1923 French Grand Prix

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Race winner Henry Segrave with a mechanic studying the track
Runner-up Albert Divo , shown here at the 1924 French Grand Prix

The XVII. The French Grand Prix ( XVII Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France ) took place on July 2, 1923 at the Circuit de Tours in Tours in France . It was a classic triangular course on public country roads with a lap length of 22.83 km, which corresponds to a total distance of 799.07 km with 35 laps to be driven - slightly less than the 800 km minimum distance actually required by the regulations.

The winner was Henry Segrave in a Sunbeam , it was the first and for decades only Grand Prix success of a British driver on a British make.

run

Although the International Grand Prix formula was retained from the previous year with the limitation of the engines to 2 liters and the minimum weight of the cars of 650 kg, numerous new designs appeared this year. The most resounding innovation was presented by the Fiat plants, whose team competed for the first time in Grand Prix racing with racing cars with supercharged engines . As a result, the eight-cylinder in-line engine in the new Fiat 805/405 achieved a striking performance advantage over the entire competition, which could not be compensated for by all the theoretically existing aerodynamic and construction-related advantages of the streamlined models from Bugatti and Voisin, which were revolutionary at the time. The largely conventionally designed racing cars from Rolland-Pilain and Sunbeam , on the other hand, were largely at the technological level of the previous year. At Sunbeam, they had even gone so far as to poach Fiat personnel to put a copy of the Fiat 804 model, which was so successful in the previous year, on the wheels. Among all competitors, however, only Delage with the new V12 engine in the Type 2 LCV model would have been able to come close to the performance values ​​of Fiat. However, the development of this extremely complex high-performance unit was not yet complete, so that the only example available at the time was slowed down by teething troubles.

As is customary in street races, the race was opened with a joint rolling start, in which the starting grid had been drawn beforehand. Fiat's top driver Pietro Bordino used his favorable starting position from the second row and the extra power of his car on the fast, but narrow and dusty track to be the first to come back from the starting lap. Already 41 seconds behind were Kenelm Lee Guinness on Sunbeam and the Delage driver René Thomas in front of Bordino's two team-mates Enrico Giaccone and Carlo Salamano , who had both already worked their way up from midfield. While Thomas's Delage was thrown back early on by overheating problems, Bordino had even extended his lead to just under four minutes when he had to put his racing car aside on lap eight with engine failure. Fiat had neglected to adequately protect the car's air intakes so that too much dust and foreign bodies were sucked in via the compressor. Guinness, who had been able to hold their own in front of the two Fiat drivers, temporarily took the lead, but then fell back to a midfield position after his pit stop on the eleventh lap with the clutch falling. As a result, the Grand Prix developed into a veritable elimination race, to which the two Fiat of Giaccone and Salamano, who were each sovereign in the lead - with the same defect as their team-mate - fell victim to. Even the Sunbeam driver Albert Divo , who had been in front for a short time in front of Salamanos Fiat due to the tank stops, could not benefit from the total failure of the Fiat team because he had to stop every lap due to a jammed fuel cap to get his small reserve tank To fill up the car. So the victory finally fell to his stable mate Henry Segrave , who at the beginning of the race had also been slowed down by clutch problems, but had got them under control again during the course of the race. It was the first and, until 1955, the only success of a British driver on an at least nominally British make - Sunbeam was part of the Franco-British STD group  - at an international Grand Prix. The success was rounded off by Divo and Guinness, who, despite the problems with their cars, still crossed the line in second and fourth place. Sunbeam was also the only team that had finally brought all cars to the finish.

On the other hand, the performance of the other French participants was also very disappointing. Neither Bugatti nor Voisin, with their extremely futuristic streamlined racing cars, had been able to seriously intervene in the racing at the top due to poor road holding and insufficient engine power and had to contend with third place for Bugatti driver Ernest Friederich and fifth and last place for André Lefebvre, who was far behind  - who, as the designer of the Voisin racing car, had also driven one of the cars in the race himself - are satisfied.

Results

Registration list

team No. driver chassis engine tires
Third French RepublicThird French Republic Automobiles Delage 01 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Jules Goux Delage Type 2 LCV Delage 2.0L V12 M.
United KingdomUnited Kingdom Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq Motors 02 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Kenelm Lee Guinness Sunbeam GP Sunbeam 2.0L I4
07th Third French RepublicThird French Republic Albert Divo
12 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Henry Segrave
Third French RepublicThird French Republic SA des Établissements Rolland-Pilain 03 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Albert Guyot Rolland-Pilain A22 Rolland-Pilain 2.0L I8
08th Third French RepublicThird French Republic Jules Goux
13 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Victor Hémery
Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Fiat 04th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Pietro Bordino Fiat 805/405 Fiat Type 405 2.0L I8 compressor P
08th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Enrico Giaccone
14th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Carlo Salamano
Third French RepublicThird French Republic Avions Voisin 05 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Arthur Duray Voisin C6 Laboratory Voisin 2.0L I6
10 Third French RepublicThird French Republic André Lefebvre
15th Third French RepublicThird French Republic Henri Rougier
17th Third French RepublicThird French Republic André Morel
Third French RepublicThird French Republic Usines Bugatti 06th Third French RepublicThird French Republic Ernest Friederich Bugatti T30 Bugatti 2.0L I8 M.
11 Spain 1875Spain Pierre de Vizcaya
16 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Pierre Marco
18th Third French RepublicThird French Republic Prince de Cystria

Race result

Item driver constructor Round Stops time begin Fastest lap Failure reason
01 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Henry Segrave United KingdomUnited Kingdom Sunbeam 35 6: 35: 19,600 11
02 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Albert Divo United KingdomUnited Kingdom Sunbeam 35 + 19: 06.200 7th
03 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Ernest Friederich Third French RepublicThird French Republic Bugatti 35 + 25: 02.800 6th
04th United KingdomUnited Kingdom Kenelm Lee Guinness United KingdomUnited Kingdom Sunbeam 35 + 26: 43,400 2
05 Third French RepublicThird French Republic André Lefebvre Third French RepublicThird French Republic Voisin 35 +1: 25: 09,600 9
- Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Carlo Salamano Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Fiat 32 DNF 13 Compressor damage
- Third French RepublicThird French Republic Arthur Duray Third French RepublicThird French Republic Voisin 29 DNF 5 failure
- Third French RepublicThird French Republic Albert Guyot Third French RepublicThird French Republic Rolland Pilain 28 DNF 3 failure
- Third French RepublicThird French Republic Henri Rougier Third French RepublicThird French Republic Voisin 19th DNF 14th failure
- Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Enrico Giaccone Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Fiat 16 DNF 8th Compressor damage
- Third French RepublicThird French Republic Prince de Cystria Third French RepublicThird French Republic Bugatti 12 DNF 7th failure
- Third French RepublicThird French Republic René Thomas Third French RepublicThird French Republic Delage 8th DNF 1 Leak in the fuel tank
- Third French RepublicThird French Republic Victor Hémery Third French RepublicThird French Republic Rolland Pilain 7th DNF 12 defective oil pump
- Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Pietro Bordino Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Fiat 7th DNF 4th 9: 36,000 Compressor damage
- Third French RepublicThird French Republic Pierre Marco Third French RepublicThird French Republic Bugatti 3 DNF 15th failure
- Spain 1875Spain Pierre de Vizcaya Third French RepublicThird French Republic Bugatti 1 DNF 10 accident
- Third French RepublicThird French Republic André Morel Third French RepublicThird French Republic Voisin 8th DSQ 16
- Third French RepublicThird French Republic Jules Goux Third French RepublicThird French Republic Rolland Pilain DNF

Web links

Commons : French Grand Prix 1923  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. The first race organized as the Grand Prix de l'ACF took place in 1906. In the 1920s, however, the "big" city-to-city races of the early years 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. This numbering was after the 1968 renaming of the Grand Prix de l'ACF for Grand Prix de France continued further throughout.