Despite inauspicious beginnings, Ludovic came to love ‘Remus’ as much as his father. “Remus’ remains by far the best racing car I’ve driven," he told GRR. "Or rather, it gave me more pleasure than any other car. Owners of ERAs tend to keep them for a long time and they teach you a lot about racing. If you master an ERA, you can win in anything.”
Early drives, though, left him battered and bruised, and modifications were needed to make things more comfortable. ERAs need a confident driver. “Their natural tendency to understeer means," he added. "That if you go into a corner passively, you’re going off and ‘Remus’ is no different. You have to show it the turn and blip the throttle, the tail comes out, and you fidget the car around the corner. A lot of steering input is required, but what’s better than spending the day sideways?
“My favourite racing memory in the car is definitely the first Revival. Not just because it was clear that Charles [then Lord March, now the Duke of Richmond] had created something unique, that there was a sense of history being made, but because it was a bloody good race. I led the race early on having qualified second behind Willie Green in the Alfetta. Roddy MacPherson and Gregor Fisken, both in Cooper-Bristols, were on my tail for the entire race, and I never pulled out any sort of lead. At the end of the race I was knackered, the pedals were covered in oil and I was desperately trying to hold everything together!”
Prompted by a growing sensitivity to the dangers of driving a pre-war racing car at 140mph hour toward the Super Shell building, Ludovic took the difficult decision to stop racing R5B. Of course, he won his last race, at Goodwood. He didn’t, however, want the legacy of ‘Remus’ to be eroded by disuse and so chose to sell the car to McCabe, an enthusiastic collector and active historic racer who has raced the car every year since. Based in America, though, Charles laments not being able to get more seat time in R5B to get that essential familiarity and confidence, but says that he “wouldn’t dare take ‘Remus’ off the island”.