1950 Le Mans

1950 — The war was well and truly over. A fresh new marque had won the first post-war Le Mans, and the front gate had been fat. The winner, Luigi Chinetti, a naturalized American in the import car business, spoke soothingly to one of his most prosperous customers about the glories of Le Mans. Not that Briggs S. Cunningham needed a lot of prodding. His pals, the Florida-based Collier brothers (the family even had a county on the subtropical peninsula named for them) were old Le Mans hands, and Briggs was ripe for a European vacation involving fast cars and old friends.

He had planned to enter a pair of "Fordillacs" from Frick Tappett Motors on Long Island – stock Ford business coupes with lightly modified Cadillac V8 engines. A potent mixture of hot-rod and Q-ship. But the A.C.O. said that the Fordillacs were mongrels, not true production models and – as neither Ford nor Cadillac – would not be permitted to enter.

So Briggs entered a pair of Cadillacs in proper American FIA white and blue: one a near stock Series 60 coupe with a three speed manual transmission (that was to be found nowhere on the Cadillac order blank) and a re-bodied – OK with the A.C.O. – Series 60 with a vast aerodynamic roadster body penned by Grumman’s low-speed aerodynamic specialist Howard Weinman. GM’s Ed Cole designed a five-carb manifold for the roadster that ran off just the center Carter carburetor until full throttle opened all five.

The French loved the unlovely roadster and instantly nicknamed it le monstre. This was just fine with Briggs. And when they tagged the plush and imposing Caddy coupe petit petaud,"the clumsy puppy", Briggs summoned a sign painter to inscribe the nicknames on the hood, right next to an American flag. The Cunningham Caddys even had two-way radios and all manner of trick endurance racing gadgets. But the stock Coupe was faster than le monstre, and when Briggs tried to remedy that by opening up all five carburetors, the hydraulic lifters pumped up and quit. So they set a 4400rpm-rev limit on le monstre and stuck to it.

Miles Collier suggested that shovels might be added to the compliment of on-board gear. He had witnessed hours sucked into the sandbank at Mulsanne, but Briggs rejected the idea as superfluous; they had planned for every contingency. They were all mature adults who had survived the war. They wouldn’t be seduced into some testosterone-fueled one-hour grand prix. They were racers, true enough, but they were gentlemen.

They were also the only Americans, unless you counted Chinetti, and they did. Sidney Allard had entered one of his new Cadillac-powered J2 models. Somehow the A.C.O. determined the British car with the Cadillac engine was a production model and assigned Sid the number "four" and parked him next to Sam and Miles Collier's Cadillac Berline on Saturday afternoon.

The British were again well represented. The tallish Bentley coupe was back. There was a pair of Frazier-Nashes, two Healeys, one with a 3.8-liter Nash engine, but the A.C.O. said that this too was a production car. Aston sent along three DB2 coupes with the dohc six engine and Coventry three of the sensational new Jaguar XK120s. But the bulk of the entries were, appropriately, French, and most of them had decidedly pre-war roots.

Two-time winner Raymond Sommer, robbed of six years by the war, began his summer-long farewell tour in a Ferrari coupe. Retirement loomed, and he had entered Le Mans for a final time in a Ferrari. Louis Rosier, winner of the ’49 Belgian GP in one of Tony Lago’s normally aspirated 4.5-liter monopostos, teamed with his son in a very thinly disguised Talbot GP, lining up next to Sidney Allard’s No. 4. Italy sent five Ferraris –Chinetti was back – and a FIAT. In all, 60 entries and luminaries like the great Tazio Nuvolari, above.

Even the circuit had been modified and massaged. New non-skid pavement – Sommer had nearly lapped at 100mph in practice – and a new footbridge just past the pits built in the image of a huge Dunlop tire.

The No. 4 Allard, with Tommy Cole up, was first under the Dunlop Bridge. Five minutes later the order was Ferrari (Sommer), Allard, Talbot and Peter Whitehead in one of the new Jaguars. On the second lap, Briggs Cunningham was digging furiously at Mulsanne having found the sand nose first. He was lucky. His escape, without Miles Collier’s shovel, took just 15min.

Sommer simply checked out on the field, averaging 96mph, but Tommy Cole hung on in the Anglo-American hot rod with Rosier’s No. 5 Talbot third. At five o’clock, Rosier decided not to let Sommer escape, passed Cole in order to study the Ferrari coupe’s game plan from second place. When the leading Ferrari went onto 11 cylinders, Rosier moved into the lead and proceeded to celebrate the cool of the evening with a stunning lap record of 102.84mph.

Chinetti now had the best Ferrari in second position. By midnight, Rosier’s Talbot was two laps up on the Barchetta. Another Talbot was third and Leslie Johnson had the No. 17 Jaguar a solid fourth, another lap back but a full lap ahead of the Allard. Rolt’s Healey was fifth and George Abecossis had the Aston-Martin DB2 he shared with Lance Macklin seventh, seven laps behind.

Good weather usually means a fast pace. Dawn revealed the night’s pace had done its mean work. The Rosier Talbot required a new rocker arm, and that wasted five laps. By that time Lord Selsdon, whose name appears next to Chinetti’s as co-winner of the ’49 ronde infernale, was hospitalized when his Ferrari flipped at Tertre Rouge.

With eight hours remaining, the No. 7 Talbot of Guy Mairesse and Pierre Meyrat passed the stationary Talbot of the Rosiers, father and son, who were pitted. Abecossis had spent the early morning fiddling with his Aston DB2 but worked back into the top five behind Tony Rolt’s and Duncan Hamilton’s 3.8-liter Healey and the fast and relentless XK-120 of Bert Hadley and Leslie Johnson.

The Cadillacs circulated almost leisurely in 11th and 13th places. The Colliers had lost all but one cog in petit petaud and were cruising around in top gear, leaning on the Caddy’s ample torque curve. Briggs and Phil Walters were learning about Le Mans, plotting future assaults and looking forward to 4:00 p.m. in le monstre.

Rosier, who had been driving as if in a three-hour grand prix, caught and passed the leading No. 7 Talbot during the 18th hour. The only trouble to visit the leading Talbot came late in the morning with senior at the wheel (he ultimately drove all but one shift) when a bird crashed into the car's little windscreen.

Johnson retired the lone XK-120 after the transmission’s main shaft snapped, spoiling a fine and fast run. Only Cole was running hard in the final hour. The leading Talbots were cruising and well within reach of Le Mans’ 2000-mile barrier. But Cole too was struggling along in top gear, the lone Allard on the same lap as the third-place Healey and with far less weight for his one-speed 331cid V8 Cadillac to move. At 3:30 p.m. Cole passed Rolt’s Healey for third place. The second-place Talbot was too far – three laps – up the road, and Cole resigned himself to third.

The Cadillacs finished 10th and 11th – qualifying for next years 24 Hours – and Cunningham and company went home to build their own cars. Chrysler had a new V8 that made even more power and torque than the solid Cadillac.

"This is a lead pipe cinch," he told his band of gentlemen racers. Then the whole team went back to Paris for some serious dining and rest before heading off to Reims for the Grand Prix de l’ACF the following weekend.

On Sunday morning, they stopped at the American monument at Chateau Thierry to pay their respects. That afternoon they watched Juan Fangio win the fifth round of the brand new Formula 1 World Championship for Alfa Romeo.