Hugh Chamberlain’s name will remain synonymous with sportscar racing in perpetuity. His plucky and sometimes highly-successful efforts as an underfunded privateer made him a fan favourite, while his admirers also included the organiser of the Le Mans 24 Hours, a race at which he was on the pitwall every year from 1987 to 2008. The Automobile Club de l’Ouest keenly acknowledged his contribution to the event and the wider world of endurance.
Chamberlain, who has died aged 82, was in his pomp as a team owner in the Group C2 category in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. His little Chamberlain Engineering team twice claimed world championship honours with machinery built by Spice and with a Cosworth V8 in the back.
The team from Buntingford in Hertfordshire took the 1989 World Sports-Prototype Championship class title with Fermin Velez and Nick Adams driving a Spice-Cosworth SE89C and then repeated the trick in the 1992 Sportscar World Championship’s FIA Cup class, C2 in all but name, with Ferdinand de Lesseps and one of the British constructor’s chassis of the same vintage. Both successes were achieved with meagre funds that belied the team’s professionalism.
“Hugh was a master of making things happen on very little money,” remembers long-time Chamberlain driver Adams. “Our car looked well sponsored in ’89, but I later found out that it didn’t add up to a lot of money. With Hugh every pound always went to the right place.”
If Chamberlain didn’t have a lot of money, what he did have was a committed band of mechanics, “the lads” as he called them. They were loyal to him, he to them. It helped that going racing with Chamberlain Engineering was fun. That was how it was meant to be, he insisted, though he always got the balance between humour and professionalism just about right.
“If there were any problems with money, and there often were, Hugh would always say, ‘I’ll look after the lads’,” says Adams. “He made sure they got paid. Hugh was a very loyal man, which made people want to do their best for him.”
Source: Autosport