24 Hours of Le Mans
In the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson were the winning drivers in a Jaguar D-Type.
Ron Flockhart won again with a D-Type in the 1957 event, partnered this time by Ivor Bueb. The team's second D-Type–driven by Sanderson and his new partner John Lawrence–finished second, a rare privateer 1-2 finish.
The 1958 Le Mans race was less successful; both of the Ecurie Ecosse D-Types, this time with Masten Gregory and Jack Fairman added to the driver line-up, suffered engine failure within a few laps of the start.
The team would again field a D-Type at Le Mans in 1959, alongside a newly acquired Tojeiro-Jaguar. Once again, neither car made it to the final flag, the D-Type suffering engine failure after 70 laps, and the Tojeiro a fire after 137.
Things went from bad to worse for the team in the 1960 running. The, by now much modified, D-Type was again entered, and lasted until the 168th lap before being forced out with a broken crankshaft. Ecurie Ecosse's second car for this year, a Cooper T49 Monaco, did not even make it to the start line.
The entrants for the 1961 24 Hours of Le Mans - a Cooper T57 Monaco and an Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite - retired after accidents in their 32nd and 40th laps respectively.
1962 saw Ecurie Ecosse moving on to a Tojeiro EE, but this too failed to finish after gearbox problems. This would be the last time that the original Ecurie Ecosse team would enter a car for the greatest endurance race in the world. Financial troubles and the self-imposed tax exile of founder David Murray had effectively ended the team's competitive era by the mid-1960s.
Read more about this topic: Ecurie Ecosse
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