three hours, a faulty dynamo on the Aston Martin necessitated a number of pit-stops, taking it out of the running and it finally retired before midnight. The three Maseratis stayed in contact, taking the lead briefly on fuel-stop strategies. Night Dick Thompson was the first Maserati to falter (about 8.30pm) when he spun at the Esses with new brake pads, swiping the rear and rupturing his oil-tank. McLaren's Maserati had got into second but threw a tyre-tread that dropped it a number of places. Mike Parkes’ trip to the sandtrap eventually killed the 330 LMB's radiator and they were retired after 10pm. The two Ferraris swapped the lead throughout the night, thrilling the huge crowd with close racing. Third, and two laps back, was the Scarfiotti Ferrari then the leading GTO, of Noblet. The French Maserati had been running 7th but retired about 2am after an earlier spin on oil had left the suspension dangerously off-balance. The Maserati challenge finally died out when the second Cunningham car, of Hansgen/McLaren running 6th, retired in the 12th hour when its differential packed up. The Ecosse Tojeiro had been running midfield until just before 11pm when Tom Dickson suddenly found himself coasting in neutral in the fast section approaching Maison Blanche. It was several dangerous minutes, with cars racing past in the darkness before marshals were able to assist pushing the car off the track to safety. The big Chevrolet V8 had likewise been running midfield but soon after the halfway mark Jack Turner accidentally put the car into reverse at the Mulsanne corner. Destroying the gearbox it was left with only third gear and the constant hi-revs soon broke the fuel injection. Morning For once a dry night dawned into a sunny day. Only 33 of the 55 starters were still running. Things were falling Ferrari's way until at 4.45am the Rodriguez car suddenly broke its final drive. This finally allowed Hill & Gendebien to ease off and rest a potentially troublesome clutch. There was still drama for Gendebien though when he narrowly missed a big accident with a backmarker that was stopped in the middle of the road after spinning in the dawn light. Three hours later the other Ferrari also retired on the Mulsanne straight, with a broken clutch. This moved up the new Ferrari GTOs onto the podium: Pierre Noblet's privateer entry ahead of the NART modified-GTO of Grossman/Roberts