It’s one of the great stories, and told first hand, too. In Duncan Hamilton’s autobiography he describes how, having been slung out of the race in practice, he and his Jaguar team-mate Tony Rolt indulged in “a night of steady imbibing” during which “Tony and I never saw our bedroom.” He said they were found in something of a state at 10am on Saturday morning by William Lyons who told them they were back in the race. By 2pm, two hours before the flag fell and after several black coffees and a Turkish bath, both still felt dreadful. Double brandies were ordered which did the trick, off they toddled and won the race.

Sloshed the night before or not, the story shouldn’t cloud a superb Jaguar performance

As a racing story of derring-do to thrill the heart, it could only have been materially improved by being true, which, sadly, it was not. Yes, they’d been excluded but Jaguar had immediately appealed the decision and the outcome of that still hung in the balance while Duncan and Tony were allegedly getting quietly sozzled. We’re not saying they didn’t have a drink, but an all-night binge with still the possibility of doing a 24-hour race the next day? Really? Sadly the story has continued to obscure what did actually happen to this day – a fine win and the first at Le Mans by a car using disc brakes.