him, and then Davis, over two hours to dig it out only to discover the front axle was wrecked. Kidston pitted his Bentley with a tyre tread thrown on his in-lap. Barnato took over and set about gradually closing in, finally overtaking Werner in the Mercedes around 8.30pm. Behind the Mercedes and Bentleys ran the Stutzes and the Earl Howe's Alfa Romeo. The Talbots were running 9th and 10th, but were able to run an hour longer than the bigger cars ahead of them before refuelling. They picked up a place as the Alfa Romeo was delayed – a race-long struggle with fouled plugs and ignition from the blended fuel. At the back of the field, the nimble MGs were easily leading the Tractas (delayed, like others, by plug issues) in their own battle for small-engine honours. However the MGs soon ran into trouble. Samuelson's was waylaid by a failed big-end bearing, while Murton-Neale's skated off the track at the Pontlieue corners. French gendarmes had just sprinkled sand over the road to stop melting tar in the afternoon heat. He was furious and angrily threw the fencing he had just demolished with his car at the officials. Back at the pits, the car got assessed from damage. His co-driver did a few laps but was not convinced it was safe, so Murton-Neale got back in and drove on into the night. Around half-time, the car was finally retired with a broken con-rod. At 9pm the Brisson/Rigal Stutz caught fire suddenly on the Mulsanne Straight. The improvised repairs to the exhaust pipe had come loose and flames set the car alight. Rigal managed to pull the car over and get out, narrowly missed by Barnato's Bentley. Hindmarsh, also running close behind him, stopped his Talbot and ran to help him with his own fire extinguisher. Parked far from any marshal posts, it took an hour for the fire to be put out, as official cars ferried fire extinguishers to the incident. The flames dazzled drivers and smoke from the destroyed car could be seen from the middle of Le Mans city. Not long after, the other Stutz had retired. The rear axle had, in fact, been knocked in de Rothschild's excursion and broke, leaving him not far from the other smouldering Stutz. Night By nightfall, after five tyre failures, the Birkin/Chassagne car was running seventh. In the sister car, Ramponi pitted