Our Cars: Triumph GT6

‘Bred at Le Mans, to put you safely ahead,’ ran the advertising copy for the first Triumph GT6 model in 1966. But that’s not really true.

What is true is that at the 1965 running of the French classic, the Triumph works four-car team of ADU-registered Spitfire coupés were on the 51-strong starting grid and half were still there at the end.

Despite the fierce storms in the days before, the race itself was dry and gruelling, and hard on the cars with a high attrition rate; there were just 14 finishers. The North American Racing Team Ferrari 250 LM’s overall victory was not uncontroversial with Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt driving, plus a single stint by Ed Hugus, or so he claimed. That’s largely been debunked now. For the first time the race was covered live on American TV, so you can only imagine the humiliation of the Ford Motor Company when, under the aegis of its new Shelby America organisation along with a clutch of works-backed privateers, the six fielded GT40s failed to finish along with the three Shelby Daytona Coupes.