Talbot-Lago Type 26 Grand Sport
The Talbot-Lago Type 26 Grand Sport , also Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport , or Talbot-Lago Grand Sport was a sports car introduced by Talbot-Lago in 1947 and built until the mid-1950s.
Definition of terms and history of development
In many publications on the subject of sports car sports, vehicles are named Talbot-Lago T26GS that have little in common. However, there is a lot of potential for confusion in the Talbot type designation, since monopostos as well as sports cars , road vehicles and racing cars received the same designation. One of these wrong assignments is the incorporation of the winning car of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1950 as GS or Grand Sport. Back then, Louis Rosier and his son Jean-Louis had turned a T26 Grand Prix car into a sports car by adding fenders, lighting and a windscreen.
The first "real" Type 26 Grand Sport was created in 1947 and was the second Talbot Lago type after the end of World War II . In 1935, the Franco-Italian Anthony Lago, who was born in Venice , took over the insolvent STD group created from a merger of Talbot-Darracq and Sunbeam . Lago reorganized the company and outsourced the body shop. While working with the French bodywork manufacturers Pourtout , Figoni & Falaschi , Chausson, Saoutchik and Ateliers Henri Chapron , elegant limousines and sports cars were created as early as the 1930s.
This form of production was continued after the Second World War. For the 36 Grand Sport road cars built, Talbot-Lago only supplied the chassis, the drive technology, the engine and the transmission. The bodies were built exclusively by the manufacturers mentioned, mostly according to special customer requirements. Therefore, none of the Grand Sport looks like the other. Today the vehicles that have been preserved are among the most expensive historical vehicles. It is not uncommon for Grand Sports to win various Concours d'Elegance .
In their time, the Grand Sports were, in addition to their elegance, above all high-performance vehicles. The 6-cylinder in- line engines developed 195 hp in the last expansion stage. The maximum speed was given as 200 km / h.
Racing history
The Grand Sport first raced in 1952 at the Coupes de Vitesse . Lucien Vincent finished the race in sixth place overall. The victorious T26GS chassis with the number 110059 from Jean Blanc was one of the converted Grand Prix cars. This also applied to the chassis 110055, 11056, 11057 and 110058 driven in 1950 and 1951. The exception was the Coupé driven by André Chambas and André Morel in Le Mans in 1950 , a Grand Sport with which the two French came thirteenth in the overall standings.
All T26GS entered for the 1952 Le Mans 24 Hours were Grand Sport. While Chambas and Morel finished ninth overall with their Kompressor-Grand-Sport, all other three vehicles driven by Pierre Levegh / René Marchand , Eugène Chaboud / Charles Pozzi and Pierre Meyrat / Guy Mairesse were canceled . Pierre Levegh's race was particularly dramatic. Halfway through the race, he took first place in the overall standings. What followed went down in Le Mans history as one of the greatest driving achievements. At the time of the change in leadership, Levegh had already been in the vehicle for more than 12 hours and never cleared the cockpit until the failure. It is still unclear why Levegh did not let his partner Marchand take the wheel. At every pit stop, Marchand was ready to change drivers, but Levegh kept going. It is suspected that Levegh feared that the inexperienced Marchand might over-rev the already started engine. Ultimately, however, an engine failure led to the retirement an hour and 10 minutes before the end of the race.
In 1953 Levegh finished eighth at Le Mans together with Pozzi. In many other races it remains unclear whether it was the Grand Prix cars or real Grand Sport.
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 .
