Le Mans 24 hour race 1931

The winners Tim Birkin and Earl Howe

The pit systems during the night

The Bugatti Type 50 with starting number 5, which Ettore Bugatti withdrew from the race after the Conelli accident

The ninth 24-hour race of Le Mans , the 9 ^e Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans , also 24 Heures du Mans, Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans , took place from 13 to 14 June 1931 on the Circuit des 24 Heures at Le Mans .

The race

Before the start of the race

After the few starters in 1930 , more teams came to Le Mans again in 1931. For the first time, works teams from Bugatti and Alfa Romeo were at the start. With the Molsheim-based company, a French automobile manufacturer took part in the race again after years, and it was granted a chance of overall victory. In one of the three works Bugatti, the two future Grand Prix drivers Louis Chiron and Achille Varzi shared the cockpit. Two Talbots came from Great Britain who had an outsider chance of victory. The two British brands Aston Martin and MG also made their debuts on the Sarthe. MG always used a women's team in the 24-hour race from 1931 until the end of the 1930s. Another Grand Prix driver made his Le Mans debut with Raymond Sommer .

The course of the race

In the race, the Bugattis had major problems with the Michelin tires. Already during training it became clear that the soft compounds from the French tire brand were not up to the fast Bugattis. On Saturday evening, Caberto Conelli had a serious accident after a puncture. The wreck of the Bugatti Type 50S hurled into a group of spectators, where one spectator was killed. After the tragedy became known, Ettore Bugatti withdrew the other two cars from the race. The rest of the race turned into a duel between the Alfa Romeos and the Mercedes-Benz of Boris Iwanowski and Henri Stoffel . In the end, the private Alfa Romeo 8C , driven by Earl Howe and Tim Birkin , won, which with 3017.654 km exceeded the 3000 km mark in the total distance for the first time.

Results

Pilots by nationality

25 French

20 British

5 Italians

1 Monegasse

1 Russian

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires	Round
1	3.0	16	Earl Howe	Earl Howe Tim Birkin	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	Alfa Romeo 2.3L Supercharged I8	D.	184
2	8.0	1	Valery Tatarinoff	Boris Iwanowski Henri Stoffel	Mercedes-Benz SSK	Mercedes-Benz 7.1L Supercharged I6	E.	177
3	3.0	11	Arthur Fox & Charles Nicholl	Tim Rose-Richards Owen Saunders-Davies	Talbot AV105	Talbot 3.0L I6	D.	173
4th	5.0	9	Henri Trébor	Henri Trébor Louis Balart	Lorraine-Dietrich B3-6 Le Mans	Lorraine-Dietrich 3.4L I6	D.	150
5	1.5	25th	Aston Martin Car Ltd.	Augustus Bertelli Maurice Harvey	Aston Martin 1½ International	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	D.	139
6th	1.1	29	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Just-Émile Vernet Fernand Vallon	Caban Spéciale	Ruby 1.1L I4	D.	128
Not classified
7th	750	31	Sir Francis Samuelson	Francis Samuelson Freddy Kindell	MG C-Type Midget	MG 0.7L Supercharged I4	D.
Disqualified
8th	1.1	27	Charles de Ricou	Gustave Duverne Robert Girod	BNC Type 527 Sport	Ruby 1.1L I4	D.	111
9	1.5	22nd	Marguerite Mareuse	Marguerite Mareuse Odette Siko	Bugatti T40	Bugatti 1.5L I4	E.	45
Failed
10	3.0	10	Arthur Fox & Charles Nicholl	Brian E. Lewis Johnny Hindmarsh	Talbot AV105	Talbot 3.0L I6	D.	132
11	1.5	26th	Aston Martin Car Ltd.	Sammy Newsome Kenneth Peacock	Aston Martin 1½ International	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	D.	126
12	1.5	24	Aston Martin Car Ltd.	Humphrey Cook Jack Bezzant	Aston Martin 1½ International	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	D.	111
13	3.0	14th	Soc. Anon. Alfa Romeo	Goffredo Zehender Attilio Marinoni	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8	P	99
14th	1.5	23	Jean Sébilleau	Jean Sébilleau Georges Delaroche	Bugatti T40	Bugatti 1.5L I4	D.	96
15th	3.0	12	Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth	Percy Hope-Johnstone Jack Barlett	Arrol Aster 17/5	Arrol Aster 2.4L I6	D.	95
16	1.1	28	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Roger Labric Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Caban Spéciale	Ruby 1.1L I4	D.	89
17th	1.1	30th	Charles Cherrier	Charles Cherrier Camille Royer	Lombard AL3	Lombard 1.1L I4	D.	45
18th	750	32	Hon. Joanne Chetwynd	Joanne Chetwynd Henry Stisted	MG C-Type Midget	MG 0.7L Supercharged I4	D.	30th
19th	5.0	7th	Anthony Bevan	Anthony Bevan Mike Couper	Bentley Blower	Bentley 4.4L I4	D.	29
20th	5.0	5	Bugatti team	Albert Divo Guy Bouriat	Bugatti Type 50S	Bugatti 5.0L Supercharged I8	M.	26th
21st	5.0	4th	Bugatti team	Achille Varzi Louis Chiron	Bugatti Type 50S	Bugatti 5.0L Supercharged I8	M.	24
22nd	3.0	19th	Antoine Schumann	Pierre Louis-Dreyfus Antoine Schumann	Bugatti T43	Bugatti 2.3L I8	D.	22nd
23	5.0	6th	Bugatti team	Caberto Conelli Maurice Rost	Bugatti Type 50S	Bugatti 4.9L Supercharged I8	M.	20th
24	8.0	3	Edouard Brisson	Édouard Brisson Joseph Cattaneo	Stutz Model M Blackhawk	Stutz 5.3L Supercharged I8	D.	19th
25th	8.0	2	Henri De Costier	Henri De Costier Raymond Lussan	Chrysler CG Imperial Eight	Chrysler 6.3L I8	E.	18th
26th	5.0	8th	Henri De Costier	Raymond Summers Jean Delemer	Chrysler CD Eight	Chrysler 4.6L I6	E.	14th
Not started
27	3.0	15th	Soc. Anon. Alfa Romeo	Giuseppe Campari Attilio Marinoni	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8	P	1
28	3.0	10T	Arthur Fox & Charles Nicholl		Talbot AV105	Talbot 3.0L I6	D.	2
29	3.0	16T	Earl Howe	Earl Howe Tim Birkin	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	Alfa Romeo 2.3L Supercharged I8	D.	3

¹ engine failure during training ² training cars ³ training cars

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
30th	1.5	20th	Société des Automobile Ariès		Ariès CB4	Ariès 1.5L I4
31	1.5	21st	Société des Automobile Ariès		Ariès CB4	Ariès 1.5L I4

Biennale Cup

Item	No.	driver	chassis	coefficient	Placement in the overall ranking
1	16	Earl Howe Tim Birkin	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	1,260	Overall victory
2	11	Tim Rose-Richards Owen Saunders-Davies	Talbot AV105	1,190	Rank 3

Index of Performance

Item	No.	driver	chassis	coefficient	Placement in the overall ranking
1	16	Earl Howe Tim Birkin	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	1,260	Overall victory
2	11	Tim Rose-Richards Owen Saunders-Davies	Talbot AV105	1,190	Rank 3
3	1	Boris Iwanowski Henri Stoffel	Mercedes-Benz SSK	1,120	Rank 2
4th	9	Henri Trébor Louis Balart	Lorraine-Dietrich B3-6 Le Mans	1,016	Rank 4
5	25th	Augustus Bertelli Maurice Harvey	Aston Martin 1½ International	1,015	Rank 5
6th	29	Just-Émile Vernet Fernand Vallon	Caban Spéciale	1.002	Rank 6

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
7th Biennale Cup	Earl Howe	Tim Birkin	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	Overall victory
Index of Performance	Earl Howe	Tim Birkin	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	Overall victory
5001-8000 cc	Boris Ivanovsky	Henri Stoffel	Mercedes-Benz SSK	Rank 2
2001-3000 cc	Earl Howe	Tim Birkin	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	Overall victory
1101-1500 cc	Augustus Bertelli	Maurice Harvey	Aston Martin 1½ International	Rank 5
751-1000 cc	Just-Emile Vernet	Fernand Vallon	Caban Spéciale	Rank 6

Racing data

• Registered: 29
• Started: 26
• Valued: 6
• Race classes: 6
• Spectator: unknown
• Honorary starter of the race: Georges Durand , Secretary of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest
• Weather on the race weekend: sunny, rain at night
• Route length: 16.340 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 24: 00: 00,000 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 185
• Total distance of the winning team: 3017.654 km
• Winner's average: 125.735 km / h
• Pole position: unknown
• Fastest race lap: Boris Ivanowski - Mercedes-Benz SSK (# 1) - 7: 03,000 = 139.234 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 .

Web links

Commons : Le Mans 24 Hours 1931  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Results with 24-hour en-piste