1906 French Grand Prix

Ferenc Szisz on his victory run

Second placed Felice Nazzaro

Third placed Albert Clément at the start of the race

Paul Mariaux in the Mercedes 120 before the start

The award ceremony

The route

The first Grand Prix de l'ACF took place on June 26th and 27th, 1906 on a 103.18 km long triangular circuit near Le Mans . The race was held according to the racing formula that has been in effect since 1902 (1000 kg maximum weight plus 7 kg for magneto ignition) over 2 × 6 laps of 103.18 km, which corresponded to a total distance of 1238.16 km. Half of the distance was covered on each race day.

In the 1920s, the French automobile club ACF retroactively declared the “big” city-to-city races of the early days between 1895 and 1905 to be Grands Prix . This counting method, which has been retained to this day, made the event from 1906 the official IX. Renamed Grand Prix de l'ACF . The winner of the race was Ferenc Szisz in a Renault

prehistory

After the first races from city to city were still purely French events, the actual internationalization of motor sport began with the races for the Gordon Bennett Cup ( Coupe Internationale ) that were held from 1900 . The French automobile industry, which at that time held the leading role worldwide, saw itself severely disadvantaged by the provisions of the Cup, according to which each automobile nation was only entitled to three starting positions. The internal French preliminary races ( Eliminatoires ) of 1904 and 1905 , which were necessary for this reason, each had a stronger line-up than the actual main races, while at the same time, of all places, the main competitor Mercedes, thanks to a clever interpretation of the regulations - three otherwise structurally identical cars were officially advertised by the Austrian Automobile clubs sent into the race by the Viennese subsidiary Austro-Daimler - when a single manufacturer was able to provide two complete national teams.

The Automobile Club de France, as the association that was actually entitled to host the Gordon Bennett Cup for 1906, decided to stop supporting this format and instead to host the first Grand Prix in automotive history with the race for the Grand Prix de l'ACF . Up to three racing cars were now permitted per automobile manufacturer - regardless of the country of origin - as required by the French automobile manufacturers. In keeping with its rank as the most important of all automotive competitions, the race was scheduled over a distance of over 1200 km and on two consecutive days.

run

After paying a considerable sum from the surrounding communities, the Circuit de la Sarthe was chosen as the venue for the first Grand Prix race in history, a 103.18 km circuit near Le Mans with a total distance of 1238.16 km had to be lapped a total of twelve times in two days. On the first day, as was customary in this era, the participants were sent into the race at fixed intervals. However, the start time of each participant on the second day corresponded to the total time achieved the day before, so that for the first time in a major race, the first car at the finish was automatically the overall winner.

The route was a classic triangular course, in which three sharp corners were connected by more or less straight full-throttle sections. Most of the spectator areas near the towns were now separated from the track with fences and palisades, so, unlike in most previous races, the passages through town no longer had to be neutralized. A pit area has also been set up at the start and finish in Montfort. B. refilled gasoline, changed tires or other repairs could be made. However, all work on the car was only allowed to be carried out by the driver himself and the mechanic on board, and only during the ongoing race. Immediately after reaching the finish line on the first day, the cars were therefore taken to a parc fermé for the first time , where they were officially supervised until the restart the next day.

The big problem of such overland routes at that time was the regular (in dry conditions) the dust thrown up by the racing cars, which led to dangerous visual impairments for the following participants. As a precaution, the organizers had previously prepared the track with tar, which, however, now became a problem in itself due to the great heat, because the molten hot surface was thrown from the wheels of the cars ahead into the faces of their pursuers. As in previous races, stones on the track also resulted in a myriad of punctures. Due to this fact, one innovation in particular turned out to be decisive for the race. With the jantes amovibles, Michelin had developed detachable rims on which the tires were already pre-mounted, and in this way gave the cars equipped with them an immense advantage, especially since only the crew was allowed to work on the car themselves. The time it takes to change tires has been reduced from 15 to under 4 minutes (the wheels themselves were seen as an integral part of the car and therefore could not simply be changed as a whole). However, the new system brought an additional weight of 9 kg per wheel, so that some teams had to do without it in view of the maximum weight of 1007 kg specified by the racing formula ( Panhard , Itala , Mercedes ), or, as in the case of Renault and Clément-Bayard, only could equip the particularly stressed rear wheels with it. Only FIAT could use the system on all four wheels.

A total of ten French automobile companies registered for the race and paid the entry fee of 5,000 francs, plus FIAT and Itala from Italy and Mercedes from Germany - all with the three cars per team permitted by the regulations. British manufacturers, on the other hand, stayed away on the grounds that the event was only a platform for French "propaganda", and there were no representatives of American, Belgian or Swiss companies among the 34 participants.

The constructions had been in conformity with the 1000 kg formula that had been in force since 1902 (1000 kg maximum weight plus 7 kg for magneto ignition). All cars had four-cylinder engines with a capacity of up to 18,000 cm³, some of which had already moved away from side-controlled valves to OHV engines . Other design differences related to the use of high or low voltage ignitions as well as cardan or chain drive for the rear wheels.

At the beginning of the race, Paul Baras on Brasier took the lead and for a short time his team-mate “Pierry” ( Gaby Huguet ), who was driving under a pseudonym, was even in second place. In the third lap, however, Baras was overtaken by Renault driver Ferenc Szisz , one of them Born in Hungary, he was still on board as a mechanic at Louis Renault in the city races of 1902 and 1903 . Szisz and his mechanic took over the management position thanks in particular to their sensationally quick tire changes - allegedly 19 in total - one of which is said to have taken less than two minutes. Szisz then retained the leadership for the rest of the day and did not give it up the following day. After he had been traveling at top speeds of up to 154 km / h up to then, despite the damage to a wheel suspension on the tenth lap, his lead of over 30 minutes was big enough that he could survive the last laps with careful driving and the 45,000 francs Could win prize money. Overall, he achieved an average of 103.18 km / h with a total time of 12: 12: 07.0 hours. Behind them, on the penultimate lap, Fiat driver Felice Nazzaro managed to snatch second place from Clément-Bayard with company founder Albert Clément personally at the wheel - as the only car in the team not equipped with removable rims - even though it was 23 minutes in between Had extended the lead. Jules Barillier on Brasier finished fourth, while Panhard and especially Mercedes ended up far behind. More than four hours after the winner, the eleventh and last of 32 participants who had started finally reached the finish (one car had not started at the start, another was withdrawn before the race because the weight limit was exceeded).

Results

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
De Dietrich et Cie	01A	Fernand Gabriel	Lorraine-Dietrich
	01B	Henri Rougier
	01C	Arthur Duray
Fiat	02A	Vincenzo Lancia	Fiat 130 HP	Fiat 13.0L I4
	02 B	Felice Nazzaro
	01C	Aldo Weilschott
Renault Frères	03A	Ferenc Szisz	Renault AK	Renault 13.0L I4
	03B	Jacques Edmond
	03C	Claude Richez
Société A Darracq	04A	Victor Hémery	Darracq 120hp
	04B	Louis Wagner
	04C	René Hanriot
Automobiles Brasier	05A	Paul Baras	Brasier 105hp
	05B	Jules Barillier
	05C	Gaby Huguet
Daimler Motor Company	06A	Camille Jenatzy	Mercedes 120 hp	Mercedes14.4L I6
	06A	Joseph Burton-Alexander
	06B	Paul Mariaux
	06C	Vincenzo Florio
Société Gobron-Brillié	07A	Louis Rigolly	Gobron-Brillié 110hp	Gobron-Brillié 13.5L I4
Itala	08A	Alessandro Cagno	Itala 120hp
	08B	Maurice Fabry
	08C	Pierre de Caters
Gregoire et Cie	09A	Philippe Tavenaux	Gregoire 70hp
	09B	Xavier Civelli de Bosch
Automobiles Panhard et Levassor	10A	George Heath	Panhard 130
	10B	Henri Tart
	10C	Georges Teste
Automobiles Vulpès	11A	Marius Barriaux	Vulpès
Ets Hotchkiss	12A	Hubert Le Blon	Hotchkiss HH
	12B	Jacques Salleron
	12C	Elliott Shepard
Albert Clement	13A	Albert Clement	Clement-Bayard 100hp
	13B	Albert Villemain
	13C	Philippe de la Touloubre

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Ferenc Szisz	Renault	12		12: 14: 07,400
02	Felice Nazzaro	Fiat	12		+ 32: 19,400
03	Albert Clement	Clement-Bayard	12		+ 35: 39,200
04th	Jules Barillier	Brasier	12		+1: 38: 53,000
05	Vincenzo Lancia	Fiat	12		+ 2: 08: 04,000
06th	George Heath	Panhard	12		+ 2: 33: 38,400
07th	Paul Baras	Brasier	12		+ 3: 01: 43,000		52: 25,400
08th	Arthur Duray	Lorraine-Dietrich	12		+ 3: 11: 54,600
09	Gaby Huguet	Brasier	12		+ 4: 01: 00,600
10	Camille Jenatzy Joseph Burton-Alexander	Mercedes	12		+ 4: 04: 35.800
11	Paul Mariaux	Mercedes	12		+ 4: 34: 44,400
-	Henri Rougier	Lorraine-Dietrich	10		NC			Tire damage
-	Claude Richez	Renault	8th		DNF			accident
-	Elliott Shepard	Hotchkiss	7th		DNF			lost wheel
-	Victor Hémery	Darracq	7th		DNF			Engine failure
-	Louis Rigolly	Gobron Brillié	7th		DNF			Radiator damage
-	Georges Teste	Panhard	6th		DNF			accident
-	Jacques Edmond	Renault	5		DNF			Driver injured
-	Aldo Weilschott	Fiat	5		DNF			accident
-	Vincenzo Florio	Mercedes	5		DNF			lost wheel
-	Albert Villemain	Clement-Bayard	4th		DNF			lost wheel
-	Hubert Le Blon	Hotchkiss	4th		DNF			lost wheel
-	Henri Tart	Panhard	4th		DNF			Suspension damage
-	Philippe de la Touloubre	Clement-Bayard	3		DNF			Gearbox damage
-	Jacques Salleron	Hotchkiss	2		DNF			accident
-	Louis Wagner	Darracq	2		DNF			Engine failure
-	Alessandro Cagno	Itala	2		DNF			Radiator damage
-	Pierre de Caters	Itala	1		DNF			lost wheel
-	Fernand Gabriel	Lorraine-Dietrich	1		DNF			Piston rod damage
-	Maurice Fabry	Itala	1		DNF			accident
-	Xavier Civelli de Bosch	Grégoire	1		DNF			Radiator damage
-	René Hanriot	Darracq	1		DNF			Engine failure
-	Philippe Tavenaux	Grégoire			DNS			not started
-	Marius Barriaux	Vulpès			DNS			Vehicle overweight

literature

• Robert Dick: Mercedes and Auto Racing in the Belle Epoque 1895–1915 , MacFarland & Co, Jefferson, 2005, ISBN 0-7864-1889-3 (English)
• Adriano Cimarosti: Car races - The great prices of the world, cars, tracks and pilots from 1894 to today , Hallwag AG, Bern, 1986, ISBN 3-444-10326-3
• Paul Sheldon with Yves de la Gorce & Duncan Rabagliati: A Record of Grand Prix and Voiturette Racing, Volume 1 1900–1925 , St. Leonard's Press, Bradford, 1987, ISBN 0-9512433-0-6 (English)
• Karl Ludvigsen: Classic Grand Prix Cars - The front-engined Formula 1 Era 1906–1960 , Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2000, ISBN 0-7509-2189-7
• Hodges, David: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars , The Crowood Press, Ramsbury, 2001, ISBN 1-86126-339-2

Web links

Commons : 1906 French Grand Prix  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual references / comments

1. ↑ As early as 1901, with the Grand Prix du Sud-Ouest, the winner of the Pau race was awarded such a prize for the first time with this designation in the title
2. ↑ The course is not identical to today's Circuit des 24 Heures
3. ↑ Individual sources add a consumption limit of 30 liters of fuel per 100 km driven for the Grand Prix of 1906, but this seems to have been confused with 1907. A photo [1] shows Szisz also refueling