A massive total of 85 racing cars were registered for this event, of which 73 arrived for practice and 67 started the long distance race on the 14.174 mile German circuit. David Brown won the event in 1957 and again in 1958 and 1959 but had withdrawn from Sports Car racing, leaving its lead driver, Stirling Moss without a works drive. He hope to complete his hat-trick of race wins on the Nordschleife, laid with the American outfit, Camoradi USA with their Maserati Tipo 61. As for championship leaders, Porsche, this was their home event arrived with two different cars; 356 B and 718 RS 60 for their squad of drivers led by Olivier Gendebien and Jo Bonnier.[1]
Maserati Tipo 61, similar to that driven by Moss and Gurney to victory
With each lap 14.189 miles in length, the race covered a total of 44 laps, or 1,004.739 km (624.316 mi), the Nordschleife was a fearsome thing to behold. A crowd of approximately 250,000 in attendance came to witness the race, despite a day of rain.[3]
As for the race, victory went to the Maserati Tipo 61 of Moss and Gurney, gaining the Englishman his third win in a row in the mountains. The winning partnership, won in a time of 7hr 31:40.5 mins., averaging a speed of 82.843 mph. The margin of triumph over the Porsche of Bonnier/Gendebein was 2 mins 52secs.[4][5][6]
Note: Only the top five positions are included in this set of standings. Championship points were awarded for the first six places in each race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1. Manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car with no points awarded for positions filled by additional cars. Only the best 3 results out of the 5 races could be retained by each manufacturer. Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the above table.