This month we offer you, courtesy of YouTube, a two-part review of the 1963 running of the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 12th edition of the storied event, culled from the archives of the late, lamented Speedvision’s “Victory Circle” series. There’s a brief introduction by host Dave Despain, whose comments set the stage for the drama to follow, the first segment running 15 minutes with Part 2 going for seven.
In these films—apparently the highlights televised nationally by ABC at the time—you’ll see all the stars of the day, a diverse field of drivers that included A.J. Foyt, Graham Hill, Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, Briggs Cunningham, Roger Penske, Fireball Roberts, Pedro Rodriguez and John Surtees, among others, driving Ferraris, Cobras, Grand Sport Corvettes, Jaguar XKEs, MGBs and the rest. The story begins with arrival in Sebring and moves through pre-race preparation into lining up the grid and sprinting across the track for the Le Mans start, prior to getting down to the business at hand.
As noted by Despain in his opening comments, you won’t watch this for the voice-over, but the images of what Sebring was all about are well worth the price of admission, which is, of course, nothing. So go have a look and enjoy a brief trip back in time.
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