1912 French Grand Prix
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The fourth - according to today's counting method XII. The French Grand Prix ( XII Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France ) took place on June 25 and 26, 1912 at the Circuit de Dieppe . The race was held over 2 × 10 laps of 76.989 km, which corresponded to a total distance of 752.58 km.
The winner was Georges Boillot in a Peugeot L-76
run
After a three-year break and a failed attempt in 1911, the Automobile Club de France managed to hold a Grand Prix again for the first time in 1912 . As in 1907 and 1908 , Dieppe was chosen as the venue again, but compared to these two previous events, the new beginning was rather timid. In view of the reluctance of the established French manufacturers in particular, the ACF even completely waived the specification of a racing formula and only specified a minimum width of 175 cm for the cars. In order to guarantee a sufficient field of participants in any case, the race was also combined with this year's edition of the Coupe de l'Auto for the Voiturette class of cars with a maximum displacement of 3 liters and a minimum weight of 800 kg, which was very popular at the time .
This decision should prove to be entirely appropriate, because while in the Voiturette category, despite the absence of Delage and Hispano-Suiza , there were 33 participants on 12 brands, as expected, but only six manufacturers sent in the "open" Grand Prix class 14 cars at the start. Due to the loose tender conditions, a correspondingly heterogeneous field resulted. The colorful range ranged from the stripped touring car model from the Belgian brand Excelsior to the Mathis - "small car" from Strasbourg in Alsace - the only participant from the German Empire - with a displacement of just 1.8 liters, which is why it was in the "open" category had to compete because it was below the minimum weight for the Voiturette class, right up to the two last remaining representatives of the "old guard" of established manufacturers, Fiat and Lorraine-Dietrich , with their "displacement monsters" of well-tried design. In particular, the now eight-year-old construction of the Fiat S 74 with its four-cylinder engine of over 14 liters had almost gigantic vehicle dimensions , while Lorraine-Dietrich had even gone so far as to poach practically the entire team from the Benz racing team to join the Principle of putting an improved copy of their Grand Prix car from 1908 on the wheels.
On the other hand, Grand Prix newcomer Peugeot took a completely different approach . For the promotion from the Voiturette category to the Grand Prix class, instead of sheer size, the focus was on the further development of engine technology for more efficiency and higher speeds. It wasn't too bad to poach two key figures from competitor Hispano-Suiza, the victorious team in the Coupe de l'Auto from 1910, the successful driver and engineer Paolo Zuccarelli and designer Ernest Henry . Above all, Zuccarelli is said to have been the real central figure behind this project, who is also said to have persuaded company owner Robert Peugeot to provide a corresponding budget for a Grand Prix team, him, Henry, and the two previous Peugeot Otherwise, leaving drivers Jules Goux and Georges Boillot completely free to develop the racing cars. This made Peugeot the first automobile manufacturer with a completely independent racing department specializing in racing car construction. The quartet, which initially became a legend as Les Charlatans out of resentment within the company, but soon became generally recognized as the Les Charlatans , then created the first “modern” racing engine in Grand Prix history with a displacement of “only” 7.6 liters (compared to about twice the such large Fiat or Lorraine engines), but with four-valve technology with forced control, hemispherical combustion chambers and double overhead camshaft . Already during test drives with the Peugeot L-76 (which was also known as “EX1” for “étude experimentalale”) Boillot undercut Otto Salzer's old lap record from 1908 by a full 36 seconds. And Peugeot was also well equipped for the pit stops: after the ACF had decided to allow removable wheels, Rudge-Withworth spoke wheels were used , and while the competition was still operating with cans, Peugeot was already working with pressure refueling.
As in the first Grand Prix of 1906, the race again ran over two days, on each of which ten laps had to be completed on the almost 77 km long track for a total distance of 1540 km. The 47 participants took to the track at intervals of 30 seconds on the first day. As was generally not expected otherwise, the displacement and correspondingly powerful Grand Prix cars of the “conventional” design initially took the lead, but Peugeot driver Boillot stayed within striking distance, although he had to make two stops for repairs and tire changes. The fastest at the end of the first day was the American David Bruce-Brown on Fiat with a 2-minute lead over Boillot, while the third-placed Louis Wagner on Fiat was almost half an hour behind due to a weakening clutch. Of the Lorraine-Dietrichs, only one car was left in the race, while the other two broke down early with engine damage, like Zuccarelli's Peugeot. On top of that, both Fiat driver Ralph DePalma and Goux in a Peugeot were excluded from the race because they had refueled outside the pit area forbidden.
The leader in the Voiturette category was the Briton Dario Resta on Sunbeam , while the mechanic of Grégoire driver Léon Collinet had previously died in a tragic accident on lap 3 . The team did not start again the following day and the last Lorraine-Dietrich from René Hanriot who remained in the race was also missing because the car caught fire on the way to the garage. Boillot also had problems getting his Peugeot going because the spark plugs got damp. It was only after losing nine minutes that he was able to set off at full throttle to catch up with Bruce-Brown, whose Fiat, which was still equipped with wooden wheels, was increasingly having tire problems. On lap 15, the American finally had to stop after colliding with a dog with a broken fuel line. Although he was able to repair the leak, he had to refill the fuel in order to continue driving and therefore immediately accept the exclusion from the classification, although symbolically he continued to contest the race out of competition until the end. So Boillot was now clearly in the lead, but towards the end of the race he got into serious trouble again because he had bent the shift linkage. In a 20-minute repair stay, however, he and his mechanic managed to repair the damage at least poorly, so that he could survive the remaining two laps without shifting and practically only driving in top gear - circumstances that made his popularity the first French Grand Prix winners only increased. At the end of the race, with a total time of 13:58:03 hours and an average of 110.256 km / h, he still had a 13: 05.8 minute lead over second-placed Louis Wagner. Third in the overall standings and thus winner of the Coupe de l'Auto in the Voiturette class, after a remarkable performance and just 40 minutes behind, was Sunbeam driver Victor Rigal ahead of his two stable mates Dario Resta and Emile Medinger .
Results
Registration list
Race result
Item | driver | constructor | Round | Stops | time | begin | Fastest lap | Failure reason |
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1 |
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20th | 3 | 13: 58: 02.6 h | |||
2 |
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20th | + 13: 05.8 min | ||||
3 |
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20th | + 40: 33.4 min | 1 | |||
4th |
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20th | + 41: 49.2 min | ||||
5 |
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20th | + 2: 01: 38.8 h | ||||
6th |
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20th | + 2: 25: 36.2 h | ||||
7th |
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20th | + 3: 33: 36.6 h | ||||
8th |
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20th | + 3: 51: 29.4 h | ||||
9 |
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20th | + 4: 09: 16.6 h | ||||
10 |
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20th | + 4: 30: 53.0 h | ||||
11 |
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20th | + 5: 07: 57.4 h | ||||
12 |
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20th | + 5: 20: 02.4 h | ||||
13 |
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20th | + 6:59:03.4 h | ||||
14th |
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19th | + 1 lap | ||||
- |
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18th | DNF | Radiator damage | |||
- |
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17th | DNF | Radiator damage | |||
- |
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17th | DNF | lost wheel | |||
- |
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16 | DNF | Engine failure | |||
- |
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16 | DNF | accident | |||
- |
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15th | DNF | Engine failure | |||
- |
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10 | DNF | Engine failure | |||
- |
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10 | DNF | withdrawn | |||
- |
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10 | DNF | withdrawn | |||
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10 | DNF | Wagon fire | |||
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8th | DNF | Steering defect | |||
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8th | DNF | Engine failure | |||
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7th | DNF | severe oil loss | |||
- |
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7th | DNF | Engine failure | |||
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7th | DNF | Engine failure | |||
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7th | DNF | Engine failure | |||
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7th | DNF | Ignition damage | |||
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7th | DNF | Engine failure | |||
- |
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6th | DNF | Engine failure | |||
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5 | DNF | accident | |||
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5 | DNF | Gearbox damage | |||
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4th | DNF | failure | |||
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3 | DNF | severe oil loss | |||
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2 | DNF | Engine failure | |||
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2 | DNF | accident | |||
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1 | DNF | universal joint | |||
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1 | DNF | Engine failure | |||
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1 | DNF | Engine failure | |||
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1 | DNF | Engine failure | |||
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15th | DSQ | 36: 32.0 min | |||
- |
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7th | DSQ | ||||
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3 | DSQ | ||||
- |
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1 | DSQ |
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
Individual references / comments
- ↑ The first race organized as the Grand Prix de l'ACF took place in 1906. In the 1920s, however, the “great” city-to-city races of the early days between 1895 and 1903 were also awarded these titles, although the ACF was founded after the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race in 1895. This counting method made the event from 1906 the official ninth Grand Prix de l'ACF.