From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Preview from 'The Motor' magazine of the 1939 Le Mans 24 Hours sports car race, including a track map and list of entrants.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 128\3\ scan0054 | |
| Date | 13th June 1939 | |
| The Motor 742 June 13, 1939. 24 Hours Challenge All About the Great Sports Car Race at Le Mans Next Week-end AT four o'clock next Saturday afternoon, June 17, 49 exhausts are due to shake the air on the Sarthe Circuit, Le Mans, France, as the annual 24-hour sports car race gets under way. The competition is very keen this year. It marks the entry of the 12-cylinder 4 1/2-litre Lagonda described on previous pages. Then there is the 3.3 Bugatti which won at record speed two years ago, Dreyfus's 4 1/2-litre V12 Delahaye, two 4 1/2-litre Darracqs (these three are quasi Grand Prix cars), a trio of 3-litre T.T.-type Delages (six-cylinders), a squadron of 3 1/2-litre Delahayes (type which won last year), and at least one, and maybe two, of the new 2 1/2-litre SS{S. Smith} Alfa-Romeos which won the Tobruk-Tripoli race this year—one driven by Sommer and Bira. A 4 1/2-litre Alfa is a likely starter, similar to the winner of the recent Antwerp race, driven by Farina. The NSKK team of Type 328 B.M.W.s is entered, plus two of the Adlers which won the Biennial Cup last year. Morris-Goodall and Hichens are driving for the third time the 2-litre Aston which won the Cup in 1937. To understand this race, which will be reported at length next week, it is necessary to get a few facts clear to start with. The race is for catalogued sports cars with open or closed bodies (provided they conform with laid-down dimensions), superchargers are permitted (if standard), two drivers must share the wheel, all spares and tools must be carried on the cars all the time, the tanks of oil and petrol cannot be refilled except at intervals of 24 laps (which works out at 200 miles a time), five types of pump fuel are available to choice (which limits compression ratios), and there are really three races going on at the same time. The Three Races The first of these is the 16th Grand Prix of Endurance, which has no handicap and is won by the car which goes farthest in the 24 hours (i.e., goes fastest). The second is the eliminating test for next year's Formula-handicap race, in which the cars must cover given minimum distances according to the size of engine; and the third is the final round of the Biennial Rudge Cup, which is on Formula-handicap according to engine size. This last is open only to those drivers who qualified last year (hence the Biennial part). The idea is that if you are a private owner you can qualify on any car you like and enter any car to choose the next year, but manufacturers must qualify and "finalize" on their own make. The formula is worked out on a mathematical basis, which assigns points according to how many miles over and above the set minimum is covered by each car. [Circuit Diagram] Labels: MULSANNE STRAIGHT, TERTRE ROUGE, NEW ESSES, PITS, STAND, WHITE HOUSE BEND, ARNAGE CORNER, MULSANNE HAIRPIN. Caption: THE CIRCUIT. The Mulsanne Straight is dead straight for 2 1/2 miles. The course is 8.4 miles. [Right Column] Thus, if you are merely qualifying for next year you can totter round quite slowly, but if you are in the final you've got to hurry. All cars can compete in the Endurance Grand Prix, of course. To give an idea of the minimum distances, 750 c.c. cars must average... k.p.h., 1,500 c.c. machines 93.7 k.p.h., and the Lagonda, for instance, must average 113.6 k.p.h.—all of which is faster than last year. The Sarthe Circuit (so called from the district in which it lies, and which takes its name from the local river) is roughly diamond-shaped, and lies a few miles outside Le Mans and on the outskirts of the suburb of Pontlieue. Much money has been spent recently on the circuit on resurfacing and widening, and it is faster now than ever. The pits are exemplary, with a double story, and each is a good-sized self-contained room. Flowers bloom between the pits, and behind on shaven lawns are lines of tents, wherein the crews sleep at night. Opposite the pits (floodlit like a street of shops by night) is a big covered grandstand, permanent like the pits, with a restaurant. Immediately after the start the road curves right-handed uphill along the "by-pass" to the New Esses (sharp left and right through trees), and climbs up a right-handed right angle at Tertre Rouge, where the main road to Tours is joined. At first through an avenue of trees on a slight curve, and then past the famous Hippodrome Café (so called from the aforementioned race course), through open farming country down the dead-straight road for 2 1/2 miles to a slightly banked right-hand curve, which leads in another kilometre to a slight descent into Mulsanne Hairpin. Here the road goes sharp right along a shady country road, full of twists and wriggles, to the Old Esses and Arnage Corner—a dog-leg turn—and then by a winding road, rather narrow, through the 100 m.p.h. White House Bend (left-handed), and through more gentle twists back to the pits. ENTRIES LE MANS ENTRIES BRITISH Lagonda (4 1/2-litres): Arthur Dobson—Charles Brackenbury. Lord Selsdon—Lord Waleran. Alfa-Romeo: R.{Sir Henry Royce} Arbuthnot—G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} Ramponi. Aston Martin (2-litres): R.{Sir Henry Royce} P. Hichens—Morris Goodall. Atalanta (1 1/2-litres): C. W. Morrison. H.R.G. (1 1/2-litres): Peter Clark. Delahaye (3 1/2-litres): R.{Sir Henry Royce} R.{Sir Henry Royce} C. Walker—J.{Mr Johnson W.M.} P. Wakefield. Morgan (1,100 c.c.): Miss P. M.{Mr Moon / Mr Moore} Fawcett. Singer (972 c.c.): A.{Mr Adams} W. Jones—G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} Wilkins, A.{Mr Adams} C. Scott. Darracq (3.9-litres): T. A.{Mr Adams} S. O.{Mr Oldham} Mathieson. FRENCH Bugatti (3.3-litres): Benoist—Wimille. Delahaye (4 1/2-litres): Dreyfus—Raph. Delahaye (3 1/2-litres): Paul—Treveaux. Contet—Cortanze, Chaboud—Giraud, Cabantous, Vllleuve. Mazaud, Belle Croix. Riley (1 1/2-litres): Vernet. Amilcar (1,100 c.c.): Pichard. Simca-Fiat (1,100 c.c.): Three cars entered by Gordini and one by Camerano. Simca-Fiat (600 c.c.): Two entered by Gordini. Singer (972 c.c.): Savoye. Darracq (4 1/2-litres): Three entered by Chinetti. Darracq (3.9-litres): One entered by Chinetti. Delage (3-litres): Giraud—Monneret, Hug—Lover. "X": Mme. Itier, Seylair and Gaillard. GERMANY Adler (1 1/2-litres): Two entered by the works. B.M.W. (2-litres): NSKK team. Prince Schaumberg-Lippe. S.S.: One entered by Dr. Medwede. AMERICAN M.G. (847 c.c.): M.{Mr Moon / Mr Moore} T. U. Collier. BELGIAN M.G. (950 c.c.): Bonneau. ITALIAN Alfa-Romeo (3-litres): Sommer—Bira, and one other car. "X": Scuderia Ambrosiana. LE MANS—PAST WINNERS Grand Prix d'Endurance: 1938—Chaboud and Tremoulet (3 1/2-litre Delahaye), 82.56 m.p.h. 1937—Wimille and Benoist (3.3 Bugatti), 85.13 m.p.h. (record speed). 1936—No race. 1935—Hindmarsh and Fontes (4 1/2 Lagonda), 77.84 m.p.h. 1934—Chinetti and Etancelin (3.2 Alfa), 74.58 m.p.h. 1933—Sommer and Nuvolari (2.3 Alfa), 81.22 m.p.h. Biennial Cup: 1938—Orssich and Sanerwein (Adler), 73.7 m.p.h. 1937—Morris Goodall and Hichens (2-litre Aston Martin), 67.5 m.p.h. 1936—No race. 1935—Martin and Brackenbury (Aston Martin). 1934—Von der Becke and Peacock (Riley). 1933—Sommer and Chinetti (Alfa). | ||