Matra — Mécanique Aviation Traction — entered endurance racing as a manufacturer with ambitions that extended well beyond domestic French competition. The MS620 had established a presence at the top level, and the MS630 was designed to push further into the World Championship for Makes, a series in which outright lap speed had to be balanced against mechanical reliability over distances of 1,000 kilometres and twenty-four hours. The car's power unit changed significantly over its competitive life: for the 1967 season Matra fitted a 1.9-litre BRM Formula One V8, capable of producing 245 hp at 9,000 rpm. From 1968 onward the team switched to their own 3.0-litre Matra Sports V12 engine, a unit that would go on to power the marque through its most successful years.
The MS630 was restricted to a single race in its debut year, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, after planned entries at the 1000 km of Spa and the 1000 km of Nürburgring were withdrawn before those events. At Le Mans, Matra entered two cars. Johnny Servoz-Gavin shared one with Jean-Pierre Beltoise, while Jean-Pierre Jaussaud was paired with Henri Pescarolo. Neither car finished: Servoz-Gavin and Beltoise retired with a broken oil pipe, and Jaussaud and Pescarolo were eliminated by broken suspension. Matra scored no points in the World Championship for Makes that year.
The switch to the 3.0-litre V12 was made for 1968, but the season again consisted of a single outing, once more at Le Mans. Matra entered one car for Servoz-Gavin and Pescarolo. The attempt ended in retirement following an accident caused by a puncture. For the second consecutive year, Matra left the World Championship for Makes without scoring a point.
The 1969 campaign was substantially more ambitious, and also the year in which Simca's sponsorship formally changed the car's name. Matra assembled a four-car Le Mans entry that mixed the old MS630, the new Matra-Simca MS650, and two intermediate MS630/650 hybrids — cars built around MS630 chassis updated with components from the MS650.
The season began at the 24 Hours of Daytona, where Servoz-Gavin and Pescarolo were entered in the MS630 but did not start after a practice accident damaged the car. Matra skipped the 12 Hours of Sebring and the BOAC 500. At the 1000 km of Monza, Servoz-Gavin shared the MS630 with Jean Guichet, but a fuel feed problem ended their race early. Planned entries at the 1000 km of Spa and the 1000 km of Nürburgring were withdrawn.
At Le Mans, the four-car effort saw Jean Guichet and Nino Vaccarella take the unmodified MS630 to fifth overall, a strong result that demonstrated the basic competitiveness of the older design. The two MS630/650 hybrids were driven by Nanni Galli and Robin Widdows, who finished seventh, and by Servoz-Gavin and Herbert Müller, who retired after an electrical short circuit. Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Piers Courage in the full MS650 claimed fourth place.
The MS630 and MS630/650 appeared again at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours. Guichet shared the MS630/650 with Widdows, but they retired with a broken clutch. The MS630 itself was retired from competition before the 1000 km of Zeltweg, leaving the MS650 to represent the team for the remainder of the season. All six points Matra scored in 1969 — good enough for seventh place in the constructors' standings — came from the MS650 entries.
The MS630's three-season run yielded no championship points directly, but its role in Matra's development was significant. Each season saw a meaningful upgrade: first the engine switch to the Matra V12, then the incorporation of MS650 components into hybrid MS630/650 builds. The car effectively served as a rolling test platform that allowed the team to gather knowledge and progressively transfer it into cleaner, purpose-built designs. The lessons learned across 1967, 1968, and 1969 fed directly into the MS650, MS660, and ultimately the MS670 family that made Matra one of the dominant forces in endurance racing in the early 1970s.