Death Rate: Normal

No one had really forgotten the 83 dead and 75 injured (some still in the hospital) from last year's 24-hour Grand Prix of Endurance. But the good citizens of Le Mans and the nervous officials of France's Automobile Club de I'Ouest also remembered that les -vingt-quatre heures mean a grand influx of 1) hundreds of thousands of visitors, and 2) coin of the realm. So they worked out a compromise between dollars and danger. They widened the road, beefed up the grandstand, and optimistically wrote some strict rules for cars and drivers.

No hopped-up, overpowered prototypes were allowed in last week's race. Bodies had to be wider; full windshields were required. But the real clincher was the new gas ration: with tanks holding no more than 34 1/3 gals., cars were to race at least 34 laps (about 292 miles) before refueling. No longer could a competitor ram his throttle to the floor and ride; now drivers would have to nurse their fuel with the kind of careful racing that keeps gas consumption relatively low and speed records even lower.

The careful plans were upset almost from the start. French Driver Louis Hery piled up his little (750 cc.) Panhard first time around the course. A few hours later he was dead of head injuries. As rain slicked the course, at least a dozen cars skidded, collided or overturned. But a phalanx of 1,000 gendarmes surrounded the track, and spectators at least were kept from harm.

When the long grind finally ended, a pair of Scotsmen who had entered their own 3.5-liter Jaguar, rode out of nowhere to take the grand prize. Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson covered a total of 2,521 miles at an average 104.3 m.p.h. In second place: Britain's Peter Collins and Stirling Moss in an Aston-Martin. Only 14 out of 49 starters finished, but race officials heaved a great sigh of relief. One death and a moderate assortment of bruises, broken bones and wrecked cars added up to what oldtimers have come to consider a "normal" race.

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