250 LM #5893 & Ed Hugus | FerrariChat

250 LM #5893 & Ed Hugus

Discussion in 'Vintage (thru 365 GTC4)' started by thepinkumbrella, Aug 6, 2006.

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  1. thepinkumbrella

    thepinkumbrella F1 Veteran

    Feb 26, 2006
    6,047
    United Kingdom
    From the current Classic & Sportscar September 06

    "In 1965 one of the NART entries, the 250 LM Ferrari of Masten Gregory and the young Jochen Rindt, was plagued with electical problems and fell away down the field. The Heinz Pruller's biography of Rindt is that, as the LM lay in the pits during yet another unscheduled stop, Jochen decided it wasn't going to move again, changed out of his overalls and was driving off in his hire car when Gregory stopped him and persuaded him back in to the race. Then, helped by the collapse of the Ford team and the works Ferrari's, they clambered up the field to score Ferrari's final Le Mans win.
    Ed Hugus always maintained that, when Rindt could not be found during the night, Chinetti told him to put on a crash hat and jump in the car for a two hour stint while they looked for Jochen- so Ed was a Le Mans winner too. His name appears in none of the official results or press reports, and Chinetti was presumably keen to keep it quiet, for they could have been disqualified. But in post race photographs Hugus can be seen riding on the car wit the mechanics.
    With Ed's passing, all the players who could confirm or deny the story are now gone. But Ed, a modest man wit ha fine race career of his own under his belt, would have no reason to make this up."


    Does anyone have any opinion/knowledge on this?
    It wouldn't have been the first time Ferrari or NART have bent the rules!

    Forza Ferrari!!!!!
     
  2. Tom Glowacki

    Tom Glowacki Rookie

    May 9, 2004
    25
    There are two threads on this subject over at the Atlas Nostalgia Forum. This is the link to the shorter. more recent thread: http://forums.autosport.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=88700

    Post # 5 has the link to the older, longer thread. Fascinating reading, but the answer is "probably not, probably".
     
  3. william

    william Two Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 3, 2006
    25,447
    Ed Hughus was not officially entered on the NART 250 LM shared by Rindt and Gregory in 1965.

    At that time, an entrant could nominate 2 drivers plus one reserve driver per car. Sometimes, the reserve driver was entered on several car - but would have been only allowed to drive one.
    It may be that Hughus drove the Ferrari for a spell while Gregory was looking for Rindt who had stormed out.

    It would have been against the rules to have a car raced by someone not nominated. Also, when a driver was replaced, he couldn't get back in the race.

    If the 'Hughus story' is true, this is why it was kept quiet. Chinetti had broken two rules:
    - having a car with a driver not nominated in the race
    - having a driver (Rindt) replaced and still racing.

    Since there is a 'commissaire' allocated to each car, one wonders what he was doing whilst all this was going on.

    The rules must have changed in 1973 to allow 3 drivers, plus reserve.
     
  4. Doug Nye

    Doug Nye Formula Junior
    Honorary

    Jan 21, 2008
    270
    UK
    May I respectfully suggest that anyone interested in what really happened at Le Mans in 1965 takes a look at the latest issue of the British 'Motor Sport' magazine...

    DCN
     
    SmokyDave, Nembo1777 and 375+ like this.
  5. 246tasman

    246tasman Formula 3

    Jun 21, 2007
    1,441
    UK
    Full Name:
    Will Tomkins
    Talking of Ed Hugus a friend of mine has a 2 cam Dino V6 which I think came from David Clark at Graypaul motors.
    He has recently managed to confirm that it is the actual motor that Ed ran in his Lotus 23B, and is planning to recreate that car into what should be a formidable weapon in historic racing.
    https://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1965/Nassau-1965-12-05g-088.jpg
     
  6. Doug Nye

    Doug Nye Formula Junior
    Honorary

    Jan 21, 2008
    270
    UK
    Sorry - I should have mentioned that the relevant issue of 'Motor Sport' is nominally - for some inexplicable reason, considering it went on UK sale this week - the October 2020 edition.
     
    SmokyDave, 375+ and Jack-the-lad like this.
  7. 375+

    375+ F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Dec 28, 2005
    11,884
    Thanks Doug. My copy should arrive sometime in November;)
     

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