1924 French Grand Prix

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Race winner Giuseppe Campari
Track layout

The XVIII. French Grand Prix ( XVIII Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France ) took place on August 3, 1924 at the Circuit de Lyon in Lyon , France .

The race also had the AIACR title of honor European Grand Prix . It was held in accordance with the provisions of the International  Formula - the official International Grand Prix Formula prescribed by the AIACR, in which a minimum distance of 800 km was specified for the races - over 35 laps of 23.15 km each, resulting in a total distance of 810, 25 km corresponded. Works teams with racing cars with a capacity of up to 2 liters and a minimum weight of 650 kg were eligible to participate .

The winner was Giuseppe Campari in an Alfa Romeo P2 .

run

In 1924 the Grand Prix d'ACF returned to Lyon , the venue for the epoch-making race of 1914 . The route consisted of a section of the then racetrack and for the first time in its history a French Grand Prix was held on a circuit with a paved road surface throughout. In keeping with the importance of the race, which was also organized under the title of the Second European Grand Prix , Fiat , Sunbeam , Delage , Bugatti , Alfa Romeo and Rolland-Pilain-Schmid were all active manufacturers of Grand Prix racing cars this time represented according to the applicable formula. Only Mercedes , as a German company, was still excluded from participating in races in France as a result of the First World War , but had not yet developed its new Grand Prix model. Even with the drivers, everything was gathered that had rank and name, including Felice Nazzaro and Pietro Bordino (Fiat), Jules Goux (Rolland-Pilain-Schmid), Henry Segrave , Albert Divo and Dario Resta (Sunbeam) and Louis Wagner ( Alfa Romeo) seven previous Grand Prix and Indianapolis winners. In addition, with Giuseppe Campari and Antonio Ascari (both Alfa Romeo) and Robert Benoist (Delage) a new generation of upcoming Grand Prix aces was added. A special position also fell to Louis Zborowski , whose Miller is considered to be the first racing car privately used in an official International Grand Prix, even if that was rather unintentional. In order to be able to participate, Zborowski would actually have needed a certificate from the manufacturer with the confirmation that he was starting on the “behalf” of the plant. Although Zborowski had failed to do so, he was allowed to compete.

In addition to Fiat, which had already driven with engine charging the previous year , two other manufacturers, Sunbeam and Alfa Romeo, have now competed with supercharged racing cars with an output of between 138 and 150 hp. For Alfa Romeo it was the first Grand Prix start in the company's history (the Italian Grand Prix last year had been withdrawn due to Ugo Sivocci's fatal accident after training), but the new Grand Prix model Alfa Romeo P2 was already there a formula-free race in Cremona impressively demonstrated its performance. For the other three teams, who had decided against installing compressors, this meant that they had to try to make up for the performance disadvantage of the naturally aspirated engine in another way through special design features. With the Delage Type 2 LCV , the first Grand Prix racing car with a V12 engine, the focus was on increasing the engine speed, with the highly complex unit for the time (four overhead camshafts , a total of 48 valves) with 120 hp at 6000 rpm actually came close to the performance values ​​of the compressor motors. Bugatti, on the other hand, pursued a completely opposite approach with its Type 35 , which was conventional in terms of engine construction , but its excellent driving behavior was not enough to make up for the performance lag behind the compressor models. Another interesting, albeit inferior, design was the valveless six-cylinder engines from the Swiss engine manufacturer Schmid , built into two older Rolland-Pilain chassis.

As usual on street courses, the start was carried out on the fly . Immediately a three-way battle between the three compressor teams developed with Segrave (Sunbeam) ahead of Ascari (Alfa Romeo), Guinness (Sunbeam), Campari (Alfa Romeo) and Bordino (Fiat). However, Segrave had to pit after a short time with a misfire. Bordino and Ascari then fought for the lead until the Fiat driver had to stop with the brakes falling off. The Bugatti team was already in great difficulty because the Dunlop tires could not withstand the load due to poor vulcanization. After a brief interruption due to the scheduled refueling stops, Ascari took the lead again in front of Guinness, Campari and the now slightly stronger Delage from Divo. In the second half the race calmed down noticeably and Ascari already looked like the sure winner, but had to give up his Alfa Romeo in the 32nd of a total of 35 laps with a crack in the engine block. After seven exciting hours, his team-mate Campari achieved the first significant victory of his career, at the same time the first Grand Prix success for Alfa Romeo right on the first attempt. Delage also came in second with Divo - just one minute behind the winner, the closest result between drivers of two different brands at a Grand Prix to date - and Benoist in third place to a very respectable result. Overall, the race with its open outcome was a great success for Grand Prix racing. For Fiat, on the other hand, its own performance after the loss of personnel was a bitter disappointment, so that company boss Giovanni Agnelli ordered a withdrawal from the Grand Prix events a little later.

Results

Registration list

team No. driver chassis engine tires
United KingdomUnited Kingdom Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq Motors 01 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Henry Segrave Sunbeam GP Sunbeam 2.0L I6 compressor R T
08th United KingdomUnited Kingdom Kenelm Lee Guinness
14th United KingdomUnited Kingdom Dario Resta
Third French RepublicThird French Republic Automobiles Delage 02 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Albert Divo Delage 2 LCV Delage 2.0L V12
09 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Robert Benoist
15th Third French RepublicThird French Republic René Thomas
Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) SA Ital. Ing.Nicola Romeo 03 Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Giuseppe Campari Alfa Romeo P2 8C / 2000 Alfa Romeo 2.0L I8 compressor P
10 Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Antonio Ascari
16 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Louis Wagner
19th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Enzo Ferrari
SwitzerlandSwitzerland Schmid 04th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Giulio Foresti Rolland-Pilain A22 Grand Prix Schmid 2.0L I6 M.
11 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Jules Goux
Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Fiat 05 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Felice Nazzaro Fiat 805/405 Fiat Type 405 2.0L I8 compressor P
12 Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Pietro Bordino
17th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Onesimo Marchisio
19th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Cesare Pastore
United KingdomUnited Kingdom Louis Zborowski 06th United KingdomUnited Kingdom Louis Zborowski Miller 122 Offenhauser 2.0L I8
Third French RepublicThird French Republic Usines Bugatti 07th Third French RepublicThird French Republic Jean Chassagne Bugatti T35 Bugatti 2.0L I8
13 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Ernest Friederich
18th Spain 1875Spain Pierre de Vizcaya
21st Third French RepublicThird French Republic Leonico Garnier
22nd Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Meo Costantini

Race result

Item driver constructor Round Stops time begin Fastest lap Failure reason
01 Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Giuseppe Campari Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Alfa Romeo 35 7: 05: 34,800 3
02 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Albert Divo Third French RepublicThird French Republic Delage 35 +1: 05.400 2
03 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Robert Benoist Third French RepublicThird French Republic Delage 35 + 11: 26,000 8th
04th Third French RepublicThird French Republic Louis Wagner Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Alfa Romeo 35 + 19: 36,000 15th
05 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Henry Segrave United KingdomUnited Kingdom Sunbeam 35 + 23: 21,200 1 11: 19,000
06th Third French RepublicThird French Republic René Thomas Third French RepublicThird French Republic Delage 35 + 31: 52.600 14th
07th Third French RepublicThird French Republic Jean Chassagne Third French RepublicThird French Republic Bugatti 35 + 40: 51.800 6th
08th Third French RepublicThird French Republic Ernest Friederich Third French RepublicThird French Republic Bugatti 35 + 45: 10.800 12
09 Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Antonio Ascari Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Alfa Romeo 34 + 1 lap 9 Engine failure
10 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Dario Resta United KingdomUnited Kingdom Sunbeam 33 + 2 rounds 13
11 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Leonico Garnier Third French RepublicThird French Republic Bugatti 33 + 2 rounds 20th
- Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Felice Nazzaro Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Fiat 22nd DNF 4th Brake defect
- United KingdomUnited Kingdom Kenelm Lee Guinness United KingdomUnited Kingdom Sunbeam 20th DNF 7th Engine failure
- Third French RepublicThird French Republic Jules Goux Third French RepublicThird French Republic Rolland Pilain 19th DNF 10 Radiator damage
- Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Onesimo Marchisio Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Fiat 17th DNF 16 Engine failure
- Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Pietro Bordino Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Fiat 17th DNF 11 Brake defect
- United KingdomUnited Kingdom Louis Zborowski United States 48United States Miller 16 DNF 5 Axle break
- Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Meo Costantini Third French RepublicThird French Republic Bugatti 16 DNF 19th Steering defect
- Spain 1875Spain Pierre de Vizcaya Third French RepublicThird French Republic Bugatti 11 DNF 17th accident
- Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Cesare Pastore Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Fiat 11 DNF 18th accident
- Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Giulio Foresti Third French RepublicThird French Republic Rolland Pilain DNS Accident in training
- Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Enzo Ferrari Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Alfa Romeo DNS Driver sick

Web links

Commons : French Grand Prix 1924  - 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 1895 race. 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.