Page 85 - Yanks reviews

Porsche Road & Race, June 22, 2020 / page 4
“That was really fun,” Lovely remembered, “because the car was really fast; it was a works car. And after dark, I was able to get around as fast as those guys, which made me feel really good.”
Gurney had been fast in practice and was nominated for the first stint in his and Kessler’s car.
“Oh, yeah, that was fabulous to have your first Le Mans start to be at Le Mans. I managed to hobble across and get in there and not get the gearshift caught in my pant leg. It was very exciting.” On the Friday before race day, a fidgety Phil Hill and Denise McCluggage were in his VW, driving around the course, once again a country road with gendarmes directing traffic. Occasionally, he would stop and get out to show her the line he was taking and the critical braking points. At the very fast, blind right-hand bend leading to Indianapolis, Hill told her he wished it were more distinctive, as he couldn’t read the entry as well as he liked. The two hatched a clever plan.
After a quick trip into town in the Beetle, they returned, armed with a can of yellow paint.
“I stood innocently, paint at the ready,” McCluggage recalled, “as Phil retraced the circuit to sight along his racing line. Attending to his hand signals and between passing cars, I splashed the bright yellow paint along the edge of the roadway.”
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A couple of test passes in the VW confirmed... problem solved. On race day, as usual, Moss, the sprinter, was away first in the
Aston Martin and by the end of the first lap had a 200-yard lead – obviously, the rabbit. Hawthorn’s Ferrari was second, then Brooks’ Aston Martin, von Trips’ Ferrari, Salvadori’s Aston, then Gendebien, Bianchi, in a Ferrari, and Gurney, who was playing himself in, lying eighth.
“The car took some... you had to adapt to the car. It wasn’t automatically totally user friendly. So it didn’t necessarily do what you thought it would do when you gave it input. So, okay, what do I know? In those days, I knew that’s what you had to do – let’s come to grips with this. Let’s learn what it wants and let’s adapt to get the most out of the car.”
The big thing wasn’t the night or darkness. It was the rain. Where the hell are
the puddles?
Phil Hill
1958 E Twice Around the Clock
ABOVE: Chamberlain rounds Mulsanne Corner ahead of de Tomaso’s OSCA. LAT
RIGHT: Phil Hill about to take over from Gendebien for his first wet stint in their No. 14 works Ferrari. DENISE MCCLUGGAGE OPPOSITE: Ominous clouds over Ernie Erickson. THE KLEMANTASKI COLLECTION
The Yanks at Le Mans E 1958 325