 He is famous for being the only driver to successfully complete the full 24 hours of the 24 Hours of Le Mans race solo, a feat he achieved in 1950.He lived at Kirkburton, near Huddersfield until leaving the United Kingdom on his retirement in the early 1950s to live in initially in South Africa, later in Canada and then Monte Carlo, where he had an apartment overlooking the harbour and part of the Grand Prix circuit.He was married twice, first to Evelyn Muriel (divorced in 1931) and secondly in 1933 to divorcée Joan Evelyn Quarmby (née Goddard) who survived him on his death in 1982.