• Biography
• The Early Years
• 1950s: Sports Cars
• 1958 Le Mans
• 1961 F1 Champion
• Later Days
• Sharknose Reunion
• Racing Record
• Goodwood 2006
• News
• 'Inside Track' Book
• Collectibles
• eBay®
• Related Sites
• Contact
• Home

"My Favorite Race"

Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill at the end of the 1958 Le Mans. "He knew we had done something special", says Hill of this photo.

Characterized by periods of torrential downpour and brilliant sunshine, the 1958 24 Hours of Le Mans found the Ferrari factory team, led by Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien, scoring a resounding victory over Aston Martin and Jaguar. The winning team covered 2,548 miles, almost exactly 100 miles more than the runner up.

This victory, the first of three at Le Mans for the Hill/Gendebien duo, marked the triumph of man and machine over weather, over twenty-three hours of sometimes torrential rains.

Over forty years later, Hill recalls his night shifts in the Ferrari Testa Rossa: "It was impossible to see the smaller and slower cars in the rain and darkness. I drove down the Mulsanne straight at top speed and waited to hear the resonance of exhaust in front of me. As soon as I could sense the location of a car in the blackness, it was a flash of light, the bare outline of car and driver and then back into the darkness, peering ahead for the next one." Hill sat on a tool bag to see over the windscreen. "I picked up a full lap that night mainly because I could see and the others couldn't."

The long rain drenched night has passed and the sun now shines the eventual victor as Hill lines up to pass during the final hours of the 1958 Le Mans in this painting by Michael Mate.

Soaked to the skin almost from the beginning, Hill remembers, "While no race is won until the finish line is crossed, it was a great feeling when the rain stopped and the sun came out Sunday afternoon. We had some laps in hand, the tension from driving in the wet was gone and we knew we could win."

" While my winning the 1961 Formula One championship was the biggest event of my career, the 1958 Le Mans remains my favorite race and the most rewarding to me."

Hill guides the Testa Rossa through Arnage. Geoffrey Goddard photo via Phil Hill.	Hill in the Ferrari. Note the second, small windscreen in front of the steering wheel.