Tour de France for automobiles

The Tour de France for automobiles was a stage race held in France from 1899 to 1986 .

It was a road race similar to the Mille Miglia , which, unlike the legendary Italian race, was driven in different stages. In later years, valuation races were added on circuits.

history

René de Knyff during the first Tour de France for automobiles

Matra MS650 with additional headlights for the Tour de France

The first race was held in 1899. The board of directors of the Automobile Club de France reacted early on to the new challenges that arose from the rapidly growing automobile industry and, together with the newspaper le Matin, organized a race across France. On a round trip from Paris via Vichy and Nantes back to Paris, 2172 km were covered between July 16 and 24, 1899. The winner René de Knyff needed almost two days on a Panhard & Levassor for the route. The event was named Tour de France and is therefore four years older than the cycle race of the same name . When the cycling event became more and more popular in the interwar period , the car race was given the addition of a car .

The Tour de France was ridden with interruptions until the Second World War . The first race after the war took place in 1951 and ushered in the golden era of this race, which lasted until 1966. 1951 also saw the first win for Ferrari when Pagnibon / Barraquet won on a 212 Export . In the 1950s, Ferrari was the measure of all things, because the Italians had the right sports cars for this race with their GT vehicles. The Scuderia won eight times in the overall standings between 1951 and 1962. After the triumph of Alfonso de Portago in 1956, Olivier Gendebien and partner Lucien Bianchi won three times in a row (1957, 1958 and 1959), replaced by Willy Mairesse, who won the race together with Georges Berger in 1960 and 1961. The last time Scuderia triumphed in 1964 with Lucien Bianchi at the wheel of a Ferrari 250 GTO . In 1958 the British racing driver Peter Whitehead had a fatal accident on the tour. He rode a Jaguar with his half-brother Graham Whitehead , who was considered a reliable co-pilot in long-distance races. On September 21, 1958, after dark, Graham was driving the car when the car broke through a rotten bridge railing in Lasalle near Nimes and crashed into a ravine. While Graham survived the accident, any help came too late for Peter.

In the 1960s, the French racing and rally driver Bernard Consten won the race five times, making it the record winner to this day. In the same decade, the stage race was also opened to sports prototypes, so that racing cars like the Ferrari 512S , the Ford GT40 or the Matra MS650 drove hundreds of kilometers on public roads. When it became more and more difficult to find sponsors and the event no longer met the safety standards of the time in any way, the fiftieth and final Tour de France automobile took place in 1986.

In 1992 the Tour de France was revived as a racing event for historic racing vehicles and has been held annually as a Tour Auto since then . In addition to great drivers in motorsport history such as Stirling Moss , Hans Hugenholtz , Jean Ragnotti and Érik Comas , the large prototypes are once again driving on public roads, as in the 1960s.

Overall winner 1951–1986

year	vehicle	driver	Driver (copilot)
1951	Ferrari 212 export	Pierre Boncompagni	Alfred Barraquet
1952	DB 750	Marc Gignoux	Mme Gignoux
1953 - sports car	Osca MT4	Jacques Péron	R. Bertramnier
1953 - touring car	Renault 4CV 1062	Paul Condrillier	Daniel
1954	Gordini T15S	Jacques Pollet	Hubert Gauthier
1956	Ferrari 250 GT	Alfonso de Portago	Edmont Nelson
1957 - GT car	Ferrari 250 GT	Olivier Gendebien	Lucien Bianchi
1957 - touring car	Alfa Romeo Giulietta	Jean Hébert	Marcel Lauga
1958 - GT car	Ferrari 250 GT	Olivier Gendebien	Lucien Bianchi
1958 - touring car	Alfa Romeo Giulietta	Jean Hébert	Bernard Consten
1959 - GT car	Ferrari 250 GT	Olivier Gendebien	Lucien Bianchi
1959 - touring car	Jaguar Mark I.	Hernando da Silva Ramos	Jean Estager
1960 - GT car	Ferrari 250 GT	Willy Mairesse	Georges Berger
1960 - touring cars	Jaguar Mark II	Bernard Consten	Jack Renel
1961 - GT car	Ferrari 250 GT	Willy Mairesse	Georges Berger
1961 - touring cars	Jaguar Mark II	Bernard Consten	Jack Renel
1962 - GT car	Ferrari 250 GT	André Simon	Maurice Dupeyron
1962 - touring cars	Jaguar Mark II	Bernard Consten	Jack Renel
1963 - GT car	Ferrari 250 GTO	Jean Guichet	José Behra
1963 - touring cars	Jaguar Mark II	Bernard Consten	Jack Renel
1964 - GT car	Ferrari 250 GTO	Lucien Bianchi	Georges Berger
1964 - touring cars	Ford Mustang	Peter Procter	Andrew Cowan
1969	Porsche 911R	Gérard Larrousse	Maurice Gélin
1970	Matra MS650	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Patrick Depailler	Jean Todt
1971	Matra MS650	Gérard Larrousse	Johnny Rives
1972	Ferrari 365 GTB / 4	Jean-Claude Andruet	Michèle Espinosi-Petit
1973	Lancia Stratos	Sandro Munari	Mario Mannucci
1974	Ligier JS2	Gérard Larrousse	Jean-Pierre Nicolas	Johnny Rives
1975	Lancia Stratos	Bernard Darniche	Alain Mahé
1976	Porsche 911 Carrera	Jacques Henry	Bernard-Etienne Grobot
1977	Lancia Stratos	Bernard Darniche	Alain Mahé
1978	Fiat 131 Abarth	Michèle Mouton	Françoise Conconi
1979	Lancia Stratos	Bernard Darniche	Alain Mahé
1980	Lancia Stratos	Bernard Darniche	Alain Mahé
1981	Ferrari 308 GTB	Jean-Claude Andruet	Chantal Bouchetal
1982	Ferrari 308 GTB	Jean-Claude Andruet	Michèle Espinosi-Petit
1983	Opel Manta 400	Guy Fréquelin	Jean-François Fauchille
1984	Renault 5 Turbo	Jean Ragnotti	Pierre Thimonier
1985	Renault 5 Maxi Turbo	Jean Ragnotti	Pierre Thimonier
1986	Renault 5 Maxi Turbo	François Chatriot	Michel Périn

Web links

• Tour de France for historic racing vehicles
• Tour de France 1964