1931 Le Mans

1931 — The departure of Bentley from competition at Le Mans had an almost immediate impact upon the number of entries received for the 1931 race. The headliner works team was entered by Jean Bugatti, who filed paperwork for three 4.9-liter Type 50s painted – of all colors – black.

The bulk of the field was composed of privateers of varying quality. Among the cream was the new Vittorio Jano-designed 2.3-liter 8C2300 ALFA Romeo. After a four-year parade of Bentleys, the elegant 8C2300 was a clear shift from Bentley’s massive tourer to a true sports car.

The Germans had but a lone 250hp Mercedes-Benz SSK (pictured above at White House and, if you click for the enlargement, at speed) of alleged former Russian Imperial Guard and Paris-based ex-patriot Boris Ivanovski and Henri Stoffel. Britain was best represented by a pair of 140hp, 3.0-liter Type 105 (London) Talbots. Even Scotland’s Saltaire was represented by a sleeve-valved Arrol-Astor. Despite the creeping reality of the Depression, the car count was up dramatically from ‘30 with 26 cars facing the tribunes on Saturday afternoon.

The ALFAs were clear favorites simply because of their stunning performance in the Mille Miglia. But the Italians had clashed with the A.C.O. in scrutineering when club officials wished to discuss what were in fact the first "slicks" to be presented at the 24 Hours. Last minute squabbles over the A.C.O.-mandated fuel brew dictated a change of pistons at ALFA and a mad dash to Paris – in Tim Birkin’s Speed Six Bentley sedan – by ALFA’s competition chief Giovanini. This Franco-Italian opera, and its near-comical aftermath, could have been a solid outline for a movie script or a complex role-playing video game, had such a thing then existed.

By 5:30 a.m. June 13, Lord Howe’s 8C2300 was finally ready, while its stablemate, the No. 16 of Giuseppe Campari and ALFA’s great test driver Attilio Marinoni, blew up its eight-cylinder engine after new, high compression pistons were installed. Wisely Marinoni moved in with "Freddy" Zehender in the No. 14 8C2300.

At 4:00 p.m., Raymond Sommer was first away in the 4.6-liter Chrysler, but it was a Frenchman, Louis Chiron, who led the first lap in one of the black Type 50 Bugattis with the odd, lightweight and quite angular (even for Bugatti) fabric coachwork. The Mercedes was next, and Bugatti teammate Albert Divo was right behind him with Tim Birkin in Lord Howe’s ALFA.

It took Birkin a lap to displace Divo and one more to pass Stoffel’s mammoth Mercedes, but it didn’t last. A lap later, Chiron made a mess of Mulsanne and so Stoffel led in the Mercedes with a cautioned Birkin and Chiron nearly even for second. This went on for nearly 100mi until Birkin broke off the fight, pitting to change a spark plug and cinch up his shock absorbers with noisy and comical verbal help from the ALFA crew. Four laps later, Stoffel had the leading Mercedes in the pits with a shredded Englebert tire.

More tire problems stuck right after six o’clock. Just as Chiron’s Type 50 passed Birkin for the lead, the Bugatti shuddered violently: the entire tread of a rear tire separated from the casing and began to assault the Bugatti’s underpinnings. The new experimental heavy-tread Michelins that had been star performers at the Targa Florio were clearly unsuited for the big run down Hunaudiers to Mulsanne.

Within the hour, Bugatti was visited by further tire troubles. Traveling at nearly 130mph Jean Rost’s Type 50 suffered a massive tread separation on the fastest part of the circuit. Reports said the tread wrapped around the axle and locked the rear wheel, at which point momentum and physics took over. The Bugatti vaulted the ditch at well over 100mph, tore through the fence and flat spun into the wooded spectator area on the eastern side of RN 158.

Rost, the driver, had a severely lacerated scalp and complained of chest pains. One spectator died and four were injured. Bugatti team leader Louis Chiron reacted the only way he knew how and set the fastest lap of the race at over 84mph. Both ALFAs pitted with Zehender in for Marinoni and Lord Howe relieving Birkin. The big Mercedes was running roughly the same schedule as the leading ALFAs, and Ivanovski got back into the No. 1 car.

Then Chiron pitted as well, but with an ominously treadless rear tire. A quiet and subdued conference broke out in the Bugatti pits. Jean Bugatti arose and reached behind the pit counter for a sign. He stepped to the edge of the road and signaled Bouriat to pit while Chiron drove the No. 4 Type 50 he shared with Achille Varzi slowly to the dead car park. This summoned a scattered barrage of catcalls, whistles and sporadic booing from the wine and beer enthusiasts, who shouted down those who understood Bugatti’s pitiable plight.

At quarter distance, the ALFAs were one-two with the Talbots a stunning third and fourth: the Mercedes-Benz lay fifth. By midnight the top ALFAs swapped positions, and a massive thunderstorm arrived about 2:30 a.m. It was serious enough to compel Freddy Zehender to pit and raise his windshield. It did him little good. He skidded off the road at Indianapolis on his out-lap when startled by the nose of Tim Rose-Richard’s Talbot which had been behind him since his brief stop. Zehender’s ALFA skated across the cobblestones and mashed both a fender and a headlamp, a severe enough impact that the car was no longer the same. Even the gifted and mechanically sympathetic Marinoni had to wrestle the ALFA around until, on the 98th lap, the rear axle broke.

By dawn, J. S. Hindmarsh, who had worked his Talbot into second overall (!), was forced to pit with a cracked frame. The flaw was profound enough to have dislodged the fuel tank that was wobbling about ominously. After a protracted session with wire, string and tape, it was reluctantly decided to retire the No. 10 car after a heroic performance and 132 near perfect laps.

Its place on the podium was taken by the Rose-Richards/Saunders-Davies Talbot, which was ultimately passed by Ivanovski’s Mercedes. The Russian had started the race on Belgian Englebert tires but had beseeched the Dunlop men for a set of their Le Mans specials. When they charitably gave in, he put them to good use.

By 4:00 o’clock the Howe/Birkin ALFA led the re-shod Mercedes, the No. 3 Talbot and the ancient 1.6-liter Lorraine, with the 1.5 Aston-Martin fifth and first in the 1100-1500cc class. The Howe/Birkin ALFA had swept Le Mans, winning overall, winning the Biennial Cup and the Index while breaking Le Mans 3000km barrier for the first time.

The svelte ALFA had changed the basic grammar of racing at Le Mans. A true sports car had bested all comers and eclipsed the record of the train-like Bentleys that suddenly seemed of another age and epic, not just last year’s winner.