side at 15 m.p.h.

"It was worth all the effort," bubbled Henry Ford II, downing a glass of bubbly. Indeed, the only even slightly sad face in the Ford pits belonged to Henry's Italian-born wife, Christina. "I bet $1,000 on Ferrari," she confessed. "I like to see Italians win."

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