Le Mans 24 hour race 1927
The fifth 24-hour race of Le Mans , the 5 e Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans , also the 5émes Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans, Circuit Permanenthe de la Sarthe , took place from 18th to 19th June 1927 on the Circuit des 24 Heures .
The race
The 24-hour race of 1927 went down in the history of this endurance race insofar as it was considered the “real” start of this event for British experts. Knowledgeable journalists call the 1927 race not the “best”, but the “classic” 24-hour race. That exciting motorsport events do not always have to be related to the number of participants is shown by the fact that only 22 teams competed in 1927. This almost halved the number of participants, as 41 cars had entered the race the year before. Originally it was supposed to be 23, but one of the two Tracta had an accident on arrival and was unable to attend.
The big favorites to win were the only three non-French cars. Three factory Bentley . "Old Number 7", a 3-liter Bentley super sport, was driven by Dudley Benjafield and Sammy Davis . A second 3-liter super sport was controlled by the French André d'Erlanger and the British George Duller . The strongest car in the field was the 4.5-liter Bentley "Old Mother Gun", which Frank Clement - the winner of 1924 - and Leslie Callingham drove. After Chenard & Walcker withdrew the year before, Lorraine Dietrich - the winning team of the last two years - had also decided not to participate. The only remaining French car was a 3-liter Ariès , driven by Robert Laly and Jean Chassagne . However, the domestic teams concentrated on winning the Biennial Cup, which was based on an index ranking that put the number of kilometers driven by a vehicle in relation to performance. The smaller-displacement vehicles had a slight advantage here.
The Maison Blanche Accident (White House Disaster)
The race started, as expected, with a three-way lead by Bentley. Everything went according to plan until 9:30 p.m. on Saturday evening, when there was a mass accident. Pierre Tabourin lost control of his 2-liter Théo Schneider in the Maison Blanche corner - at that time there was a white house close to the race track that gave the corner its name . His right rear wheel came into a small ditch to the right of the lane and skidded. The Frenchman was still able to intercept the car, but it came to a stop across the direction of travel and still halfway on the road. Callingham driving just behind in the “Old Mother Gun” could not avoid it, hit Théo Schneider in the stern and pushed him further onto the road. Another Théo Schneider, Duller's 3-liter Bentley and a 1-liter Ariès crashed into both vehicles at short intervals. When Sammy Davis came to the accident site in "Old Number 7", there were five wrecks on the train. Davis was warned by spectators and slowed down. He couldn't stop completely because of the bad brakes on the Bentley. He tried to force the car into a spin, slipped sideways past the wreckage and damaged the Bentley considerably. Davis stopped and looked at the damage. When he discovered that, as if by a miracle, neither his two teammates nor one of the French drivers were seriously injured, he got back in and drove slowly back to the pits.
There he and Benjafield found that the front axle was warped and that both the fender and the lamp were missing on the right side. According to the regulations at the time, only the drivers were allowed to work on the vehicle, and it took both of them more than half an hour to get the car back on the road. Benjafield resumed the race six laps behind. Although the steering was crooked on the straight and the windshield was missing, Davis was able to shorten the gap to leading Ariès from Chassagne to one lap by Sunday, just after noon. However, victory no longer seemed possible. However, the Ariès was plagued by problems with the ignition distributor , which ultimately led to the car breaking down.
The victory of Davis and Benjafield was received with great acclaim by the British press and led to a flood of British viewers at Le Mans for the next few years. More and more teams came to the Sarthe in a row. The enthusiasm for these races, which began in 1927, continues to this day on the British Isles. However, if Davis hadn't got the Bentley running, a little Salmson would have become the smallest overall winner of the 24-hour race to date.
Hotel Savoy
In 1927, the tradition of exhibiting the victorious Bentley of the 24-hour race in the foyer of the Savoy Hotel in London began to pay tribute to the vehicle. What began with "Old Number 7" in 1927 was completed in 2003 with the Bentley EXP Speed 8 by Tom Kristensen , Rinaldo Capello and Guy Smith .
Results
Pilots by nationality
38 French | 5 British | 1 Belgian |
Final ranking
Item | class | No. | team | driver | chassis | engine | tires | Round |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3.0 | 3 | Bentley Motors Ltd. |
Dudley Benjafield Sammy Davis |
Bentley 3 Liter Super Sport "Old Number 7" | Bentley 2.9L I4 | D. | 137 |
2 | 1.1 | 25th | Émile Salmson et Cie |
André de Victor Joseph Hasley |
Salmson GS | Salmson 1.1L I4 | D. | 117 |
3 | 1.1 | 23 | Émile Salmson et Cie |
Georges Casse André Rousseau |
Salmson GS | Salmson 1.1L I4 | D. | 115 |
4th | 1.5 | 15th | Société des Construction Automobile Parisienne |
Lucien Desvaux Fernand Vallon |
SCAP Type O | SCAP 1.5L I4 | D. | 111 |
5 | 1.1 | 26th | Establishments Henri Precioux |
Guy Bouriat Pierre Bussienne |
EHP Type DS | CIME 1.1L I4 | D. | 109 |
6th | 1.1 | 21st | Société des Applications à Refroidissements par Air |
André Marandet Gonzaque Lécureul |
SARA BDE | SARA 1.1L I4 | E. | 107 |
7th | 1.1 | 20th | SA of the automobile Tracta |
Jean-Albert Grégoire Lucien Lemesle |
Tracta Gephi | SCAP 1.1L I4 | D. | 98 |
Not classified | ||||||||
8th | 1.5 | 16 | Société des Construction Automobile Parisienne |
Henri Giulbert André Clemet
|
SCAP Type O | SCAP 1.5L I4 | D. | 99 |
Disqualified | ||||||||
9 | 1.5 | 4th | Société des Applications à Refroidissements par Air |
Gaston Mottet Emile Maret
|
SARA SP7 | SARA 1.5L I6 | E. | 50 |
10 | 1.1 | 29 | Société des Automobile Ariès |
Fernand Gabriel Louis Paris
|
Ariès CC2 Super | Ariès 1.1L I4 | D. | 23 |
11 | 1.1 | 24 | Émile Salmson et Cie |
Lionel de Marmier Pierre Goutte |
Salmson GS | Salmson 1.1L I4 | D. | 21st |
12 | 1.1 | 28 | Société des Automobile Ariès |
Arthur Duray Roger Delano |
Ariès CC4 | Ariès 1.1L I4 | D. | 16 |
Failed | ||||||||
13 | 2.0 | 4th | Société des Automobile Ariès |
Robert Laly Jean Chassagne |
Ariès Type S GP2 Surbaisée | Ariès 3.0L I4 | D. | 122 |
14th | 2.0 | 8th | Fabriques d'Automobiles de St. Ouen |
Raymond Leroy Pierre Mesnel
|
Fasto A3 Sport | Fasto 2.0L I4 | D. | 96 |
15th | 2.0 | 10 | Fabriques d'Automobiles de St. Ouen |
Michel Doré Roger Hellot |
Fasto A3 Sport | Fasto 2.0L I4 | D. | 75 |
16 | 2.0 | 9 | Fabriques d'Automobiles de St. Ouen |
Paul Brosselin Frédéric Théllusson |
Fasto A3 Sport | Fasto 2.0L I4 | D. | 72 |
17th | 1.1 | 22nd | Société des Applications à Refroidissements par Air |
Henri Armand Gaston Duval |
SARA ATS | SARA 1.4L I4 | E. | 42 |
18th | 5.0 | 1 | Bentley Motors Ltd. |
Frank Clement Leslie Callingham |
Bentley 4½ liter "Old Mother Gun" | Bentley 4.4L I6 | D. | 35 |
19th | 2.0 | 12 | Automobiles Th. Schneider SA |
Jacques Chenterelle René Schiltz
|
Théo Schneider 25SP Le Mans | Théo Schneider 2.0L I4 | D. | 34 |
20th | 3.0 | 2 | Bentley Motors Ltd. |
André d'Erlanger George Duller |
Bentley 3 Liter Super Sport | Bentley 3.0l I4 | D. | 34 |
21st | 2.0 | 11 | Automobiles Th. Schneider SA |
Robert Poitier Pierre Tabourin
|
Théo Schneider 25SP Le Mans | Théo Schneider 2.0L I4 | D. | 26th |
22nd | 1.1 | 27 | Establishments Henri Precioux |
Henri de Costier Georges Guignard
|
EHP Type DS | CIME 1.1L I4 | D. | 40 |
Not started | ||||||||
23 | 1.1 | 19th | SA of the automobile Tracta |
Pierre Fenaille Etienne Boussoud
|
Tracta Gephi | SCAP 1.1L I4 | D. | 1 |
1 accident on arrival
Only in the entry list
Here you can find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race, but did not take part for various reasons.
Item | class | No. | team | driver | chassis | engine | tires |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
24 | 2.0 | 5 | Établissements Automobiles Rolland et Pilain SA | Rolland-Pilain C23 | Rolland-Pilain 2.0L I4 | ||
25th | 2.0 | 6th | Établissements Automobiles Rolland et Pilain SA | Rolland-Pilain C23 | Rolland-Pilain 2.0L I4 | ||
26th | 2.0 | 7th | Établissements Automobiles Rolland et Pilain SA | Rolland-Pilain C23 | Rolland-Pilain 2.0L I4 | ||
27 | Aries | ||||||
28 | 1.1 | 17th | Automobiles Gendron & Cie | Marcel Michelot | GM GC3 Sport | CIME 1.1L I4 | |
29 | 1.1 | 18th | Automobiles Gendron & Cie | Marcel Gendron | GM GC3 Sport | CIME 1.1L I4 | |
30th | Tracta | ||||||
31 | Steyr |
Rudge Whitworth Biennale Cup
Prix le Saint-Didier - Index of Performance
Class winner
Racing data
- Registered: 31
- Started: 22
- Valued: 7
- Race classes: 5
- Spectator: unknown
- Honorary starter of the race: Emile Coquille , French representative of the tire manufacturer Rudge-Whitworth
- Race weekend weather: rain at night
- Route length: 17.262 km
- Driving time of the winning team: 24: 00: 00,000 hours
- Total laps of the winning team: 137
- Total distance of the winning team: 2369.807 km
- Winner's average: 98.740 km / h
- Pole position: unknown
- Fastest race lap: Frank Clement - Bentley 4½ liter (# 1) - 8: 46,000 = 118.142 km / h
- Racing series: did not belong to any racing series
literature
- Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .
- RM Clarke: Le Mans. The Bentley & Alfa Years 1923-1939. Brooklands Books, Cobham 1998, ISBN 1-85520-465-7 .
- Quentin Spurring: Le Mans The Official History 1923-29 Evro Publishing, Hardcover, 2015, ISBN 1-91050-508-0 .