Baptizing the Family Car

On the famous motor race track at Le Mans, France, sleek-bonneted speedsters screeched around the turns and thundered down the straightways in the most grueling sport-car endurance race on the speedway calendar. Plugging along at 70 m.p.h. --and letting other models slip past at better speeds--was a 1948 British Aston-Martin coupe. Its two-man crew, a couple of middle-aged English amateurs, were there just to prove that "any British family man who drives with care . . . can give these continental chaps a run for their money."

It was the first race for both Rob Lawrie (46) and Dr. Dick Parker (48), who took turns driving the Lawrie family car over the winding eight-mile course throughout the 24 hours of the race. Only 19 of the 49 entries finished. One generous French driver, Henri Louveau, threw away his chance of winning by stopping to help an Englishman who had cracked up on a curve. Another Englishman, 36-year-old Lord Selsdon, driving an Italian-made, twelve-cylinder Ferrari, barely stood off Louveau's challenge and won, with an average of 82 m.p.h. for 1,975 miles.

Chugging in eleventh, but safely, came the Aston-Martin with the English novices. Said Rob Lawrie, proudly: "We let the others pass and crash. We just kept on going. Back home, I am going to have a drophead hood [convertible top] put on, then I'll take Aunt Agatha out in it. This car has got to last the family a long time."

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