Ed Hugus, 1965 Le Mans winner... Options

[Ray Bell]

Right, Doug... high speeds, high closing speeds between cars of enormously different potential...

Yes, there would be some skills and anticipation required to deal with those things. And a part of that was because of the nature of the circuit, of course. But the circuit itself wasn't terribly demanding, surely?

Mind you, when I went out by White House (or was it Arnage?) and stood by the railing in the middle of the night in '81, I could have sworn that every single car was out of control until they were past me!

[RA Historian]

All the same, it was not a demanding course or it would always have seen a greater attration rate...

Mulsanne Straight is, after all, about three miles long. Where's a map of the course as used in the sixties?

Oh, yeah, real simple. Three miles pre-chicane, flat out at over 200 mph, fog, rain, traffic going 70mph slower, a piece of cake.

[Ray Bell]

I already agreed that there were those difficulties...

The thing that really stands out about this thread is the testy way people treat each other today compared to the previous two threads on the same subject.

My comments about the circuit were about the circuit, not the circumstances of driving that might arise on the circuit.

[AMICALEMANS]

Nobody says that the track was not difficult !..... the road was tight and not very flat.... 200mph was for the big car, but some like Panhard CD, Renault 4CV, Healey Sprite, MGA, MGB, etc had a only 120 mph top speed.... The problem at Le Mans was dust, night, fog and rainn, and slowest cars... Today Le Mans is a 24 hours Grand Prix.

Just think that before 1972 and the "nouvelle portion" and in 1965, before the Chicane Ford, the track had only 4 corners and 2 curves Dunlop Curve, wich was a fast one, Esses from the Tertre, you need to brake, Tertre Rouge, brake a liitle bit but not so much ; Mulsanne Corner brake hard, Indianapolis, Arnage and the Maison Blanche Curve.

In 1965, you add the Chicane Ford just before the Grandstand straight.

In 1972, you add the "Nouvelle Portion" wich have 4 corners or curves ! And then most of the drivers said that this part of the track is the more interesting part for driving.

So before 1965, power was more important than handling.... and the big difference between cars was about the top speed in the Mulsanne straight...

Remember also that before 1963, the grid was made with the engine capacity and not the time...

[AMICALEMANS]

But the subject was LM 65 winners..... any testimony about somebody who saw Ed Hugus get in or get out of the car ?

And when it was ?
In the early morning ?
During night or day ?
How many laps did he make ?
How long did he drive ?

The letter did not have the answer to these questions !

[Nanni Dietrich]

In my opinion, nobody in this thread think that driving au Mans is easy.
Nobody think that it was a simple job for Ed Hugus, if he really drove the 250LM #21 or not.
The 1965 race was Hugus' tenth start at La Sarthe, indeed. And five times on ten he finished in the top-ten, he was not a newcomer...

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by AMICALEMANS
But the subject was LM 65 winners..... any testimony about somebody who saw Ed Hugus get in or get out of the car ?

And when it was ?
In the early morning ?
During night or day ?
How many laps did he make ?
How long did he drive ?

The letter did not have the answer to these questions!

Yes, the letter has the answer to all of them:

As you know I had my own entry for the 24 hrs for many years. This year I was to drive a Ferrari of Luigi Chinetti in the race. How ever, the factory did not finish the car in time, so Luigi put me on as reserve driver on the 250 LM. During the night about 4 AM ? Masten had gone out in the LM. A lot of the famous Le Mans pea soup fog moved and Masten with his bad eye sight and very thick glasses came : could not see well. Rindt had disapeared, no one knew where, so Luigi told me to get my helmet on and go so, I finished the last hour or so of Masten part. Luigi told me many times later that he had informed the pit official about this.

So... when was it? In the early morning? Yes, certainly was... "During the night about 4 AM? Masten had gone out in the LM. A lot of the famous Le Mans pea soup fog moved and Masten with his bad eye sight and very thick glasses came"

During night or day? Night, but coming towards daybreak, as Masten had gone out at 4am.

How many laps did he make; how long did he drive? "I finished the last hour or so of Masten's part."

[SEdward]

AmicaLeMans.

Are you sure the Ford Chicane was introduced in 1965? I think it arrived a little later.

Edward

[proviz]

1968 I would have thought...

[Pablo Vignone]

The chicane came in 1968. IIRC, I was used for the first time in the test days

[AMICALEMANS]

Oups sorry, the Ford Chicane came in 1968.... and it was modified between april test day and september race....

So Ed Hugus claim a drive between 4? and 5? AM..... 4 is night, 5 day began to appear... at this time the car was 2nd and battling with Guichet-Parkes 330 P2 which overtake the #21 , around 6am... and then had problem around 8am. Sorry i will try to find more record of the race....