A new ion translational energy spectrometer has been utilised to carry out energy-loss experiments with H + and H 2 + protectiles colliding with C 60 vapour at impact energies of 2–4 keV, and an energy resolution of 14–20 meV FWHM. H +-C 60 collisions allow access to the singlet manifold of electronically excited states of buckminsterfullerene which lie in the spectral region from the infrared to the vacuum ultraviolet. Corresponding experiments with H 2 + projectiles access both the singlet and the triplet states. Agreement was found between present measurements, theoretical predictions and electron energy loss data for H +-C 60 collisions, where only excitation to singlets is involved. However, for H 2 +-C 60 the satisfactory interpretation of the spectrum will require further triplet state calculations to higher excitation enegries.