Motorsport & Racing

The 1961 French Grand Prix, 50 Years On

Ed McDonough

Debutante’s Ball

On a list of the greatest Grand Prix races will be the names of several which will strike a chord for all racing enthusiasts: the German Grand Prix 1957, Monaco 1955, France 1979, Spa 1998. The year 1961 could account for three races on that list…Monaco, Nürburgring and the French Grand Prix at Reims.

Two weeks after Spa, all the teams made their way to another circuit that was bound to suit the power of the Ferrari 156, the flat-out blind and wide open spaces of Reims-Gueux, east of Paris in the champagne country, the sight of some historic battles in the past, many of which featured Ferrari, and had also featured Ferrari fighting Ferrari.

Main Topic Hubs

Join The Community

Become A Member

 

Members only$29 / year

Keep going. This is where it gets good.

Supercars.net Membership is for people who'd rather know the spec sheet by heart than skim ten headlines. The rest of this story — and every other one like it — is a few seconds away.

  • Thousands of members-only stories

    Deep dives, driven reviews and the full archive back to 2005.

  • No ads. None.

    The whole site reads like a magazine, on every device.

  • Every car, every spec

    Twenty years of models, numbers and history in one place.

  • 30% off the shop

    Every Supercars.net shirt and piece of merch, all year.

Join Supercars.net — Keep Reading

$29 a year. Cancel anytime, no hoops.
Already a member? Sign in

BY CAR PEOPLE, NOT A NAMELESS MEDIA COMPANY. Your membership keeps a small independent team that celebrates the brands and cars that defined this industry doing this.

Join — Keep Reading $29/yr