1932 Le Mans

1932 — For the 10th anniversary of the 24 Hours, the A.C.O. provided true aural relief for resident of the Pontlieue corners by creating the Rue du Circuit for the 1932 race. The shortcut amputated over a mile and a half from the circuit, reducing a lap to 8.383mi. The fresh pavement created a long virage, as the road passed under the Champion bridge just after the pit straight, rejoining the original circuit at Tertre Rouge. The new corners required more agility than the original Pontlieue blast and smash. The new configuration added Le Mans’ signature esses and created superb new viewing areas for spectators, not to mention strategic spots for photographers. The new circuit endured until ’68, when sweeping changes between White House and the pits were underwritten by Ford.

The bulk of the entries – and the unique character of the event – still came from England, but none expected anything but a red car could win the 10th edition of the Grand Prix d’Endurance. The ALFA factory sent two cars; and Tim Birkin and Lord Howe were back with the ‘31-winning 8C2300 for a shot at the outright victory and the Biennial Cup. Behind them were three more ALFAs of varying dispositions and displacements. The light and maneuverable ALFAs had banished the British and German behemoths with art and science and agility. The 8C2300s were true sports cars, arguably the first Grand Touring cars that would suit the modern definition. But the old order was powerfully represented by a lone Speed Six Bentley and a pair of vast white Mercedes SSKs – still serious players, especially when Tertre Rouge was at one’s back and only the run to Mulsanne lay ahead.

The start of the 10th 24 Hours of Le Mans was frantic and wildly entertaining. The No. 1 Mercedes was first away, but the Italian drivers – soaked in testosterone and adrenaline – were behaving as though they were involved in a sprint race, ignoring Jano’s inflexible 5,100rpm-rev limit. The first victim of automotive hubris was Trevoux on the No. 5 4 ˝-liter Blower Bentley who did nothing right on his first approach to White House. The tipsy green car spun, rolled and then stuffed itself hard into the ditch, where it sat resisting all attempts to extract it.

At the end of the first lap, Cortese’s works ALFA and its stablemate were followed by Birkin and Howe’s private 8C, the screaming Mercedes SSK, Attilio Marinoni’s 8C, Dreyfus’ 8C, the Type 43 Bugatti and a composed Raymond Sommer on the private ALFA he shared with young mechanic Luigi Chinetti.

The works ALFA drivers were having entirely too much fun and left the privateers behind with an intemperate display mechanical machismo. The first to be punished was Marinoni, who managed to win the all-Lombardy intramural competition and put the No. 14 ALFA in front on the third lap. Two laps later, he was sweating and straining to get his car back on the road in the esses past Arnage, having gotten the rhythm wrong on the second set of corners. It took ALFA’s chief test driver over an hour to free his car, which was basically unharmed.

Marinoni’s ALFA teammates were providing Birkin with some really fine entertainment. The BRDC’s lone player in the top three took up station behind the ALFAs of Minoia and Cortese to watch the Italian have at each other. They had just lapped Brisson’s Stutz on the run to White House when Minoia found himself going too fast. The now populous site of the Bentley’s accident featured a clot of officials, marshals, spectators, farmers and children – all trying to determine, by democratic means, the best method for removing a Bentley from a French country road. Minoia’s errant ALFA spun twice and crashed with only superficial injuries.

Brisson’s lapped Stutz arrived during the ALFA’s first spin cycle. Hard braking was the full extent of precautions taken before the American roadster hit something hard. Later Brisson commented that he had the distinct impression of flying gently through the air. The No. 5 Stutz (pictured) finished upside down in the ditch opposite the Bentley, which was then struck by Marinoni’s oversteering ALFA. It took more than two dozen strong men to heave the huge Stutz out of the swale to be driven away in spite of the impact. The Bentley was dragged into a farmer’s field, where it lay belly-up in the evening sun.

The race was barely four hours old, but the ALFAs had established a firm hand: the No. 11 Cortese/Guidotti 8C led Lord Howe’s private British ALFA with Birkin at the wheel. Sommer was third in the privateer ALFA he shared with Chinetti.

Sommer’s No. 8 car inherited the lead around midnight after a string of mechanical nuisances struck the works ALFAs and Lord Howe’s leading No. 9. Birkin’s plug change unmasked a symptom of deeper problems for the British ALFA. At 4:00 a.m., it was stopped by a blown cylinder head gasket.

When the sun came up, Franco Cortese had the works ALFA in the lead, followed by Sommer who had driven 10 of the 14 hours and was to be forced to carry on solo to the end. Young Chinetti was ill or exhausted from relentless pre-race preparation. The privately entered Bugatti of Count Czaikowski was a surprising third, but eight laps behind.

The early grand prix pace left the leading ALFA in a shabby state for the daylight run to 4:00 p.m. The well-equipped No. 11 works ALFA began to suffer from front fender droop, flap and wiggle. This cosmetically amusing problem was cured with a seemingly endless supply of wire carried aboard the ALFA. Yet more wire was unspooled to secure the headlights, which sagged alarmingly as the morning ground on. From the seemingly inexhaustible kit, more wire and straps of various strengths and lengths were produced by both drivers, when the battery case came adrift.

The Bugatti had no problems and ground away steadily at the ALFA’s lead until the 180th lap, when a broken piston sent a quiet sigh through the partisan and filled-to-capacity tribunes opposite the pits.

The exhausted Sommer, assaulted by poisonous fumes from a ruptured exhaust collector, continued his solitary chase of the leading factory ALFA. At 4:00 p.m., Sommer had ground out a two-lap lead from the surviving works ALFA. His solitary pace was enough to win, but not fast enough to beat the record set by Howe and Birkin the previous year.

The Lewis/Rose-Richards Talbot was third, but 38 laps off the winners pace. Another ALFA was fourth, driven by Le Mans’ female pioneer Mme. Sibos – who had failed to finish in her ‘31 debut – and her male co-driver M. Sebipa. Englebert tires won their first Le Mans after being ignominiously discarded by the disgusted drivers of the Mercedes challenger a year earlier. Aston-Martin won the Biennial cup and the 1500cc class with a fine fifth overall, and the French had a Bugatti to cheer in sixth overall. Again there were just nine finishers, but the horror over the spectator death in ‘31 was already forgotten by the fans, who loved their new vantage points on the Rue du Circuit.