another on the circuit at the same time, but they were reinstated. Hamilton's account has become a motor racing legend: when Jaguar team manager Lofty England persuaded the organisers to let them race, both drivers were already drunk in a local bar. England said: "Of course I would never have let them race under the influence. I had enough trouble when they were sober!" When the race was under way the team tried to sober Hamilton up by giving him coffee during the pit stops but he refused it, saying it made his arms twitch; instead he was given brandy. The alcohol must have helped when he struck a bird face first at 130 mph and broke his nose. Despite the bizarre circumstances, the duo went on to win the race and recorded the first 100 mph average speed at Le Mans, a record pace. Both England and Rolt have denied that they were drunk. Lucky escapes On one occasion in 1947, he was transporting his MG R-type to the Brighton Speed Trials, when going down a hill near Guildford, he "saw the splendid honeycomb radiator of a Bugatti in the outside rear-view mirror", so he moved over and waved it past, but the car hung back. Further down the hill, the Bugatti accelerated and drew level with Hamilton, at which point he saw there was no one in it: "The awful truth dawned on me – it was my own car, gathering speed fast." Hamilton had forgotten he was towing the Bugatti, and the story ends with a lamppost snapped in two. A week after the 1953 Le Mans win, Hamilton drove to Oporto to prepare for the Portuguese Grand Prix. Held on the Circuito da Boavista, he was leading into the first corner of the race when he crashed his Jaguar heavily into an electricity pylon. The Jaguar cartwheeled, throwing him out of the car and into a tree. He hung there for about a minute, before falling down on the side of the circuit. Barely conscious, he moved his legs just as a Ferrari raced by, nearly taking Hamilton's left boot with it. He was taken to hospital for an emergency operation, though the medical facilities did not extend to anaesthetic; as the surgeon leant over him, Duncan was mesmerised by the increasing length of cigarette ash, as it hovered above his open chest cavity. The accident