1937 Le Mans

1937 — Europe was slowly tearing itself apart. Striking workers had locked Ettore Bugatti out of his factory, and Renault was totally shut down by strikes. A week before its traditional solstice date, the A.C.O. canceled the 1936 24 Hours. The club held entries that would have filled every one of the new pits, including a renaissance of French entries from Delage, Delahaye and Tony Lago’s Talbot team. There was even a Germany entry, a two-car team from Adler – the first from Germany since the giant 7.0-liter Mercedes-Benz SSKs. A pair of private ALFAs along with the usual collection of English Le Mans specialists also filed. All for nothing.

The A.C.O. tried to reschedule during the first weekend in August, but in July Spain had erupted into civil war and Le Mans – like a very nervous Europe – had to watch and wait. The ACF behaved in a politically correct manner and formatted its annual Grand Prix de l’ACF at Monthlery as a 1000km sports car race, which was promptly won by Jean-Pierre Wimille and Raymond Sommer in a Bugatti T57G "Tank". The ACF’s plan worked brilliantly – the top six were all French cars. The entire affair was a Parisian Le Mans of sorts and a fine preview for the ‘37 Le Mans. The full ‘37 GP season began three weeks after the ’37 24 Hours, and the German teams did what the ACF feared – only more so.

The German’s domination of grand prix racing chased the French into the sports car business in a major way. Le Mans’ dormant year turned the old order inside out. The front of the field was decidedly blue: two works Bugatti Tanks that had won so convincingly at Monthlery, two Talbots and seven 3.6-liter Delahaye 135s! The French occupied the major share of the cars aimed at the Champion Bridge. The British put up 18 entries and the only large displacement British car was the 4.4-liter No. 3 Lagonda of ‘35 winner John Hindmarsh. The rest of the Britons raced for the undercard in the 2.0- and 1.5-liter classes. Adler sent a pair of streamlined (if not necessarily aerodynamic) coupes from Germany and BMW made its first appearance in the 24 Hours. In all a juicy 48-car entry, half of them French, recalling the Sarthe’s earliest years.

Brooklands 24-hour record holder John Cobb dropped the flag and sent the 48 on their way. One of the new Delehayes charged the scrum, taking the lead just past the Hippodrome Café at Hunaudieres with Sommer’s blown ALFA second into Mulsanne. Sommer accelerated into the lead on the run to Indianapolis, demoting Raph’s Talbot. The first British car across the line on the first lap was ‘35-winner Hindmarsh’s Lagonda in 10th, just behind GP ace Wimille’s 57S "Tank".

Sommer had covered the first lap at nearly 87mph from a standing start and urged the lap average to 90mph over the next few circuits. Wimille was comfortable and, on the fourth lap, erased Nuvolari’s ‘33 lap record with the unsupercharged Bugatti at 92.58mph and moved into second place behind Sommer. The Le Mans "rookie" passed Sommer on the next lap and settled in for the slog to Sunday afternoon. The 4.0-liter No. 21 Talbot of Luigi Chinetti and Louis Chiron was first into the dead car park after just seven laps.

The carnage came two laps later near White House. Wimille and Sommer had banished the rest of the field to spear carrier status and the "second race" clot of supporting players were running in a loose pack on the ninth lap when Kippeurt’s Bugatti skidded off the road into the earth bank. The Bugatti cut down a length of fence and tossed its driver into the road. Roth swerved his BMW to avoid poor Kippeurt’s body and went nose first into the hedge, continuing into the field beyond. Pat Fairfield’s No. 28 Frazier-Nash was next. It hit the wreckage of Kippeurt’s Bugatti with enough force to knock the engine out of the chassis and into the road! Tremoulet’s 3.6 Delahaye struck the Frazier-Nash and catapulted over the wreckage into a field. Instantly Raph’s Talbot hit the Delahaye, and Forestier’s Riley then hit both of them blocking the road.

Kippeurt was dying when help reached him. Roth was slashed by the hedges but otherwise sound. Fairfield was taken to the hospital, where an operation failed to save him. He died on Monday .

A lap later, Sommer’s ALFA lost power on Hunaudiers and limped to the pits to retire, leaving just one supercharged car running. Wimille eased the lap record up to 95.5mph at the two and a half-hour mark and had lapped every car on the course at least once. An hour later, he turned the No. 2 Bugatti over to Robert Benoist who proceeded, in the cool of the evening, to raise the lap record to just over 96mph.

The rains came near the four-hour mark, and Benoist prudently slowed his pace in the leading Bugatti to a crisp 80mph average. When the rain stopped, the Parisian Bugatti agent resumed his pace and lapped almost monotonously at 90mph, while Paul’s No. 14 Delahaye fought a relentless battle for third with Veyron’s 3.3-liter No. 1 Bugatti.

But Benoist and Wimille were in a world of their own. The only evidence of a miscue came Sunday morning, when Wimille appeared at the pits with mild cosmetic damage to a fender. Just after 3:00 p.m. as the race entered its final hour, Benoist pitted the Bugatti, having already eclipsed Nuvolari and Sommer’s ‘33 record distance. Gallantly he surrendered the car to his teammate, giving Wimille the honor of driving the winning Bugatti across the finish line.

The partisan crown was treated to a 1-2-3-4 French finish with Delahaye’s second and third and the No. 19 3.0-liter Delage of Gerard and de Valence fourth. Aston-Martin won the 1.5-liter class with another fine fifth overall, and the 1600cc Adler coupe won the 2.0-liter class in sixth.

It was a politically and economically instructive 24 Hours. Aerodynamics showed that this obscure new automotive science might be more effective and economical than supercharging. Bugatti proved the commercial and promotional efficacy of a Le Mans program instead of a full-season grand prix campaign. The crushing win by Wimille and Benoist presaged the day when top level professionals would be required on the Sarthe. Le Mans was becoming far too important to leave in the hands of even the most splendid amateurs.