WSC60 Matra M630 BRM

3d Model by DabriD , AC import by MacedoSTI skins by Pasta

Even though it's hosted in the heart of France, the world's most famous endurance race has traditionally been dominated by the Italians, Brits and Germans. By the mid 1960s, it had been well over a decade before the last French victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and it did not look like that would change any time soon. So when in 1967 Matra announced their desire to win the 1969 F1 World Championship and the 1970 Le Mans with a completely French machine, the many French enthusiasts were ecstatic. It was quite an ambitious desire as the aerospace company had only become involved in the automotive business just a few years earlier.

The reason why the rather wild claim could be taken seriously was the major revision of the sports car rules for 1968, which limited prototype engines to 3 litres. This was the same displacement limit as in Formula 1 and meant that Matra's new engine could serve a dual purpose. While waiting for the new engine to be developed, the company campaigned single seaters and sports cars with foreign powerplants. Dubbed the MS620 and MS630, the first Matra sports cars featured a traditional spaceframe chassis and a fiberglass body. Campaigned in 1966 and 1967, they used BRM and Ford V8 engines.

The Matra-Simca MS630 was a Group 5 prototype race car introduced in 1967 for the World Championship for Makes.

For 1967, Matra decided to use a 1.9-litre version of the BRM Formula One V8 engine. (capable of producing 245 hp at 9,000 RPM.) Matra planned to have Johnny Servoz-Gavin/Jean-Pierre Jaussaud to drive the MS630 at both the 1967 1000 km of Spa and 1967 1000km of Nürburgring but the entries for both races were withdrawn.

The MS630 only made one appearance in 1967, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Matra entered two cars for Servoz-Gavin/Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Jaussaud/Henri Pescarolo. Servoz-Gavin/Beltoise retired with a broken oil pipe and Jaussaud/Pescarolo also retired with broken suspension.

In the World Championship for Makes, Matra scored no points during the year. The MS630 was considered one of the most advanced prototypes of its time.

The previous year was the 24 hours of Le Mans, the highlight of the Matra sports car team. The test run at the 12-hour race at Reims duly went wrong, since both of Mantra's cars turned out early to technical defects. In Le Mans, there were only two MS630 at the start. Matra had learned the lessons from the problems of the previous year and decided against a third vehicle to join with them.

Nevertheless, the race in Le Mans was a failure for Matra. The MS630 by Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud retired after a break from the rear suspension after 43 laps. Just before midnight, the journey of the second MS630 was over. Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Johnny Servoz-Gavin stopped defective valve damage to save the BRM engine.

Back in 1966, Matra had experimented with a 4.7-liter engine from Ford. The MS620 was sent to the assembly in the Le Mans pre-test, but quickly turned out that the engine was too heavy for the more delicate lattice frame. Near the end of the 1967 season, this engine was used in the MS630. Its tube-frame chassis was much stiffer and Henri Pescarolo raced in the "1000 km from Paris" in Montlhéry with Matra-Ford until an engine failure eliminated him from the race.

In 1968, a Matra with a 3-liter 12-cylinder engine was developed. This engine would drive in the future not only the sports car, but also in Formula 1 cars, there the MS11 was used. The MS630 was modified so that it could accommodate the new engine. Its debut was in the car 1000-kilometer race at Spa. At the Le Mans competition in 1968, only one car was used. The Pescarolo/Servoz-Gavin duo raced on Sunday morning and won second place overall as the MS630 broke the suspension and had to give up both.

The MS630 were also sporadically used in the 1969 World Sportscar Championship. Before Matra completed their new model, the Matra MS650 was used. In the 1969 Le Mans, Jean Guichet and Nino Vaccarella came in 5th.