BOOKS
Disaster aside...
Forever associated with the Le Mans tragedy, Lance Macklin’s story is tinged with sadness, yet his life was colourfully chaotic
Lance Macklin, right, with Mike Hawthorn at Silverstone in 1952. Both would be involved in the ’55 Le Mans disaster
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There’s a joke that runs “But apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”
Lance Macklin’s story is similar: what else do you know about him except his central part in the appalling 1955 Le Mans tragedy?
In this small hardback Jack Barlow shows the rest of the picture, of an attractive, careless figure born of wealthy parents who never truly applied himself to his many projects. While his father started Invicta and Railton cars and the Fairmile Marine firm, Lance lacked business or financial sense and seemed perpetually broke. Not that it stopped him living the high life across the Continent.