The sad news of the passing of Hugh Chamberlain on Sunday spread through the FIA WEC paddock on Thursday evening, the long-time team owner and manager succumbing to a heart attack after a long battle with ill-health at the age of 84.
Hugh is perhaps best known as a fan favourite entrant at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He fielded a variety of prototype and GT machinery spanning a 21-year period from 1987-2008 when he held a team manager role at every one of the runnings of the great race, from Group C to LMP1 and LMP2 including a very hands-on role in the running of the factory MG Lola LMP675 campaigns in 2001 and 2002.
After an early career as a police officer, a race driver and later a motor parts dealer, Hugh developed a business building and selling Clubmans chassis.
By 1984, with Tiga and Spice machinery, the seeds of what would become his racing legacy were sown. Will Hoy was a key part of those early years with progress onto and into the World Sportscar Championship by 1987 in the C2 class, the squad scoring second place in the C2 Teams Championship in 1988 behind a rampant factory-entered Spice.
1989 saw a step to the top step in the Championship for Hugh and co. in both the Teams and Drivers Championship (for Nick Adams and Fermin Velez) with a dominant run in the (non-Championship) Le Mans ruined by engine failure.
There was a further Championship win in 1992 in the FIA Cup for the outgoing C2 cars before a switch to the emerging GT classes.
High-profile campaigns with the Lotus Esprit and Jaguar XJ220 followed before adventures with the mighty Chrysler Viper GTSR and, into the new century, the pretty, pretty fast, and troublesome MG Lola LMP 675s at Le Mans.
The Le Mans history was effectively completed with a spell supporting the racing efforts of Gareth Evans and Bob Berridge, the team by then dubbed Chamberlain-Synergy, GT2 TVR Tuscan Rs were followed by an LMP2 Lola (in which Gareth took the 2005 ELMS class title, with the adventure completed in LMP1, again with a Lola.
In later years Hugh was to be found assisting many other teams around the sport and never gave up the dream of being back at Le Mans.
One of this writer’s great pleasures were long and entertaining phone calls out of the blue which always started with the same: “Hi, it’s Hugh, now then, what’s going on out there.” and almost inevitably included “Right, there’s something I want to tell you about!”
Hugh was always an enigma for some, mistaking his outgoing and engaging style with a lack of seriousness about the tasks in hand – nothing could be further from the truth.
A big man with a huge personality, it perhaps best showed itself on the very many occasions when Hugh was collared for an on-air catch-up by Radio Le Mans – a refreshing level of honesty and a usually hilarious selection of turn of phrase made those interactions something that many looked forward to.
Hugh leaves behind his beloved wife Gill, whose name wasn’t known by many – but thousands more will know her as ‘Small’, her inevitable descriptor by her husband – Our most sincere condolences on her loss, and our sorrow on ours – Hugh, we’re going to miss you – but you will never be forgotten.
Pics above John Brooks – Pic top Jakob Ebrey, both of whom loved Hugh as we all did.
