Hi FOTers all
Reading Bill Emery's hilarious account of taking a wrong turn on an airport
circuit and ending up in the flight path of a plane about to take off was
delightful. Such stories are part and parcel of the wonderful sport of
motor racing and the characters within it.
One of the characters in my dad's first Le Mans Team of 1955 was Les
Brooke. Now I dont' know how many of you have seen the film of the 1955 Le
Mans race, but Les figured strongly in it. 'Brooky' first appeared in the
film in a long shot at Tertre Rouge corner - He was just behind the cloud
of dust and sand that went up as he shot off the circuit and 'planted' his
TR on top of the sandbank.
The first thing Les did was to remove the gear box cover and start to dig
the car out with it? It was some considerable time later when he finally
noticed 'the spade' sticking out of the sand a few yards away!! His attire
when he started 'gardening' included a pullover, shirt and tie. As the film
went on the pullover came off etc. to reveal a rather smart pair of braces.
About an hour and a half later, just before dusk, Les finally got the TR
back on the circuit and drove back to the pits for his co-driver Mort
Goodall to take over. By this time Brooky's above belt attire was only the
braces holding his trousers up. He was totally exhausted and the first
thing he did was to pick up a watering can off the pit counter and drink it
almost dry (flies and all) - this is shown in the film.
What was not shown in the film was when he removed the braces from his
shoulders and, with arms held high, took to a soothing, tall stretch on the
pit counter. As he relaxed - his trousers fell to his ankles in full view
of everyone. This story was confirmed to me by Mort Goodall only a few
months ago.
Best wishes
Paul.
with which he began to dig the car outsomehow
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