Henry Spencer wrote:

No, even if the N1 had worked well, they were far enough behind that their
only real chance was for Apollo to stumble and be delayed a bit. Which
was not a totally unrealistic hope, but in the end it didn't happen. See,
in particular, Siddiqi's "Challenge to Apollo" for the details (which are
much better understood now than they were 15 years ago).


Particularly in that they intended to do twelve successful N-1 launches
(if that can be believed) before doing the manned lunar mission.

Pat