1929 Le Mans

1929 — The Pontlieue hairpin that pierced the eastern suburbs of Le Mans was amputated after the 1928 24 Hours. Publicly, the organizers declared that the hairpin was too dangerous and built a new road linking the pit straight to Hunaudieres through two nearly right angle turns. It reduced a lap from 10.3mi to 10.153mi. The drivers grumbled and complained that all their sums re calculations and existing records were rendered meaningless with the stroke of a pen. But the resident denizens of Pontlieue were mollified.

Most of the components that made Le Mans what it was did not change. Specifically the Bentleys were back in force. W.O.’s big green cars comprised 20 percent of the field and were led by the brutish new Speed Six: W.O. Bentley’s first six, a 6.5-liter originally created to do showroom battle with Sir Henry Rolls’ Phantom. But W.O. eased the big six into a short wheelbase sports model and assigned the beast to ‘28-winner and Le Mans sophomore Woolf "Babe" Barnato and Brooklands graduate Tim Birkin.

Two of the remaining quartet of 4 ½ Bentleys were supercharged and sounded every bit as serious and purposeful as they looked. Search no further than the proud badge of the BRDC to enjoy a sense of what it was like to tangle with the Bentley Boys on the Sarthe: simply imagine the BRDC escutcheon as the view from a fender-mounted mirror to get the full and proper effect.

On Wednesday morning, Birkin’s 200hp Speed Six snuggled up to the existing lap record for the old circuit with an informal 78mph pass, just to get the ball rolling. One of the 4 ½’s notched a 73mph lap in the same afternoon, and neither "blower" 4 ½ had yet arrived from England. On Thursday, the A.C.O. finally closed the road, allowing official practice to commence.

The American contingent was the best yet. Three 5.3-liter Stutz Black Hawks with supercharged four-valve straight-eights, this time sporting 4-speed gearboxes, a 5.3-liter Du Pont and a pair of tidy white .4.0-liter Chryslers. There were no large displacement cars from France, and the English-speakers were left to fight for the overall win.

With the clouds squatting on the Sarthe, four o’clock saw the drivers in rain gear and, in many cases, full trench coats as the ritualized top raising portion of the Le Mans start had been discarded. The 4.5 Lagonda was first away but blotting out all other exhausts was Birkin’s Speed Six, which was already in front when the field went under the pedestrian bridge.

Seven minutes and 57sec later Birkin was back, posting an eye-popping 76mph lap from a standing start. Birkin’s next tour on the Speed Six was a 7:44 lap, just in case anyone missed the point. Birkin brushed his ’28-lap record aside before dusk with a tour just under 80mph. At that point, the whole thing became a bit processional, unless one owned a stopwatch or two, which allowed hours of relentless eyebrow exercise.

Arch record-breaker Col. George Easton (pictured above entering Arnage ahead of the little 1.0-liter Tracta) shadowed Bentley’s leading four-car train in the contented Stutz, until the first pit stops at 20 laps, which – speeds being what they were – came much sooner, as did the conclusion of each pit stop. Kidston, on the No. 9 Bentley, was the most animated, ambitious and capable, refueling in just over two minutes before sending co-driver Dunfee back into the fray.

Le Mans’ 80-mph barrier went away before dusk, as the rapid Birkin was again in the Speed Six and had still refrained from a lap at maximum effort. Other green cars weren’t so lucky. The Lagonda, first away at 4:00 p.m., was out after just 28 laps with disintegrating gaskets. While a new gasket could be installed, coolant could not be replenished before the 40th tour and the 2.0-liter was parked.

After nightfall, the Brisson/Chiron Stutz was stuttering along with fuel feed problems, when a scheduled pit stop became an inferno as gasoline found its way to the exhaust pipe. Brisson was seriously burned and taken away in an ambulance, but Louis Chiron – steeling himself to drive the remainder of the 24 hours solo – climbed into the black and charred mess. A slipping clutch ultimately made his quiet heroics unnecessary.

The Stutz Col. Easton shared with Watney lasted another four hours and made the black No. 6 the final car to retire. The Bentleys ran in line formation with the sole surviving Stutz of Bouriat and Phillips astern, just ahead of the relentless Chryslers.

The extraordinary performance of the Bentleys had summoned the vocal exuberance of the well-lubricated British fans. Hundreds had packed the tribune and cheered on the Bentley team with all the vigor found at a modern football match, spelling the name and shouting and singing "BENTLEY! BENTLEY!"

The fast green train showed little sign of weakness, until the halfway point when the No. 5 Stutz began to creep toward Dr. Benjafield’s car that had pitted from fourth place. A burst of excitement surrounded the American pursuit, when Benjy’s No. 9 Bentley refused to start. He kicked the battery boxes and coaxed the 4 ½ back to life; but the Stutz and Chryslers had crept even closer.

By the end of the hour 13, the Benoist/Stoffel Chrysler had eased into fourth position, displacing Benjafield’s No. 10 4 ½. An hour later, the white car was up to third after a brake problem hobbled the No. 8 Bentley. But the big Speed Six was in control of the race, and the Chrysler finally pitted with transmission troubles long enough to restore total Bentley domination at the front of what had become a 10-car field.

At 3:45 p.m., the Bentley quartet slowed dramatically and arranged itself in parade formation. This staged finish presaged the commercial efforts of the ‘60s and made a strong impression on fans and manufactures alike. It was dignified, but nonetheless a purely theatrical show of force and commerce, and an admission that victory at Le Mans is as good as any championship season.

Birkin’s co-driver Woolf Barnato won his second consecutive 24 Hours and Bentley its fourth, including a simultaneous victory in the Rudge-Whitworth Cup. The second-placed Dunfee/Kidston 4 ½ won the 3000-50000cc class as well. The Peacock/Newsome Lea Francis S took the 1100-1500cc class with a fine eighth overall. American cars were fifth, sixth and seventh – Stutz, Chrysler, Chrysler. And Henry "Tim" Birkin was the fastest man at Le Mans with a lap of 7:21 on the new 10.153-mile circuit.