Saturday 15th June 1963

Rover’s gas-turbine-powered racing car, the Rover-BRM, took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Briton Graham Hill and American Richie Ginther driving. Averaging 2 hours 30 minutes between fuel stops, the car ran faultlessly except for a precautionary front brake-pad change. The car carryied the race number “00” as an experimental car. The turbine engine was judged to be equivalent to a 2 litre, but was permitted twice the usual fuel allowance. The Rover-BRM managed 2,593 miles at the finish, averaging 107.77 mph and 6.97 mpg, which would have been sufficient for seventh place overall if the car had been eligible for classification. A Ferrari won, driven by Italians Lodovico Scarfiotti and Lorenzo Bandini, having covered 2,834.5 miles